Let me begin by first saying that
the Jesus Christ I believe in, have given my life to, is definitely not the
person that is the focal point of director Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. But
neither is he Scorsese’s picture of the Son of God. The image of Jesus
presented here is the central character to Nikos Kazantzakis’ 1953 novel of the
same name. Indeed, the title card says as much when the film begins – “This
film is not based upon the Gospels but this fictional exploration of the
eternal spiritual conflict.” So it is not about Christ at all, really, but
instead about the internal struggle in all of us, as humans, to understand the
divine and, in light of that divinity, to discern our own purpose.
I must admit, even before I saw the
film, I was confused as to why there has been so much controversy over it. At
heart, I am a very intellectual person and therefore have never been able to
escape the thought that all we know about the life of Christ comes from a book
written by several different people, all from their own respective points of
view nearly two thousand years ago. Add to that the fact that the original
transcripts of these writings are long gone and the versions we have now have
been translated and translated and translated so many times at varying degrees
of accuracy that the result is essentially tantamount to a sort of millennial
game of telephone. Just stop for a second and think: how badly does a single
phrase get botched when passed around the room for five minutes between fifteen
people? Now multiply that by two thousand years, dozens of languages (some no
longer spoken), practically seismic shifts in the way doctrines have been
interpreted, and then filter that through the lens of science and sifter of
history. What do you have? The answer is simple: Faith.
Faith that the God you worship has
preserved His message for generations upon generations. Faith that you have
been endowed with sufficient faculties to pick apart and understand that
message. Faith in the purest, simplest sense. From this perspective, The Last Temptation of Christ may very
well be the most accurate and profound depiction of the person of Jesus Christ
ever committed to film because it is the only film that deals with the heart of
the struggle we have as humans to have faith in a God so far beyond our own
comprehension. Every other film I can think of that deals with the life of
Christ centers on his actions. From Cecil B. Demille’s King of Kings (1927) (and its 1961 remake) to The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) to The Passion of the Christ (2004), all of these films relate the
life of Christ – his miracles, his teaching, his death, and of course his
resurrection. But The Last Temptation of
Christ is the only one that endeavors only to explore the person of Christ, specifically his
humanity.
The point in saying all of this is
to implore each viewer to take the film on its own terms. As an individual work
of art it does not claim to portray the Jesus of the Bible, nor does it desire
to slander God and those who follow Him. Rather it is a filmmaker’s own personal
faith journey. Unlike the purposefully satirical Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979) or the terrible, blatantly
antagonistic Year One (2009),
Scorsese’s film does not seek to be irreverent nor does it desire to rewrite
Scripture. It wants to wrestle with the mystery of Christ – the paradox of
someone completely God and yet completely human.
Like Kazantzakis’ novel, the film does not pretend to have answers to its
questions. And it certainly does not build itself upon a proselytizing of
beliefs.
For every license taken with the
Gospel story, there is a scene dramatized directly from the Bible. The Sermon
on the Mount is a wonderful example! After saving Mary Magdalene from stoning,
Jesus tells his first parable. The scene is inspiring and recognizable, and
innocently punctuated by his audience’s humorous misinterpretation of his
message, “Kill the rich!!!” “No wait, I said LOVE! Not kill!” In one short moment, the film seems to be self aware;
as if it knows that it is being scrutinized. If they ‘get it wrong’, so what?
Jesus’ own audience missed the point even when they were there to hear it! The Last Temptation of Christ is
endeavoring to wrestle with Christ’s humanity, and it is not afraid to make
mistakes along the way.
Truthfully, what better way to
wrestle with the human nature of Christ than to examine the temptations of
being human? The titular last temptation
is not in fact a sin as we would understand it. The Jesus of the film is not
tempted to steal, murder, or slander. He is tempted to live a normal life – a
life with a family, a good wife and children and grandchildren. This ideal is
in fact one of the great goals of life that we are all taught from an early
age. This is what to strive for! Yet for Jesus, this temptation would mean
abandoning his purpose, and condemning the world to an existence apart from
God.
Scorsese chooses to portray Jesus
Christ as a man unaware of his divinity. If the films decriers were to choose
an aspect to focus on, this should probably be it, instead of the temptation
sequence at the end of the film where Jesus glimpses what could await him if he
should choose to give in and live a normal life. There is a certain,
unavoidable logic to the concept of Christ as we understand him. To be
completely God as well as completely human, he must be unequivocally aware of
his identity as the Son of God.
In spite of this, the director’s
decision to portray him as unaware serves as a marvelous template for which to
paint his picture of the human versus divine struggle within each of us. In the
film, the divinity of Jesus is revealed as he finally commends his spirit to
God and willingly becomes the sacrificial lamb for humanity’s sin. In his
mind’s eye he screams, “I want to be Your son! I want to be the Messiah!” And
then, it is accomplished.
It is as if Scorsese is telling us
that to overcome our humanity, we must give ourselves to God. The struggle between
two halves is not truly a struggle at all, but rather our own stubborn
resistance to the will of God, and the plan He has for our lives. This is
stated no plainer than in an early scene where Jesus is talking to his mother
Mary. He hears a voice telling him he is more than he seems. Fighting it causes
him great pain, and Mary says, “How do you know it is God? What if it is the
devil? Devils can be cast out.” And Jesus replies, “What if it is God? You
can’t cast out God, can you?”
Indeed you cannot. That is the story
of the entire picture. No matter if Jesus chooses to disobey or not, God will
not leave him alone. He goes through phases trying to understand God’s will and
carry it out. First he believes his message is to be exclusively love. After his
fasting in the desert, he tries to marry love with action, with revolution. Yet
neither of these concepts, together or apart, is enough to satisfy the drive to
reconcile his humanity with God’s nature. He finally comes to the idea that he
must sacrifice himself to gain this reconciliation, though he does not
understand why he feels that must be so. In the end, all of his attempts to
understand are revealed to be the same sort of resistance. Understanding is not so
much attained through doing as it is through abandoning one’s self to the love,
mercy, and divine plan of God.
When Jesus declares, “I want to be
the Messiah!” he is not making the declaration of himself as an ultimate
purpose or defining action. What he is really revealing is his final
willingness to be whatever God has meant him to be all along. He is giving up
his resistance, his humanity, in order to give himself fully to God. It is in
this that he is revealed to be God,
because who truly has the power to do such a thing, except the Lord himself?
In the end, The Last Temptation of Christ is not about Jesus. Therefore it is
not a heresy. It is about us – about our own constant resistance to God. Our
own inability to comprehend a Creator that loves us, judges us, gives us grace,
and asks only for love in return, yet wills us to reach beyond ourselves. When
you watch this incredible, soul-searching film, remember: It is not Jesus
Christ you are seeing, it is your own duality, the human and spiritual natures
that make you a child of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment