The Gospel of John: part 2
I've finished watching the movie The Gospel of John (Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus. Part 1 of my revuew is here). It was great to be able to watch some events from the fourth gospel that usually don't make their way into movies: Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus' feet, the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus washing the disciples' feet, and hey, Mary M was at the last supper! :) Also neat was the portrayal of Jesus' post-resurrection appearance on the beach. And I did really like Cusick's Jesus - he had a kind of glorious enthusiasm and emotional warmth that you can't envision from just reading the text.
- Jesus tells the crowd, "I am the good shepherd!"
But having said that, there are things that make John's gospel problematic for me ..... the hostility shown toward both the Jewish authorities and those who didn't accept Jesus' teachings, the idea that Jesus was 100% and always aware of his divinity, the idea that Pontius Pilate was really a good guy who was forced against his will to have Jesus executed.
- Mary M appears throughout the movie and here the post-resurrection Jesus asks her not to hold on to him
You can read more about the movie in this Damian Thompson Telegraph artcle - At last, a Jesus for all faiths.
- the movie ends with the post-resurrection Jesus telling Peter to follow him
posted by crystal | 8:48 PM
4 Comments:
Hi again Crystal,
Please let me start off by saying! At last, a Jesus for all faiths!
This would be hard for me to accept. It would be kind of like really listening to another,even when we'd rather not :) but worst then that, "IT" would be done knowing that you really were living a sinful lie but you we're just not crazy enough to try and correct "IT".
Let me try to explain if "I" can? Let's say that Jesus, The Real Jesus, The Son of The Almighty and Everlasting God really existed and allowed Himself to be a god of all faiths, long story short, as far as "I'M" concern, "IT" would be like him allowing and/or inviting all kinds of aliens from all kinds of galaxies to come into our world and then we who were made in God's Image would have no choice but to get along, in other words, get along NOW little doggy!
As you probably know, "I" don't read The Bible cause if "I" did, I wouldn't have time to live my life in this reality and as a matter of fact, "I" don't think that "I" could live "IT" because my sins would destroy me. Certainly my soul and spirit could not accept so many things that are going on as "I" write and worst of all, our sins have many of U>S (usual sinners) convinced that they are gods and if "IT" feels good, "IT" must be OK with a good god because he and/or she would want U>S to be completely happy and if not then we don't need that kind of a god.
"I" know that you struggle with understanding the hostility shown by Jesus toward both the Jewish authorities and those who didn't accept HIS teachings.
I also get the impression that you find "IT" hard to accept the idea that Jesus was 100% and that HE was always aware of his divinity.
I imagine that the idea that Pontius Pilate was really a good guy who was forced against his will to have Jesus executed is also possing many questions for ya.
Please forgive me if I've read you wrong and I'm sure you'll correct me here or by email and please feel free to do so at any time.
As for me, I'm not praying and/or going to church as often as I use to and my writing is starting to show my fustration with this world around me. For example, this morning, I lost "IT" with our grandson who is staying with us and long story short, he missed his bus and as we were driving him to school, we discussed same-sex-marriage and I just happened to say that if I was blind, I wouldn't go around saying that I could see and I used many other examples of things being wrong with me and just because I did not accept these problems, it wouldn't mean that I did not have them.
Long story short, Saint Anthony's grandma said yes there are cures for it and some how I started blaming cells and if these problem cells were removed then the problem would be solved.
There's no need to get into what happened when I lost it cause people who know that I'm the son of my father and God Bless his soul. Longer story short, my dad's doctors literally called him a beast but the ones who loved him know that he honestly was a warm good hearted man of God.
I better close NOW and simply say that like Jesus, I've never hid from any doctors and if any of them want to talk to me, they know where they can find me but I would suggest that we have at least 12 in attendance and depending on who these twelves are, we should also tie me with chains blessed by our Papa if you get my drift? Go Figure!
I hear ya! You have the egor of Jesus Murphy! :)
Peace
Hi Victor :)
I like this Jesus/Gospel movie very much. It is the closest portrayal of the Jesus I have envisioned. He is gentle, tough, firm, compassionate, resolute, convincing, encouraging, loving, wise, and more.
I like how the film makers made a sincere and terrific effort to accurately recreate the cultural setting of his time in terms of the costumes and clothing, the customs, the manners, etc. I like the realism injected throughout the movie -- things and details such as making the mother, Mary, an elegant, composed, stately-looking elder lady at the Cana wedding feast; and the transformational progression of Mary the Magdalene from dressing and behaving like a party-girl in her first ever scene appearance to her totally transformed persona who prominently joins the all-male apostles at the Last Supper scene, where she is the only woman participating in attendance. That latter portrayal of Mary the Magdalene perfectly complements her status as Jesus' A+ student-disciple for which she gets to be the first visionary of the resurrected Christ.
Above all, I appreciate the movie production efforts that went into creating this particularly difficult Gospel, it being the only truly mystical of the canonical four. This is most evident particularly in the scene showing the fourth chapter of the Gospel: the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The movie scene is exactly as I would have imagined the woman to be -- smart, gutsy, feisty, intelligent, liberated woman for her time. That scene is also how I would understand their unfolding dialogue to have transpired, leading up to Jesus' revelation of the Christ to her. Her facial expression captured by the camera in that "Aha!" moment of hers is a priceless graphic portrayal of spiritual illumination and enlightenment. That was PERFECT in every way.
I could go on in praise of the film, but it would be enough to say that it is the best Jesus movie thus made so far: It comes closest to how he was as a person -- remarkably and credibly very human yet undoubtedly divine. The movie deserves a five-star rating.
Thank you for featuring the movie in your blog.
Thanks for your comment :)
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