The meaning of the film—[The Pagan "Sower"]
Such a work that is not the sowing of the gospel is just a record of the best efforts of a director who does not believe in God: there is no praise, no deliberate emphasis, such a work begins to make those who are accustomed to it. Those who "shut up and mock the Gospel" return to the four Gospels and evaluate Jesus.
There is a well-known parable of the sower in the four Gospels, which is a parable of evangelism. It is recorded in chapter 13 of Matthew that
a sower went out to sow. When they were sown, some fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them; some fell on the shallow, stony ground. The soil was not deep, but the seedlings grew the fastest, and when the sun came out, they withered because they had no roots. Some fell on thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it; and some fell on good soil, and fruited, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
To sow the seed is to preach the gospel, and where it falls, whether it bears fruit, is the soul's response to the gospel. Those who fall by the wayside are those who are ignorant and cannot understand the truth, and eventually do not believe; those who fall on shallow soil and stony ground have an unstable foundation of faith and eventually depart from the way; those who fall among thorns love the world more than God. became a nominal Christian. This is the response of three souls to the failure of the gospel, but after all these three souls had opened their hearts to the gospel.
There is no doubt that our present age is the age of crookedness and rebellion that the prophets of the Bible spoke of. This is an era in which humanism and relativism are infinitely exalted. In such an era, there is one response to the gospel that is far more unsuccessful than these three responses, and that is to do nothing. That is, closing the heart, indifference, ignorance, and refusal. The seed of the gospel cannot be sown into the soil of such a heart. This is the state of the majority of people who do not know Jesus Christ.
When the "theistic" of the Gospel greatly stabbed the self-esteem of an age that exalted "humanism". Many people cannot categorically reject the gospel, but they can choose to ignore it and close their hearts. He resisted, judged, rejected, ridiculed the gospel, and even shut his ears out of evangelists, out of context, and thus, Jesus became the most familiar stranger in the world.
In 1971, the atheist and homosexual, talented director Pier Pasolini was surprised to read "The Gospel of Matthew", and finally put the "Gospel of Matthew" based on the words used in the Gospel of Matthew without any script. The screen, at that time, people who are used to "closing the door and mocking the Gospel" were stunned, and this film silenced them.
Such a work that is not the sower of the gospel is just a record of the best efforts of a director who does not believe in God: there is no praise, no deliberate emphasis, such a work begins to let those who are used to "closing the door and mocking the gospel" return to the four gospels, Evaluate Jesus.
Activists are surprised to find that they are not pioneers, and what they do is not new. As early as the 1st century AD, Jesus of Nazareth bravely went against tradition with his bare hands, proposed anti-materialism, anti-hypocrisy, advocated peace, and proposed the establishment of his own kingdom in Palestine, a country that abides by legalism.
Those who seek moral sanctification find that on the summit of moral supremacy, Jesus of Nazareth stood there more than 2,000 years ago. The moral declaration of Matthew 5-7 makes the morality of the self-righteous pale, and even breaks the neck at a glance.
The losers of the world found that the most familiar stranger, Jesus, turned out to be so partial to losers, that he had complete acceptance, complete equality and tolerance, prostitute, poor widow, tax collector, regarded by the world as The unclean person is very free before him, and this seems very different from the feeling of the church today.
Who is he? Radical revolutionaries who built a kingdom for the poor (Pasolini's preferred position in the film)? Rabbi of the moral high ground? Crazy idealist? Pasolini, the pagan "sowder", has successfully done this: remove the annoying evangelistic face of Christians (in the eyes of many who don't know Jesus), at least open up many people The gate of reason and sensibility, take some objective view of Jesus (less prejudice).
The author's insight - [Real people come to an abnormal world]
Real people have come, and come to a less normal world, full of disabled people. He brought example and hope to the world, but the world nailed him to the wood.
Is Jesus Human? Yes! Is Jesus God? Yes! Is it half God and half human? no! As a man, Jesus is 100% real man, and as God, Jesus is 100% real God. In most of our minds, God is elusive, while man is real.
However, when we put aside the concept of physiology, we find that this reality is beginning to become very illusory, real people? What is it like? mental state? Moral level? mental health? Doing style? temperament? No one can give an absolute answer. The absolute answer to what a real person should look like.
In a generation that exalted relativism, people set themselves up a lot. Successful people, Hollywood idols, philosophers, thinkers and so on, those we once worshipped with flowers and applause, tried to imitate, and occupied many areas of the world, Russell, Hemingway, Sutter, Jobs,
and by atheists and homosexuals Pasolini, the director of the canonized film, is not as innocent as we imagined, with a rich life and happy contentment. On the contrary, their private life is depraved, arrogant, rude and rude, and their lives are miserable. Generations of advertisers and idols have collapsed like this, so who is a real person? Countless people have established their own personal theories, and when we put them together, we find that they unexpectedly constitute the image of "Jesus who made the flesh."
The image of a real man is the image of Jesus. Although the Bible does not say about Jesus' skin color, height, weight, face, what brand of clothes he wears, and what kind of life care products he uses (these things we care about most when we pay attention to idols). However, after reading the four Gospels, I found that he was really a real person. Not a juggler Superman. Not an empty ideal phantom, but a real person. All about the style and bearing that a real man should have, he found the answer in him.
