Faith in Film, Week 1 The Young Messiah

I'm excited to begin another round of Faith in Film, this time teaching with my partner in crime, Junior. Of course the movie we begin with, "The Young Messiah," is billed as a Christian movie, but that doesn't mean it has good or even OK theology. It doesn't. But that can be part of the journey of learning when it comes to these films.

"The Young Messiah" was released in 2016 to little fanfare and modest Box Office Returns. It was adapted by Cyrus Nowrasteh, who said his goal with the film was to convey," how our film seeks to present a realistic portrait of Jesus as a child both grounded in faith and consistent with the adult Jesus revealed in the Bible." Those who've seen the film would realize that whatever his aim, the film falls short of consistency with Jesus as seen in the Bible.

The film is based on the 2005 novel by Anne Rice, "Christ The Lord Out of Egypt." Rice is best known for her popular fiction, such as "Interview With A Vampire," but she was born into a Catholic family and returned to the church in 1998. After that point she decided to use her time and talents to reflect her belief in God. And "Christ The Lord Out of Egypt" was the first of these works. She's since left the church, while maintaining her belief in God, due to the more liberal positions she takes on areas such as abortion and gay rights. But at the time, she was committed to the Catholic Church. And the book reflects that in a couple ways. If you're reading closely, you'll catch references to the fact Mary and Joseph never consumated their marriage, which aligns with the belief that Mary remained a virgin her whole life. You can also see the Catholic influence in the additional texts she used to research the story, such as the non-canonical work "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas."

Like other non-canonical gospels, "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas" focuses on an area of Jesus' life not covered in the canon of Scripture, in this case his childhood in Egypt and return to Jerusalem. And it also presents a Jesus inconsistent with Scripture. In the work a young Jesus kills someone in anger, and is a spiteful child to his teachers and elders. It's almost as if they've taken Jesus and put him in a version of "The Bad Seed."

And as a result of the flawed theology of the source material, "The Young Messiah" presents a Jesus inconsistent with Scriptures. In fact, Jesus sins a few times ,including lying, which are in direct contradiction to what the Scriptures say of Jesus. 1 Peter 2:22 says, "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

There are other flaws in the adaptation, and the film itself isn't really well made, but I won't belabor that point. I don't come to completely trash the experience, though. One of the things I enjoyed about the story (more so in the book than film) was the depiction of Joseph, who actually appears to be the hero of the story in many ways. He's depicted as a strong and loving family man, and a man of deep and abiding faith he tries to impart to his family every chance he gets. He's almost venerated in the way he's portrayed in the book, but it was something I was fascinated by and drawn to.

The other positive I'll say is even when you get a story and film like this that isn't theologically accurate, it can be useful. Pastor Tim, in his talk on Sunday night at our Town Hall, uplifted the idea that to reach a world that desperately needs to hear the Good News of the Gospel just having an opening for conversation is key. And films like this that are released to a mass audience provide and opening, and may spark questions and curiosity. While the theology isn't right, it does provide a chance to dive deeper into the subject with someone, and that's never a bad thing.

Discussion Questions:
1. Did this film work for you, why or why not? How did it compare to the book?

2. What element of the story drew you in? Did you think it felt grounded and accurate? Did it engage you in thinking about Jesus in a different way? Why or why not?

3. A key focus of this film and book is the idea of Jesus struggling to understand who He really is and what His true purpose is while being a seven-year-old boy. Did that feel realistic? What about that story did you find compelling? What rang false?