The Last Temptation of Christ Quotes

Jesus: I'm struggling.

Judas: No. No. I struggle, you collaborate.

[after Lazarus has been resurrected]

Saul: So Lazarus, how do you feel?

Lazarus: I like the light.

Saul: What was it like? Which is better: Death, or life?

Lazarus: I was a little surprised... wasn't that much difference.

[pause]

Saul: Give me your hand.

[stabs him]

Jesus: Brothers, my old friends! Listen to me! It's me the prophets preached about. God talked to me in the desert; he gave me a secret and told me to bring it to you. Didn't you hear me coming? I ran here to Nazareth, where I grew up, to bring you the news. The word of God is here now.

Voice in Crowd: You work miracles. Make a miracle for us. Make us believe in you. Otherwise, go away.

Jesus: The Messiah doesn't need miracles. He is the miracle. Now he's here. Are you ready for me? I'm here to tear down everything around you, and you know what I'm going to replace it with? Something new: God. The World of God. So take your bread and give it to the poor. What difference does it matter what you own? You have gold and silver? It's going to rot, and that rot is going to eat away your heart. All of you! There will be a flood, and there will be a fire. Everything will be destroyed. But there will be a new ark riding on that fire, and I hold the keys and I open the door, and I decide who goes in and who doesn't. You're my brothers from Nazareth, and you're the first I invite on the ark. Don't wait. Don't waste your life. Come with me.

Jesus: Judas, my brother, I have something to tell you. I have a terrible secret from God. You know why I came to Jerusalem?

Judas: Yes. This is where the revolution is going to begin.

Jesus: Last night, Isaiah came to me. He had a prophecy, I saw it written. It said, "He has borne our faults; he was wounded for our transgressions, yet he opened now his mouth. Despised and rejected by all, he went forward without resisting, like a lamb led to the slaughter."

Judas: I don't understand.

Jesus: Judas, I am the lamb. I'm the one who's going to do.

Judas: Die? You mean you're not the Messiah?

Jesus: I Am.

Judas: That can't be. If you're the Messiah, why do you have to die?

Jesus: Listen, at first, I didn't understand myself...

Judas: No, *you* listen. Every day, you have a different plan. First it's love, then the ax, and now you have to die. What good could that do?

Jesus: God only talks to me a little at a time and tells me as much as I need to know.

Judas: We need you alive!

Jesus: Now I finally understand! All my life-all my life, I've been followed by voices, by footsteps, by shadows. And do you know what that shadow is? The cross. I have to die on the cross, and I have to die willingly. We have to go back to the temple.

Judas: And after you die on the cross, what happens then?

Jesus: I come back to judge the living and the dead.

Judas: I don't believe you.

Jesus: You have to.

Jesus: I wish there was another way, but there isn't. I have to die on the cross.

Judas: I won't let you die.

Jesus: You don't have a choice. Neither do I. Remember, we're bringing God and man together. They'll never be together unless I die. I'm the sacrifice... Forget everything else, understand that.

[last lines]

Jesus: It is accomplished! It is accomplished.

Judas: You're a disgrace! Romans can't find anyone to make crosses, except for you! You do it! You're worse than them! You're a Jew killing Jews. You're a coward! How will you ever pay for your sins?

Jesus: With my life, Judas. With my life. I don't have anything else.

Jerobeam: God took you by the hand and brought you here.

Jesus: You think it's a blessing to know what God wants? I'll tell you what he wants. He wants to *push* me over! Can't you see what's inside of me? All my sins.

Jerobeam: We all sin.

Jesus: Not my sins. I'm a liar. A hypocrite. I'm afraid of everything. I don't ever tell the truth. I don't have the courage. When I see a woman, I blush and look away. I want her; but, I take her, for God, and that makes me proud. And then my pride ruins Magdalene. I don't steal. I don't fight. I don't kill. Not because I don't want to but because I'm afraid. I want to rebel against you, against everything, against God! But, I'm afraid. You want to know who my mother and father are? You want to know who my God is? Fear. You look inside me and that's all you'll find.

Jerobeam: But the more devils we have inside us the more chance we have to repent.

Jesus: Lucifer is inside me. He says to me, "You're not the Son of King David. You're not a man. You're the Son of Man. And more, the Son of God. And more than that, God." Do you want to ask me anything else?

Jesus: You're here to trick me.

