Greatness versus family; Or, Debunking the Debunkers, The Sequel

I confess. I did what no self-respecting moviegoing Evangelical Christian should ever do. Without organized prayer support or supervision I rented (ooh, and gasp! even watched) The Last Temptation of Christ. This the Martin Scorcese film blacklisted and blasphemed by the conservative right for its treatment of Jesus as human. Of all movies, I've heard so many times, this is the devils favorite! How odd than, that my soul seems to have emerged unscathed. Perhaps even a bit better for it!

Don't get me wrong, the event completely scandalized me. As I'm sure it would be for any self-respecting moviegoing Christian who waited as long as I have to see this stunning theological treatise and spiritual treat. Agree or disagree with the Catholic directors theology (or the Reformed screenwriters), I found it utterly impossible to deny the value of the questions being raised. And maybe even more importantly, in seeing myself in Willem Defoe's Jesus, I found it hard not to like him even more. Which begs the question: What was I to be afraid of? Being made to think? Discovering Jesus' freedom to choose, or my own? Or did I wait 15 years to see this film because I too was afraid there are better ways to communicate theology than dusty book and stale lecture? The scandal happened in 1983 when the Moral Majority squashed the film from being made, than 4 years later when it was produced, boycotted it with all the intensity of the Sanhedrin. The censure is unwarranted.

Wrestling with God

Two things struck me as worth "struggling" with. The first and least important is the theology, specifically Christology, that pulses through the film. This is the great early Church Father debates revisited - with a kick! The breakdown goes like this: Is Jesus divine, or human? And if the easy answer is "both" than how do those two natures interact? I'm reminded that the Nicea-Chalcedonian creeds say, "100% God-100% human," but do nothing to explain what on earth (pun intended) that meant. This film is one attempt to do so, albeit in an "unorthodox" manner. Defoe's Jesus grows in his acceptance of divinity, even as he resists in a truly startling and human manner! Word for word though, this Jesus is even more upfront with his divinity than the gospel Jesus. That being said, this is like no flannel graph Jesus you've ever seen. Even with its faults, I've no doubt it could help someone like me see the Biblical Jesus in the midst of all the cultural whitewashing our churches put him through every day.

But the core of the film is Jesus struggle between greatness and the good life. In this, he's not alone! Jesus last temptation is my own, and forces us to the point of decision: career or family? Greatness or obscurity? I'm deeply disappointed the church could not see this dialogue as valuable for its church leaders. Because with this theme, the Jesus character is clearly a metaphor for humanity's spiritual struggle. Cutting through the demands of culture and of God, Jesus utters the films key line to his closest disciple, "Help, I'm struggling." And with that, I was hooked! On the one hand is God, ("Can you cast out God?"), and with him sacrifice, discipleship, divinity, and greatness. Exactly what the world needs! On the other hand is Hannah and kids, Chubs and a life not caught up in success and overextended busy-ness. Should it escape our attention so easily that all the great men of history completely shafted their families? Ghandi. Billy Graham. Martin Luther King Jr. Can you be both great and an excellent family man? And if not, are "heroes" those who intentionally choose career over family? Or are the real heroes those who choose family over fame?

This film is a 150 minute surgical but fictional exploration of Jesus' own words, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me?" What would it have looked like if God had answered that prayer? How would history be different? What would have come of Jesus disciples? Of the Christian movement? Actually, it all kind of reminded me of the hobbits dreaming of the Shire. But did theygo back before it was time?

There's no way any self-respecting movie lover could give the ending away (M. Night fans beware, there's a great twist!)! But it's the most engaging and honest exploration of these two primary questions I've heard. In the sense that the movie and I come out on two very different sides of the second question, maybe Jesus isn't just a metaphor after all. Because of that, I'm confident there's no heresy to be found in the film, at least not by anyone titling their blog "20First Century Heretic." There are some startling eccentricities, interpretations, and detours from Scripture. All of which did nothing but raise my awareness of how narrow my own interpretations and eccentricities are. And with that, I debunk you, you wacky debunkers! Crawl back into the cave built to protect you from thought! Everybody else, grab some popcorn and come on over, I've got the movie till next Thursday at noon!

