Blessed are the Cheesemakers

When you watch Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” you probably only remember the jokes, characters, and maybe the closing song. However, the movie does present insightful, albeit unintentional, interpretations of religious scenes, such as the Sermon on the Mount. During this opening event, Jesus is preaching the eight beatitudes to a crowd outside of a large city. These important messages are the foundation of Christian theology, yet the way they are represented by Monty Python spins a new light on the time-old sayings. Although it might be just a joke, the opening scene provides analysis and criticism of the two methods of interpreting the bible: literally and contextually.

The beatitudes would eventually come to be of utmost importance in the Christian church, placed right up there with the Ten Commandments and the crucifixion. Yet in this scene in “Life of Brian,” the characters are not paying attention to Jesus. They do not know who he is (“Did anyone catch his name?”), they cannot hear him clearly, and most would rather be at a stoning. In their distraction, the characters confuse Jesus, quoting him as saying “Blessed are the Greek” and “Blessed are the Cheesemakers.” These misinterpretations are not only hilarious, but also question the reliability of the original evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) to recount Jesus’ direct words. Perhaps Matthew was also at the back of a crowd and misheard Jesus. Then those believers who translate the bible verbatim – literalist – might be worshipping a half-cocked, made-up saying. Obviously, this exchange satires that method of biblical interpretation.

The scene progresses, this time to spoof contextualists, the opposite of literalists, those who interpret the bible figuratively. After a woman counters, “What’s so special about the cheesemakers?” a man explains, visibly frustrated, “Well, obviously, this is not meant to be taken literally. It refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.” His humorous reasoning is curiously comparable to other generalizations often made about the bible, for example that each “day” in the creation story symbolizes a longer period of time or that true believers must give up all earthly possessions to enter heaven. Clearly, Monty Python is satirizing those Christian advocates who ignore direct words and phrases of the bible in an attempt to mold the passage to some preferred meaning. For perhaps Jesus really did mean exactly what he told the crowd. Perhaps what he really said was “Blessed are the Cheesemakers.”