The Cobra/Satan: Trick you? To love and care for a woman, to have a family? This is a trick? Why are you trying to save the world? Aren't your own sins enough for you? What arrogance to think you can save the world. The world doesn't have to be saved: save yourself. Find love

Jesus: I have love.

Saul: You had orders to kill him and you haven't done it. Now he acts like a prophet, and you follow him!

Judas: Did you hear what he said back there?

Saul: Yes I heard him. We took an oath against Rome. I don't see a thing against Rome around here, all I see are Jews against Jews.

Judas: Then you're not listening.

Rabbi: That is blasphemy.

Jesus: Didn't they tell you? I am the saint of blasphemy. Don't make any mistakes, I didn't come here to bring peace, I came to bring a sword!

Rabbi: Talking like that will get you killed.

Jesus: Me, killed? Listen to me. This temple will be torn down in three days, torn down to the ground!

Peter, Apostle: Don't you have any respect?

Judas: For him?

Jesus: [feebly] You don't understand...

Judas: Understand? Rabbi, you broke my heart. Sometimes I curse the day I ever met you! We held the world in our hands. Remember what you told me? You took me in your arms, do you remember? And you begged me, "Betray me, betray me, I have to be crucified..."

The Snake: I feel sorry for you. You were lonely. You cried, so I came.

Jesus: [wary] I didn't call for you. Who are you?

The Snake: Your spirit.

Jesus: Why has it changed so much?

Girl Angel: It hasn't changed. You have. Now you can see its real beauty.

Pontius Pilate: It's one thing to want to change the way people live; but, you want to change how they think, how they feel.

Jesus: All I'm saying is that change will happen with love, not with killing.

Pontius Pilate: Either way, it's dangerous. It's against Rome. It's against the way the world is. And killing or loving, it's all the same. It simply doesn't matter how you want to change things. We don't want them changed.

Mary, Mother of Jesus: You're sure it's God and not the Devil? If it's the Devil, the Devil can be driven out.

Jesus: What if it is God? You can't drive out God, can you?

Jesus: I'm not inviting you to a celebration. I'm inviting you to a war.

[he pulls his heart out of his chest]

Jesus: This is my heart. Take it. God is inside of us. The devil is outside us, in the world all around us. We'll pick up an axe, and cut the devil's throat. We'll fight him wherever he is. In the sick... in the rich... even in the temple. I'll lead you. If you have sheep, give them away. If you have a family, leave them. I believed in love.

[he picks up an axe, and raises it]

Jesus: Now I believe in this! Who's with me?

Mary Magdalene: Say the truth. If you want to save my soul, this is where you'll find it.

[reveals her naked body]

Mary Magdalene: You know that. You're the same as all the others, only you can't admit it. You're pitiful. I hate you. Here's my body. Save it. Save it.

Judas: What are you? What kind of a man are you?

Jesus: What you want, I want. That's why he brought us together, it's God's plan.

Judas: I come to kill you and you help me, that's God's plan?

Judas: Is there some secret? Tell me your secret.

Jesus: Pity.

Judas: Pity for who? Yourself?

Jesus: Pity for men.

Judas: Our enemies are men.

Jesus: I feel pity for everything. Donkeys, grass, sparrows.

Judas: What about ants? Do you feel pity for them, too?

Jesus: Yes. Everything's a part of God. When I see an ant, when I look at his shiny black eye, you know what I see? I see the face of God.

Judas: You're not afraid of dying?

Jesus: Why should I be? Death isn't a door that closes, it opens. It opens and you go through it.

John The Baptist: On the day of the Lord, blood will flow from wood. The stones of the houses will come alive and kill their owners. That day is here. He gave me the axe. Now, I give it to you.

Jesus: That's not the answer.

John The Baptist: Then what is the answer?

Jesus: I don't know.

Jesus: Who are you?

Mary, Mother of Jesus: Your mother.

Jesus: I don't have a mother. I don't have any family. I have a Father, in heaven.

Mary, Mother of Jesus: Don't say that to me.

Jesus: Who are you? I mean, really. Who are you?

Jesus: When was he buried?

Mary, Sister of Lazarus: Three days ago.

Jesus: Roll away the stone.

Jesus: You see these people? They're poor. They're blind. They're crippled. They're going to be our army.

Judas: We're going to need better men than this.

Jesus: God will give them to me. We're going to build a new Jerusalem.

Pontius Pilate: So, you are the King of the Jews?

Jesus: "King" is your word.