Category: Examen


Lent Begins . . .

In several settings I’ve asked, “Where will your journey to Jerusalem take you this year?”  Yesterday, Christians, those that believe, those that practice the way of Jesus, and those that are practicing believers, began a journey that most have taken many times before.  It is a metaphorical journey of sorts as few actually travel to Jerusalem during this time between Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday, but like reading a good book can take one places never visited, those that follow Jesus of Nazareth mark in the gospels that Jesus sets his path toward Jerusalem.  No doubt that some people will make a stop at a movie theater to see “Son of God.”  I’ve yet to see the film, but from my reading about it presents as another telling of Christian orthodoxy that finds its roots, and this is an gross oversimplification of history, its roots based in Constantine’s ordering of Pauline Christianity into state sanctioned religion.  It is not as bloody as Gibson’s, “The Passion of the Christ,” but reviews place it a close second.  Apparently, a story about Jesus that is theologically challenging, interesting and divergent even if it does, in the end, bend toward Christological orthodoxy. . . those days and that kind of intellectual curiosity are not present.  At least for now.  Films like, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “Jesus of Montreal,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and “Godspell” offer a dialogue that gives the characters depth, human depth, in a way that Gibson’s film did not and could not imagine.  In Scorsese’s, “The Last Temptation of Christ” Jesus and Judas share an exchange about Judas betraying Jesus that is haunting. Huddled together Jesus and Judas talk.

JUDAS:  There’s got to be something else you can do.

JESUS:  I wish there was. At the temple I prayed. I prayed to die. But it’s not God’s will. I have to die on the cross. I prayed out of weakness and I’m weakening even more. You’ve got to give me strength.

JUDAS:  I won’t let you die.

JESUS:  You’ve got to. There’s no other way. The world around us is Satan’s world. It will be destroyed! The world of God will come! But only by my dying! By my sacrifice on the cross! Forget everything else! Understand that.

JUDAS:  No I can’t. I’m not strong enough.

JESUS:  You are. You’re the strongest. You’re part of God’s plan too. You once made me a promise. You said if I ever strayed, if I ever shied away from revolution, you would kill me. Remember? (Judas nods.)

JESUS:  I’ve strayed, haven’t I?

JUDAS:  Yes.

JESUS:  Then you have to keep your word. You have to kill me.

JUDAS:  If God wants that, then let God do it. I won’t.

JESUS:  He will do it. Through you. The Temple Guards want to arrest me where there aren’t any crowds. Tonight we’ll be in Gethsemane. Arrange for them to find me. It will be terrible. But only for three days. Only three days! Then I’ll come back. We’ll all be together in triumph.

JUDAS:  No.

JESUS:  You’ve got to! Don’t abandon me now. Without you, the world can’t be saved, There’ll be no redemption. Without us together, the sacrifice can’t be made.

JUDAS:  Could you betray God? If you were me, could you betray your Master?

JESUS:  No. That’s why God gave me the easier job… to be crucified.(1)

There is a Judas you have never met before and are unlikely to meet in films that glamorize the brutality of death on a cross as the sacrificed lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. There is a Jesus that is unsure of his mission.  A Jesus who changes through out the film and still provides the orthodox Christology ending, but it humanizes the characters in the words shared between follower and master.  “Could you betray your master?” Or, maybe the question is, “When have you betrayed your master?” Those are places to stop on your Lenten journey.

Son of God on Film
by Martin Marty | Sightings | March 3, 2014

This weekend was time for movies and for talk about them. The Academy Awards, as readers of Sighting may have heard, were awarded. They may also have noticed that “Son of God,” a film about Jesus, was released in 3,000 theaters. Reviewers are not free merely to view and write about this film. Instead they are obliged to treat it both as another movie and as the occasion for an argument about Jesus and about filming Jesus.

Nicolas Rapold in The New York Times tried to be generous to “Son of God,” but, lucky for him, his paper doesn’t use star ratings. It probably would have rated two stars out of a possible four. The spoken lines, Rapold thought, were marked by “pedagogical predictability” as in “Thomas, stop doubting.” He and other reviewers had difficulty with—dare we call him ‘glamorous’?—Portuguese actor, Diogo Morgado, because critics usually groan when Gentile actors play Jesus or other Jews.

In the Chicago Tribune, Roger Moore gave “Son of God” a mediocre 2 ½ stars and called it, in his headline, “Still a great story, even when tepidly told.” Moore saw “a pleasantly retro ‘hippies will inherit the earth’ take” on this Jesus. He knows that the “film’s main aim is to be inoffensive,” and it managed that. That is not high praise.

