The Word Worth a Thousand Pictures

The movie "Son of God" has far surpassed it box office predictions.  It has brought in $26.5 on its opening weekend when projections figured it would bring in $17.5 million.  On March 4, it was Fandango's number 1 rated movie.  It's popularity is not with out controversy and certainly not without discussion.  No movie about Jesus will ever be a non-controversy.

I was not able to make it to the opening weekend because of commitments so Judith and I went to see it on Monday night.  I was moved, I was impressed and I struggled at parts of it.  I sat there at times getting into the story then at other times thinking, "Ok, that event is not in the right place chronologically" or "That is not how that happened in the John's gospel."  I finally made my mind up to watch it as I would a church Easter Pageant; there is simply no way to portray every detail of every event in the gospels in a movie format.  If it were up to me I would have done it differently. 

In the end, I am glad Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett made the effort.  I don't believe they were trying to mess things up; they were trying to bring a message out of the life of Christ.  It had flaws, it had it's high points.  I commend their effort and I pray that they may not go the way of Mel Gibson after he made the movie, "The Passion of the Christ."  They will receive criticism and pressure and I pray that their faith and their lives will remain strong.  I commend their courage though I don't always agree with how things were presented.  I would have done it differently but then I am not a movie maker.  I am glad and thankful they are.

One of the realizations I had watching it and critiquing it was that there is no way to put the life of Christ into a movie and make it as dynamic, as realistic, as detailed and as accurate as the written word.  God knew what he was doing when he inspired the scriptures to be written.  He did not wait until there could be a movie about his son, he inspired people to write.  Hopefully, the movie will inspire people to read.

I left with a greater appreciation of the Bible and the people who did write accounts of the life of Jesus as they were inspired by God.  No one will ever top that.  Even our best efforts to portray it or represent it will fall short but the Word of God will not fail or pass away (Matthew 5:18).  And that is how it should be. And that is how it will be.

There were a group of ladies from our church there at the theater the night we saw "Son of God."  One of them asked me, "You have already seen this haven't you?"  I answered, "No, but I have read the book."  Now, for a while, I will read it and think back on the movie.  I will see details they caught and I had missed.  I will see details they did not portray.  Hopefully, I will see the Son of God more clearly.

for the journey...

Tim