Our awakening to the divine must remain alive and free
A thought prompted from watching, ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’
It was made in 1965 I knew of it but I had never watched it. My former mother in law ‘mum’ would have it on like she did the telly most of the time. It is the film, ‘The Greatest story ever told’. Maybe in my own way of remembering her, I sat down to watch the 3 hours of it. I just checked and it says it lasts 4 hours 20 mins. Not sure where the 1 h 20 minutes went?
It was the scene in the Temple days before Jesus’s death that stays with me. He begins to turn over the tables of the merchandisers and throw them out saying, “ My father’s house is a house of prayer and you are making it into a den of thieves.”
He continues to dismiss the sacrifices and states that God wants mercy. It was like they had gotten it all wrong. It was reminiscent of Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai having received the 10 commandments and the people were worshipping a Golden Calf made from their jewellery.
It served as a reminder that we before too long make what is living into a form. It is like we take a wild animal, tame it for the circus and then make it perform for us. Our awakening to the divine must remain alive and free not packaged and boxed.
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You may be interested as was I in what Max Von Sydow said in relation to the role,
When we were filming The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), we were in Utah and many of the people on the set expected me to behave like Jesus all the time, day and night. But it’s not method acting, is it? I couldn’t have my wife visit me openly because Jesus was not married, and I couldn’t take a drink and relax when I was Christ. It’s much easier now.
[on making The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)] Playing Christ, I began to feel shut away from the world. A newspaper became one of my biggest luxuries. I noticed that some of my close friends began treating me with reverence. Playing the role of Christ was like being in a prison. It was the hardest part I’ve ever had to play in my life. I couldn’t smoke or drink in public. I couldn’t. The most difficult part of playing Christ was that I had to keep up the image around the clock. As soon as the picture finished, I returned home to Sweden and tried to find my old self. It took six months to get back to normal. When I finished the role of Christ, I felt as though I’d been let out on parole. A man who has served 18 months isn’t eager to go back to prison.
source of above quote below