Ooh, and one more thing, if you thought Mel Gibson's satan was creepy, you ain't seen nothing yet!

The fear of God

Frankenstein. Darth Vadar. Freddie Krueger. Aliens. The Joker. And the new and never better Doc Ock. Villains that break into our worlds via story, movie, and legend. They kill. They terrorize, They steal and they maim. They bring our deepest fears to life, if from a safe distance for us to enjoy. The human race has always been thrilled by villains, and loves to create enemies. I for one, will never forget as an impressionable 2nd grader my first encounter with the Creature from the Black Lagoon! Because, as M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable so richly pointed out -there are no hero's without a villain.

I have a villain in my life. An enemy set to kick my ass, and not for the first time! Rebellion. Traitor. Blasphemy. Law-breaker. Heretic. Demon-man. Rogue. These are the words associated with my villain. And I'm scared to death of him! I've got nothing short of everything to loose to my enemy should he desire to take it.

And in a wicked twist of irony, he just so happens to be my hero too. Jesus is his name, and like the hounds of heaven, he won't back off.

A recent story of my destruction help's to make sense. I was foolishly meditating my way through the Sermon on the Mount one pericope at a time. My intent was to hold the gospel in one hand, my life in the other, and judge/adjust accordingly. READER BE WARNED: Do not, under any circumstances, try this @ home by yourself. You need assistance!
I sailed along nicely for a week or so, performing casual touch up jobs to the facade I called my life. Then he wiggled the brick called Matt 7 and the whole thing fell flat:
"Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?"

I felt like the wicked witch of the west melting under the watery strain of Jesus' tears. Jesus came at me like a hungry warg, tearing at my bitter heart. Relentless, and refusing to stop! I hated every minute of it. I hated the gospel mirror I'd stuck myself in front of. I hated the truth it reflected. You must deny yourself, pick up your cross daily, and follow me. Not this kid! No way, I refused to die. It was March 23, a day so harsh for soul my resistance sent me spinning, spinning for months on end in the land of shadow. I slammed the book shut and didn't come back. My journal -done. Bible reading -not possible. The only hope I had of winning was closing my ears and hoping he'd go away. He didn't. My bitterness, selfishness, conceit, and hatred remained unacceptable to my hero/villain. So there, after months of stress in the wilderness, he vanquished me!

Oh sweet surrender! Oh how glorious the feeling of opening up that stinking pit of a room to God and allowing him to sweep it clean. And what a concrete example that, "An act of commitment does not change our reality... we are overwhelmed by the negative inertia of our unevangelized zones...there is much within us that is resistant to God's love (Michael Casey)."
Part of my maturation has been a deepening understanding that there is indeed much within me that resists God and the Kingdom. "Repent!" he won't stop calling, "and order your life according to the kingdom of God!" I'd love to Jesus, but I didn't realize that was part of the package. I had no idea believing in Jesus meant also believing him! Safety, power, popularity, my past, my future, free time, a second car, consumerism, saving money, fitting in, capitalism, competition, becoming the best - none are immune to Jesus attack, or his love.

Some battles he wins. I usually get excited and describe these moments with words like: new creation, being born again, conversion, filled with the Spirit, recommitting, etc... But there are still times when I win. On the outside we call these: life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. But really they are death, sin, and selfishness.

Whether Jesus be a hero or a villain depends on where we're at in life. Oddly, he often comes as both. It's just a bit harder to see the villain with all the happy-talking vegetables and the flannel graph lying around. I mean think about it, for every Zachaeus in the New Testament there's a story of a Sadduccee so scared of Jesus he spends his nights praying to God for ways to kill him! There are many, many folks who simply were so tired of Jesus pestering them they finally killed him instead. And it was simple stuff too, that he was teaching! Don't throw stones. Don't call people names. Eat with the losers. Sell your stuff. Don't sell your stuff in church. It wasn't rocket science, but it was the kind of stuff that fired people up! It just so happens that's the same kind of stuff that fires me up too. And because he loves me like crazy, he won't let me get away without experiencing change. I'm all right with that. More than all right! I welcome it. So bring it on Jesus, hit me with all the holiness you got!
And let us pray to our villainous hero: "Your kingdom come. Your will be done." AMEN.