Film: The Young Messiah
My face was wet with tears when we left this film. It made me ponder
profound spiritual matters.
First of all, any time you go to see a story of the Savior done by those who don't have the advantage of what has been prophetically revealed in our day, you have to partly set aside some issues, and look for the portrayal of faith--is there light here? And there was so much, setting aside some of the errors and the assumptions of the early portion--I don't think he could heal without knowing why, for example. But I wasn't going to let that destroy what truth might be there.
What was it like to be this Child, growing up? How did he experience his life? If he grew "from grace to grace" and "received not of the fullness at the first," how did it come? If he never sinned even in childhood but wasn't just waiting to get old enough to begin his ministry--sort of like checking his watch to see if it's time yet--then how did his understanding and knowledge grow? We don't have answers, because we have no record. We do know that his very nature was unique. But this portrayal, if you can reach for the spirit and Spirit in it, can open and touch your heart. To watch him hear the story for the first time of the slaughter in Bethlehem when he was born, told by an old man in the temple, is to crack your own heart open. To feel the lightness of joy he finds at the end is to shed tears in a different way.
The film portrays what it's like to live under a tyrant, in daily fear. Not just as a story, but how would it be if this was where you had to live your life? The Roman officer was affected despite himself, and contrary to all his prior experience, but you could never feel safe. This film was deeply affecting to us.
[Somehow I didn't get this posted; I guess maybe I was going to come back and add something. I assume the film is available from video. Still worth finding.]
First of all, any time you go to see a story of the Savior done by those who don't have the advantage of what has been prophetically revealed in our day, you have to partly set aside some issues, and look for the portrayal of faith--is there light here? And there was so much, setting aside some of the errors and the assumptions of the early portion--I don't think he could heal without knowing why, for example. But I wasn't going to let that destroy what truth might be there.
What was it like to be this Child, growing up? How did he experience his life? If he grew "from grace to grace" and "received not of the fullness at the first," how did it come? If he never sinned even in childhood but wasn't just waiting to get old enough to begin his ministry--sort of like checking his watch to see if it's time yet--then how did his understanding and knowledge grow? We don't have answers, because we have no record. We do know that his very nature was unique. But this portrayal, if you can reach for the spirit and Spirit in it, can open and touch your heart. To watch him hear the story for the first time of the slaughter in Bethlehem when he was born, told by an old man in the temple, is to crack your own heart open. To feel the lightness of joy he finds at the end is to shed tears in a different way.
The film portrays what it's like to live under a tyrant, in daily fear. Not just as a story, but how would it be if this was where you had to live your life? The Roman officer was affected despite himself, and contrary to all his prior experience, but you could never feel safe. This film was deeply affecting to us.
[Somehow I didn't get this posted; I guess maybe I was going to come back and add something. I assume the film is available from video. Still worth finding.]
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