My kids and I went to see The King of Kings movie this week. I didn’t know much about it except for reading one review. The premise is Charles Dickens {yes, the novelist} wants to teach his son about the greatest King who ever lived. So he tells the story of Jesus, from birth to resurrection. As he hears the story, the boy “lives” the scenes his father is describing, trying to warn the family that Herod is killing babies, showing Mary that Jesus is teaching in the temple, etc.
At first, the intrusion into the biblical narrative of a Victorian dressed boy and his cat was a little jarring. But as the boy “experiences” miracles, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the crucifixion, the movie watcher is also welcomed into the narrative; maybe to experience these Bible events in a fresh way.
While this post is not an endorsement for the film {it does have some biblical inaccuracies}, it did make me consider a few things through a new lens. And that’s the lens of people — the individuals who lived what we are prone to breeze through in our Bible reading.
The scenes portrayed are ones I knew in an instant: the blind man healed, the paralytic lowered through the roof, Jesus walking on water and feeding thousands. But thinking what it would have been like to experience them in person made me pause. Especially in one scene: when the woman caught in adultery is brought to Jesus.
In the movie, you see the crowd grabbing rocks, yelling it is lawful to stone her for her sin, the Pharisees smirking, the woman crying. Jesus stands from writing in the dirt and simply says, “Let the person who has never sinned throw the first stone.” In the movie, he looks around as the angry faces in the crowd turn to surprise, confusion, guilt. Hands lower, rocks fall to the ground, and everyone walks away.
That realization that we have all sinned. That there is no ranking in God’s eyes. Sin separates us from the perfectly holy God. Lying is a sin just as pride is, just as adultery is, just as murder is, just as idolatry is. We have no merit or goodness on our own. And that is why Jesus came. For all sinners, because we need a Savior.
It’s hard to believe I need to say this…but that person you disagree with politically is saved by the same sacrifice of Jesus that saved you. Those family members who don’t follow the same life rules you do, Jesus died for their sins when he died for yours. Salvation isn’t limited to who we think deserves it. It’s an open invitation that every person has to choose to accept but that God freely offers to all.
If you are trying to do good works, be a better person, reach God on your own merit, please stop. Jesus died for you. Maybe you don’t feel worthy of his sacrifice. Maybe you’ve rejected him in the past. Come now. Repent of your sins, ask Jesus to save you, admit you are a sinner in desperate need of a Savior. Meet the King of Kings at the foot of the cross.
Photo by Duncan Sanchez on Unsplash
