Among the classic
biblically-based films out of Hollywood, and the first to show Jesus’ face, The Greatest Story Ever Told
(1965) is a highly idealized rather than realistic depiction of the Gospel
story. Only when Jesus is on the cross does emotion show on Jesus’ visage; even
the horrendous suffering from the torture leading up to the crucifixion is not
shown. The Christology is thus idealized, with Jesus’ divine nature impacting
his human nature even though the two natures are theologically distinct. Because
the film was the first to show Jesus’ face, it could be that depicting Jesus’
human nature in its fullness, absent sin of course, would be too much for a
film made before the social upheaval that began in 1968 in the West to depict.
The main drawback in depicting Jesus in such highly idealized terms is that it
may be difficult for Christians to relate to Jesus in emulating him by carrying
their own proverbial crosses in this fallen world. The main upside of the
almost Gnostic idealization is that the theological point that the Incarnation
is of the divine Logos, which in turn is the aspect of God that created the
world, is highlighted. Reflecting David Hume’s concern, I submit that
transcending (rather than denying) the anthropomorphic “God made flesh” to
embrace God as Logos—God’s word that creates—more fully captures the insight of
Pseudo-Dionysius, a sixth-century theologian, that God goes beyond the limits
of human cognition, perception, and emotions.
The narrator’s first and last lines in the film highlight the theological doctrine that the Son of God is God’s Logos, which has been (with) God since the beginning of time, rather than just since the Incarnation of the Logos as Jesus, the Son of God. The film begins with a voice saying, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. I am He. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that has been made. In hi was lif, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not. The greatest story ever told.” The statement, “I am He” can be interpreted as Jesus himself speaking, and saying that he is the Logos, which was (with) God even in the beginning. This connection, I submit, between Jesus Christ and the divine Logos has typically been missed by Christians, including those who preach from the pulpit. This has probably been so because the Logos transcends the Incarnation, which in turn has been the focus in Christianity since its beginning.
Connecting the first words in the film, especially if it is the resurrected Christ that is speaking, with what Jesus says after the resurrection at the end of the film connects the Logos, the Incarnation, and the Kingdom of God in a way that is very useful to people wanting greater insight into Christian theology. That film as a medium can serve such a purpose ought not to be lost on the reader either.
The final
scene of the film depicts a larger-than-life Jesus amid clouds speaking to his
disciples. “Make it your first care to love one another, and to find the Kingdom
of God, and all things will be yours without the asking. And lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world.” That Jesus begins with the distinctive
nature of the Kingdom of God resonates with Jesus’ statement in the Gospels
that he has come to preach the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. He situates
himself thusly as the means rather than an end in itself, for the goal for his
followers is to manifest the Father’s kingdom. The task is to “find the Kingdom
of God,” and the means thereto is to love one another(caritas seu benevolentia
universalis). Both in his preachments and example (agape seu
benevolentia universalis) in the Gospels, Jesus is oriented to people being
able to instantiate the Kingdom within by an inner transformation that
transcends ethics, for religion does not reduce to ethics as the Biblical stories
of Abraham and Isaac, and Job, attest. The Kingdom of God is within, so “(m)ake
it your first care to love one another, and [thus] to find the Kingdom of God
[within].”
Drawing on
the first spoken words in the film, the last line, “I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world” can be understood in terms of the Logos, which was
(with) God even in the beginning, and thus at the end of the film it is clear
that the Logos is eternal, existing through time from its beginning to its end.
I submit that this transcends even the theological point that from the
Incarnation on, Jesus’ resurrected body clothes God’s word for the remainder of
time. It is interesting to ponder the alternative that the Logos reverts back
to being solely God’s word, or rational principle, after the resurrection, such
that the Logos transcends even Jesus’ resurrected body, but this is not recognized
as theologically valid; perhaps theology only goes for far, given the inherent
limitations of finite, subjective beings, such as in terms of cognition,
perception, and emotion.
In short, the Logos, Jesus Christ as the Incarnated Logos, and the Father’s kingdom are explicitly linked by the first and last words spoken in the film. Perhaps it can be said that the Logos, which is God’s word and thus is God’s creative aspect (e.g., God spoke, and there was light), creates the Kingdom of God and provides us with the means to enter it, which boil down to extending compassion even one’s detractors and people who are rude. Jesus preaches and exemplifies this means in the Gospel narratives; even so, it is noteworthy that the first thing that the resurrected Jesus says at the end of the film is to love one another, rather than to speak first about himself. It may seem rather profane, or too close to our daily lives, that the Logos and its Incarnation don’t get top billing at the end of the film. In fact, “I am with you always” can be interpreted as referring to caritas seu benevolentia universalis (especially including people who have done us wrong). The spiritual interpersonal dynamic that manifests when compassion is shown to a detractor in need of help is, I submit, the spiritual substance of the Kingdom of God, and that substance available within even human nature until the end of time.
