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THE  GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

July 2021

 

I don’t know what it was about the mid-1960s and into the 1970s but there were five major productions based on the life of Christ which went around the world. As a young man in my late teens and early twenties, I saw them all. 

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It started with the movie The Gospel According to St Matthew in 1964. This film, shot in black and white, using the actual words of Matthew’s gospel for the dialogue, was free of all the usual religious trappings of Hollywood productions. Pier Paolo Pasolini who wrote and directed the film, later described it as "the life of Christ plus 2,000 years of storytelling about the life of Christ." 

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Jesus Christ Superstar, a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice started out as a concept album in 1970 followed by a theatre production on Broadway in New York in 1971 and London’s West End in 1972 with a film version in 1973.  

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The trouble with Superstar is that it ends at the crucifixion and does not include the resurrection - but it did put Jesus at the forefront of popular culture and coincided with the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s into the 1970s which we have considered on other occasions. 

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Another rock opera that appeared in London’s West End in 1971 before Superstar, was Godspell with a young David Essex as Jesus and Jeremy Irons as John the Baptist. I had the joy of going to the theatre in London at the age of 22 to see this for myself. 

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Later on in 1977, the British-Italian epic film and television serial: Jesus of Nazareth directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Robert Powell as Jesus, also went around the world - and it did depict the resurrection! 

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Later still, in 2004 Mel Gibson’s production, The Passion of Christ was a great success, grossing $611.4 million worldwide, making it Gibson's most profitable film to date. 

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However, it was in 1965 that the Hollywood production, The Greatest Story Ever Told produced and directed by George Stevens came out. It tells the story of Jesus from the Nativity through to the Ascension. It starred Max von Sydow as Jesus and received five Academy Award nominations and they still show it on TV every Easter. 

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Looking back on all these secular productions it makes me wonder why, as the latter film title suggests, they regard the life of Jesus as the greatest story ever told?   

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Of course, for us as Christians it truly is just that, but why - nearly two thousand years after Jesus walked through the land of Israel is His story still of such significance and interest to the world? 

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Is it because of what has happened since his lifetime? – because He is the “Founder of Christianity” which has nominally 2.4 billion adherents around the world today? - or is it because of what the world wants to know about this person?  

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When he was asked why he made the film The Gospel According to St Matthew, Pier Paolo Pasolini who had the reputation of being an atheist, a homosexual, and a Marxist said, “I may be an unbeliever, but I am an unbeliever who has a nostalgia for a belief.”   

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Maybe that is the answer to why people are still fascinated by Jesus, they may have their doubts or they may not want to commit to him (just yet) but deep inside they know they need Him.   

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This is our challenge – to present Jesus not in the way that He has been presented to the world over the past 2,000 years - but THE REAL JESUS - in a way that the world can see and understand Him “in the hope that they might seek for Him and find Him.” (Acts 17:17) 

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So, WILL THE CHURCH PLEASE PRESENT THE REAL JESUS - AS HE TRULY IS: 

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  • The Jesus who did not judge the woman taken in adultery but told her to "Go and sin no more."

  • The Jesus who loved and was loved by the little children and who took them in his arms and said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

  • The Jesus who touched the leper who no one else would dare to get near and said “Be clean.” 

  • The Jesus who looked round in anger at the people who would have stopped him from healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath and said “Stretch forth your hand” and healed him. 

  • The Jesus who wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus and called the dead man to "Come forth."

  • The Jesus who dared to say to his friend Martha “I am the resurrection and the life” and proved it by giving her brother back to her alive. 

  • The Jesus who said “I am The Way The Truth and The Life,” – What a claim!! 

  • Who said “No one comes to God except through Me” – another one!! 

  • The Jesus who said “Father forgive them they know not what they do” - for EVERYONE involved in his crucifixion. 

  • The Jesus who did and said all of these things and many more, because of WHO HE IS: 

  • The SON OF GOD - THE SON OF MAN – The MAN FROM HEAVEN 

  • The WORD of God – WORD of Life - WORD made flesh 

  • The IMAGE OF GOD – IMAGE OF INVISIBLE GOD 

  • The FIRSTBORN over all creation – THE FIRSTBORN from the dead 

  • The HEAVENLY HIGH PRIEST 

  • The Wisdom of God – the Power of God 

  • The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Emmanuel – God with us 

  • The Good Shepherd - Great Shepherd - Chief shepherd  

  • The Dayspring from on High - The Sun of Righteousness 

  • The Bright and Morning Star  

  • The Light of the World 

  • Resurrection and the life - the Way, the Truth, and the Life - The Author of life  

  • The Righteous Judge - The Judge of the living and the dead  

  • The Alpha and the Omega - The Beginning and the End  

  • The Holy One - The Anointed One - The Messiah - The Christ 

  • The Prince of Peace - Prince of Life - Prince of the Kings of earth 

  • The King of the Jews - King over all the earth 

  • The King of Righteousness - King of Peace - King of Glory - The KING of kings  

  • The LORD – LORD of All - LORD of the living & the dead - The LORD of lords 

 

HIS IS TRULY - THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD! 

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