The Last Temptation of Christ Essay
The Temptations of Christ and the Journey to Revelation
Based on the Nikos Kazantkis novel, The Last Temptation of Chirst, Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film adaptation shows a nontraditional story of Jesus and his journey to Jerusalem. The film opens with a brief excert from the novel and a disclaimer saying that the film “is not based on the Gospels but upon the fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict.” Straying from the traditional biblical storyline, Scorsese shows Jesus’ struggle and his resistance to the temptations often faced by human beings. In many biblical texts, Jesus is portrayed as a strong leader, charismatic speaker, and divine individual, sent by God, with a predetermined purpose on Earth. However, when watching the film, one can see that this is not the case. Instead, Jesus is depicted as having flaws, doubts, and sinful thoughts. Ultimately, Scorsese shows Jesus as a man, struggling to spiritually accept God, and dismiss the temptations created by Satan. This depiction, of course, creates a great deal of controversy, for it creates a new lane or avenue of thinking when it comes to who exactly Jesus of Nazareth was. Was Jesus really a divine figure sent by God to teach the world a new way of living, or was Jesus really just an ordinary man? The many temptations placed before Jesus, by Satan, show that at first Jesus was not this divine messenger from God, but instead a doubtful, reluctant messiah, but eventually, reached divinity through spiritual and physical suffering.
The film begins Jesus’ spiritual journey by defining the root of Jesus’ struggle. Jesus is shown as a cross maker for the Romans. It is quickly explained that Jesus is a cross maker because he feels guilty of being worthy of God’s love and wants God to hate him. He wants God to hate him, so he can live a “normal life,” with a wife and children. He believes if he makes crosses for the Romans to use for crucifying his fellow Jews, God will stop loving him. The love from
Based on the Nikos Kazantkis novel, The Last Temptation of Chirst, Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film adaptation shows a nontraditional story of Jesus and his journey to Jerusalem. The film opens with a brief excert from the novel and a disclaimer saying that the film “is not based on the Gospels but upon the fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict.” Straying from the traditional biblical storyline, Scorsese shows Jesus’ struggle and his resistance to the temptations often faced by human beings. In many biblical texts, Jesus is portrayed as a strong leader, charismatic speaker, and divine individual, sent by God, with a predetermined purpose on Earth. However, when watching the film, one can see that this is not the case. Instead, Jesus is depicted as having flaws, doubts, and sinful thoughts. Ultimately, Scorsese shows Jesus as a man, struggling to spiritually accept God, and dismiss the temptations created by Satan. This depiction, of course, creates a great deal of controversy, for it creates a new lane or avenue of thinking when it comes to who exactly Jesus of Nazareth was. Was Jesus really a divine figure sent by God to teach the world a new way of living, or was Jesus really just an ordinary man? The many temptations placed before Jesus, by Satan, show that at first Jesus was not this divine messenger from God, but instead a doubtful, reluctant messiah, but eventually, reached divinity through spiritual and physical suffering.
The film begins Jesus’ spiritual journey by defining the root of Jesus’ struggle. Jesus is shown as a cross maker for the Romans. It is quickly explained that Jesus is a cross maker because he feels guilty of being worthy of God’s love and wants God to hate him. He wants God to hate him, so he can live a “normal life,” with a wife and children. He believes if he makes crosses for the Romans to use for crucifying his fellow Jews, God will stop loving him. The love from