The Chicago Sun-Times used the headline: “‘Son of God’: The Good Shepherd in a not-so-good movie,” and the reviewer, Richard Roeper, gave it one star less than it was rated in the Tribune. Roeper came back to reflect on his vocation as a critic: “regardless of your faith (or mine), this space is for me to tell you if a particular film contains a high enough percentage of compelling elements to warrant” readers spending good cash on it. Verdict: “In all good conscience, it’s not even a close call.” He also knows that on opening weekend it may sell well; one relief organization alone bought 225,000 tickets in 40 cities. Roeper’s reflection, after seeing the Resurrection scene: “it isn’t nearly as powerful and moving as reading the Gospel According to Luke.”

He and other critics gladly announced that this film lacked the anti-Semitism and utter brutality of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” of a few years ago. Still, Moore writes, “no Jesus film these days is worth its salt without an unflinching treatment” of Jesus’ torture and Crucifixion, which is “avert-your-eyes awful.” And here it is again.

My purpose in Sightings is not to review movies or review reviews so much as to ponder the public place of such films as this. Roeper admits that one feels almost good ripping exploitative, cynical, porn, or brainless films, but “Son of God” is none of these. He knows those who produced it, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, as “two of the loveliest and most spiritual people.” Their work is reverent and faithful to the text.” Still, by film critics’ standards, they fail. Those who are proclaiming that there is a war on Christians will say that the critics are mere secularists who deride and heap on people of faith, including when they produce or watch films like “Son of God.”

Roeper says, “we know this story, as well as we know any story ever told.”  Surveys suggest that this is a chancy observation. Biblical illiteracy is measurably and grossly high. While the main audiences will be the already-convinced people of faith, those surveys make clear that the story is not well known, certainly by the general public.

Envy Jews and Muslims, who are not allowed to depict the deity. Christians have to deal with the one they portray as divine and human—pity those who have to review film-makers’ efforts. And perhaps follow Roeper’s implicit advice: read the Gospel of Luke.

References and Additional Resources:

Roeper, Richard. “‘Son of God’: The Good Shepherd in a not-so-good movie.” Review of “Son of God.” Chicago Sun-Times.com, February 27, 2014, Movies.http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/25829003-421/son-of-god-the-good-shepherd-in-a-not-so-good-movie.html.

Moore, Roger. “Still a great story, even when tepidly told.” Review of “Son of God.”Chicago Tribune, February 27, 2014, A&E. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-27/entertainment/ct-son-of-god-movie-review-20140227_1_aramaic-jesus-king-james-bible.

Rapold, Nicolas. “The Greatest Story, Retold.” Review of “Son of God.” The New York Times, February 27, 2014, Movie Review.http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/28/movies/son-of-god-recounts-the-crucifixion.html?_r=0.

Hornaday, Ann. “‘Son of God’ movie review: Undoubtedly sincere, but also simplistic.”The Washington Post, February 27, 2014, Movies.http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/son-of-god-movie-review-undoubtedly-sincere-but-also-simplistic/2014/02/26/45191ca2-9eeb-11e3-9ba6-800d1192d08b_story.html.

O’Malley, Sheila. Review of “Son of God.” rogerebert.com, February 28, 2014.http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/son-of-god-2014.

 

_________
1. Paul Schrader, Script fromThe Last Temptation of Christ, 1988. Based on a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Devotion

Pause and remember the people who:

You bumped into by accident;

Smiled at you for no reason;

Need you to remember them;

You need to remember for your own sake.

 

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God. When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it in such a way that it is acceptable on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it, or on the next day; and anything left over until the third day shall be consumed in fire. If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be acceptable. All who eat it shall be subject to punishment, because they have profaned what is holy to the Lord; and any such person shall be cut off from the people. When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.

You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:1-18)

Silence and Reflect on Words or Phrases that Draw Your Attention

 

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’  But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your God in heaven; for God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your God in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:38-48)

Silence and Reflect on Words or Phrases that Draw Your Attention

 

When I was young I went to the Magic Monastery, hoping to join.  I expected to be questioned and asked to get letters of recommendation.  Instead, the monk handed me a book.  “Here, take this.  It’s a blank book.  Each day you can write down on one page what you have done that day that’s beautiful, worthwhile, noble.  When you’ve filled the book that way, you can come back.  We’ll look through it and see if we want to take you.  And here — here’s a pencil for you — with an eraser.”

Well, I went home and set to work.  Each day I tried to think of something beautiful, worthwhile, noble, to do.  And at the end of the day I’d write it down, with some satisfaction.  But, regularly, a few days later, or a few weeks later, when I’d reread it, it would seem so paltry.  Then I’d use my eraser.

Well, that was more than thirty years ago.  I’ve long since used up the pencil and worn down the eraser.  And I gave the book away.  How can I go to the Magic Monastery?  They need me here.  And I need them.
(Theophane the Monk, “Beautiful, Worthwhile, Noble,” Tales of a Magic Monastery, Crossroad, 1994, p. 62.)

Silence and Reflect on Words or Phrases that Draw Your Attention As Long As Time and Your Will Allows

 

May your day be beautiful, worthwhile, or noble.

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