A mystery unsolved: Just how did Jesus come back to life?

|PIC1|There are some mysteries in life that will never be solved. Where that sock goes to, for instance. Why the strawberry creams multiply at the bottom of a box of chocolates. And now, for many people who have never considered the Passion before, just how did Jesus come back to life?

In true TV speak, we'll come back to that later. But first this: at the end of the third part of The Passion, Jesus had just died on the cross. It was dramatic, moving and incredibly powerful. The final part picks up from where we left Jesus on Good Friday: dead.

As the disciples are busy cowering away in that small room, arguing over whether they've wasted three years of their lives (told you they were a disunderstanding), it is Joseph of Arimathea who does the decent thing in arranging for the burial.

Time passes - in a matter of televisual seconds - and we pick up the action on Sunday morning, with Mary Magdalene coming to an empty tomb. Fleeing to tell the disciples, they return to the crime scene, pick up the shroud and openly grieve. Who could do such a thing?

Left alone, so the word can be spread, Mary grieves, only to be comforted by a big burly man, with a familiar voice. Yes, this is The Passion's Doctor Who moment.

Suddenly Jesus is a very different man. At this point, we are led to believe that, just as Christopher Eccleston became David Tennant, Jesus is quite literally a new creation.

As news filters throughout Jerusalem, Caiaphas calls in Joseph for a friendly chat about where he's put the body. There's no good cop, bad cop routine from him. He is genuinely furious.

But it is thanks to two of the disciples, who meet another Jesus on the road, that suddenly everything becomes clear. Well, kind of. This stranger breaks bread, reciting that first communion, and suddenly he's Joesph Mawle's Jesus again. It's like having a pair of glasses that puts everything back into focus.

The excited disciples go back to tell their friends. 'Listen to us. He broke bread with us,' James says, trying to share an almost unbelievable testimony. But the mutters start to stutter out as the room starts to fall silent. Silent, except for one quiet voice. 'Is it me, or is it a trick of the light?'

And there, large as life is the resurrected Christ. But this is not Christ with wounds for a doubting Thomas to feel. No, Christ is renewed and restored.

It's a bit of a curveball for someone so familiar with the biblical narratives.

It's equally as disconcerting as the conclusions. We get the sense that this isn't the end, but a new beginning for the main characters. Pilate is on his way out, Caiaphas celebrates the birth of a baby and the disciples, well... they're being prepared for their Pentecost and the end of their disunderstanding.

But we're left with questions, as Jesus walks among the crowds and no one bats an eyelid. As he blends in and disappears, we are told that he will be with the disciples always. But we don't really understand why he left them - why did he have to be so enigmatic right to the end?

We really need a sequel. Not just because Acts is my favourite book of the Bible, but because we are left with questions, not answers. I'm not expecting all my lost socks to turn up, but to leave the resurrection events so open-ended feels like a cheat in this day and age of having everything explained to us.

Then again, there's a challenge to us, to let people know what has happened since then. To keep the conversation going. To draw people into the discussion as they seek answers for themselves.

Bible Society has produced a range of resource to accompany The Passion, which can be downloaded from www.biblesociety.org.uk/thepassion. They include materials for use in schools and church groups.

Phil Creighton is TV critic of the Baptist Times and author of How To Be Heard In A Noisy World - Church Publicity Made Easy. This review is written on behalf of Bible Society.