As a young girl, I watched the Charlton Heston version of Ben Hur. And was drawn into the story so vividly told on the big screen. Awed by the way Jesus Christ figured into the fictional tale of Judah Ben Hur’s life.
Jesus kept appearing. Giving us glimpses into how His time on earth impacted people. It was mysterious and beautiful.
The newest version of Ben Hur was showing at theaters in the Asian country where we were living at the time. Before it was relegated to odd middle-of-the-night hours, we headed to the mall, purchased our popcorn and settled into a nearly empty theater to enjoy the movie.
Incomplete story
As the movie progressed, I noticed odd sequences. Some conversations didn’t make sense. The storyline felt disrupted and incomplete.
When Judah’s mother and sister were found suffering from leprosy, I remembered the first movie and how they were healed when Jesus died on the cross.
Then I began to wonder. Where is Jesus? Where are the glimpses of His ministry from afar?
He was nowhere in sight.
The end of the movie ended strangely and abruptly with everyone together for a happily ever after.
No Jesus.
Censors
As we drove home, I checked a movie database and found a synopsis of the entire movie. Interesting.
Yes, Jesus figured into the story throughout this updated version. There was even a crucifixion scene complete with earthquake and the healing of Judah’s mother and sister.
The movie censors had removed the heart of the movie and left viewers with a barely entertaining film. And confusing storyline. Forgiveness was lauded in the end, but it was a shallow rendering of how and why.
They were doing their job, seeking to make Ben Hur palatable for the majority of the country, but the end result was an empty script and uneven conclusion.
Jesus and the ongoing story
The ongoing story we’re part of today is breathtaking in its scope and imagery. And the presence of the living Christ makes sense of it all.
Without Him, our storyline is weak. Uneven.
Without Him, forgiveness falls short. Incomplete.
As followers of Christ in this story, our job is not to make Him or His Word palatable for those we encounter. When we do, the conversations wind up strangely empty.
So we abide day by day in Christ—and learn by the work of His Spirit to freely, lovingly speak what is true. To keep His name foremost in our thoughts and on our lips. Because He is the first and the last and the One who holds everything together.
It’s His story, after all.
Glimpses
It hits me that His followers keep moving in and out of people’s life stories. Providing glimpses of Christ.
Ordinary people speaking His redemptive word in the setting of a broken world. Living out His mysterious ways in their communities and workplaces and travel spaces.
I’m reminded to live the gospel story and speak it. Watch for it.
And wait with longing for the day when He will no longer be seen in glimpses. But full-on glory.
Alleluia.
He is before all things,
and by Him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile
everything to Himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace
through His blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:17-20
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