Go back to the film and see such a "real person".
The most attractive part of the film is the expressions of the characters in the close-up shots, perhaps because all the actors in the film are non-professional actors, so the expressions and body language are not as flexible and vivid as professional actors, so. Instead, it reflects the real world more realistically.
There is a strong contrast between the expressions of the Palestinian residents and Jesus in the film, a contrast between a broken and a perfect, a broken person and a real person.
The expression of Mary's husband has the simplicity and weightiness of the Palestinian countryside, but more of it is unbearable under the pressure of reality, and the expression of inferiority and depression, this is a crippled person under the pressure of reality; Herod, the king of Palestine, has a face Full of deceit, desire, anxiety, and trembling defense of power, they are crippled people who are controlled by desire and sin; Jesus' disciples Peter, James, John, etc., have the simplicity, vigor and unrestrainedness of young countrymen on their faces, But it also shows the numbness and ignorance of a poor teenager; what is more intriguing is the expression of Judas who betrays the seller, so careful, restrained and wretched, vividly depicting a person who has surrendered to the real world, which is most of us. The rest of the Palestinian residents, let us see the faces of desire, the faces of fear, the faces of pride, the faces of numbness, the faces of wounded, the faces of powerlessness... And who can say, this is a real person.
Every era has its iconic aesthetic expressions. Today, the star expressions we see on magazine covers are some of the spirits advertised. We found that there are ignorant fearless, cool, handsome, literary, and angry youths, faces of desire, hurt, and shackles. It is difficult for people to recognize that this is a "real person".
Corresponding to it is the expression of Jesus (thanks to the director for finding such an excellent actor), there is no numbness, no oppression, no manipulation of desire, no all kinds of pretense, on the contrary, it is a firm resistance with eyes. In an abnormal real world, it sympathetically cares for those numb and injured people, and goes to the cross calmly.
At this point, the director of the film used a very poetic method to make a strong contrast, shooting Jesus as an idealistic person. The film used a lot of long shots, shooting Jesus or on the beach in Galilee. , or on the top of the mountain with strong cold wind, or in the cold and desolate wild, firmly facing an unfair, unloving, abnormal world, facing a group of people who are a little numb, as if they never knew what beauty is. The characters talk about a great kingdom. The camera is very partial to Jesus, often holding up an empty shadow. The setting sun, the coast, and the beach set off Jesus' firm face. The mutilation is a stark contrast.
However, the director shot only one image, if he is a real person, he must return to the Four Gospels.
When we return to the four Gospels, we will find that these four books that preach the most mysterious characters in the universe have no mystery at all. The Jesus described is lifelike, and he is so incredible right in front of him. Even more surprising is that when we formulate various theories about "real people", we put them together and find that they point to Jesus. He is more like a real person. The answer is indeed.
No evangelist can preach as boldly, unabashedly, wisely and calmly as Jesus did? When we have seen too many disguises for the sake of pleasing people, and too many foolish bravery for the sake of bravery, we will feel more and more what real bravery and wisdom are.
There is no moralist who can practice all the morality that Jesus said. When you look at the politicians, teachers and honorable people who are full of benevolence and righteousness and turn their backs on male thieves and female prostitutes, you will find a truly moral person. What kind of state it is, it is not preaching with a stern face, but showing morality with life.
No leader is as approachable as he is. "Approachable" here is not a slogan advertised by politicians, but a real achievement. The woman by the well, the fisherman by the lake, the leper, the humble widow, the lowly and depraved, are always accustomed to keeping aloof from the venerable and the rabbi, but they are happy to be around him because Jesus always It is the ability to figure out what people are thinking, and a few short conversations can make people trust their hearts and tell their inner secrets frankly.
There is no strong man like him who does not hide his fears and does not hesitate to ask for help from others. Jesus Wept in front of the disciples at least three times. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he told the disciples, "I am so grieved that I am about to die. You wait here and watch with me." Several strongman leaders will meet today. Expose your weaknesses? Even ordinary people like us are restricted by various cultures and vanities, and they carry out layers of camouflage.
real people! When the world confuses right and wrong, good, evil, beauty and ugliness, judges ugliness as aesthetics, and regards the gray area of life as the true state of life, re-reading the Four Gospels, you will find that bright light shines, the so-called 5,000 years of human civilization will evolve into The real man of , has already appeared in the world in form and with ideas as early as the 1st century AD. Since then, the world has undergone a reversal to accept and not accept him as a division, a group of people who choose to follow Jesus and who are called and called "new creations in Christ" are not good people in the worldly sense, but is a newcomer. They decided to imitate him and be in his image, because they believed they were made in his image, and only ruined their image because of their sin and fall, and now, because of his promise, they will have The image of life's first glory, and another group of people. Still walking on the road without standards and concepts. These people may think that this is originally a relative world, and there is no absolute standard for real people. If this world has no absolute value, no absolute meaning, and no ultimate judgment, the origin of the universe and life is only due to Accidentally, then survival itself becomes meaningless.
Whoever wants to hold on to a meaningless existence and search for the meaning of existence must return to a question: "Who am I?"
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