Reconsidering 'Joshua'

"Remind them that I love them. That I died for them. Tell them that my love is real. That if they open their hearts to it, I will fill that emptiness and that they will be able to love one another. That's the message. Hasn't changed. Tell them. Tell them…" — Joshua, "Joshua"

Sometimes watching a movie many times over many years can refine your feelings and take on a topic. I thought about that with "Joshua," a Christian movie that came out in 2002. I've seen it nearly a dozen times, and over the years I think I've refined my opinion of the film and its contents.

Right now in Ignite we've introduced movie days, a time when we'll look at a movie and its worldview. We just finished a faith foundations unit, so it seemed like a good time to tackle the movie "Joshua." It has a lot to say about what it means to be a Christian, the point of the Bible, and how we relate to the world.

Written as a novel by Joseph Gizzone, a retired Catholic priest, the film centers on a name named Joshua who comes to the small town of Auburn. He begins to change people's lives, and change their view of what it means to have faith.

When I first saw the movie — and when I first covered it in Faith in Film four summers ago — I was struck by a plot twist that I found unsupportable in Scripture. The movie, and the book I believe, assert that Joshua is Jesus — returned to Earth in human form to help teach us the lessons of Scripture again. This bothered me.

The Bible is fairly clear that when Jesus returns, it won't be in disguise to check on our progress as believers. When, in Matthew, He talks about whatever you did for the least of these, you did also for me, He doesn't mean He's literally going to come down and see how we respond. Jesus is God. He doesn't have to come down to Earth to see if we get it, He already knows. He knows our hearts.

But I got stuck on that theological point. While it's valid, I don't think it's the entire point of the film. Watching it again, and thinking on it again, I reflected on how much I think the story was a reaction against other Christians.

Gizzone spent his career in the Catholic Church. I can't help but wonder if the way he saw faith portrayed in that institution, and the way he saw people respond, didn't inspire him to change the narrative. In the film, the priest portrayed by F. Murray Abraham presents a very fire and brimstone view of God. He presents God as someone to be feared, and that fear should inform our actions.

But those who follow God's laws simply to avoid punishment miss the point. And often, the mainstream church misses the point in sharing the Gospel. The Gospel literally means the Good News, not the news you need to hear to avoid damnation.

There are serious consequences to not following God, and we should follow His law and Jesus' example. But we should do it because we believe in Jesus, we love Him, and we want to be more like Him. Not because we're afraid of being condemned.

Perhaps "Joshua" goes a bit too far in proclaiming God's love above all, and the story definitely falls off the Scriptural rails in making Joshua out to be Jesus in disguise, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have some valid points. And I can't help but wonder, as Gizzone clearly did, if Jesus did come back today, would we recognize Him? We'd all like to think we would, but sometimes I wonder.

It's easy to get caught up in some of the small theological points and errors in movie and miss what it gets right. Sometimes it helps to watch it again and think differently. You never know how it can open up your worldview.