I watched this intriguing movie tonight. It was called “The Young Messiah”. After looking around a bit, it looks as though it is almost 100% fictional. Fictional or not, I found it fascinating.
There were a few things in the story that I thought were based on apocryphal writings. Those writings talk of Jesus performing miracles as a child. Let me look around and see.
It looks like some of it came from The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Honestly, apocryphal writings were once biblical, before they were not biblical. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (pseudepigrapha.com)
I must say to start, that there were some very lovely moments in this movie and very lovely portrayals of a young Jesus Christ. Lovely portrayals of a young Jesus being taught by Joseph and Mary. Portrayals of this holy family, their past and present relationships.
I loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Especially since it was Hollywood-produced and not grossly ruined like they did no Noah’s Ark with Russell Crow.
The movie starts in Egypt and addresses why they fled to Egypt. It then follows them on a journey home to Nazareth. The final scenes are in Jerusalem at Passover. All the while Jesus comes closer and closer to discovering his divine mission.
Death and Resurrection of a Child in Egypt – This is interesting. It says that a boy bumped Jesus, so Jesus cursed him and he died.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas:1-2
1 From there he was going with his father Joseph, and someone running struck his shoulder. And Jesus said to him, “Cursed be you because of your leader!”
And immediately he died.
And the people who saw that he had died immediately cried out and said, “From where was this child born, that his word becomes deed?”
2 And when the parents of the dead child saw what had happened, they blamed Joseph his father, saying, “From wherever you have this child, you can’t live with us in this village. If you want to be here, teach him to bless and not to curse, because our child has been taken away from us.”
Instead, the movie portrays children, playing bullying, and fighting. The devil is there and causes an accident and the death of a child that is then blamed on Jesus. Then Jesus heals him.
I had not thought that Satan may have followed Jesus around his entire youth attempting to kill him and or disrupt his divine mission. Although at one point in the movie he appears to act as though he did not know who Jesus was, we know through revelation he did know. This didn’t bother me at all. I was glad to see the contrast of good and evil throughout the movie. It was a solid attempt to do so. Mel Gibson did something similar in Passion of the Christ.
Centurions hunting Jesus – This was an interesting part. I think it added depth to the movie. Did it happen? Who knows.
Traveling to Jerusalem for Passover – This was probably the only disappointing part of the movie. I expected Jesus to end up in the temple teaching the Rabbi’s.
I loved the lead-up, Jesus desired to go there. He asked his father. His father and mother knew he needed to because God was his father. Then it appeared they avoided the Roman soldiers as a result of going. Then he left his family at night and traveled alone to the temple because he had to go.
This is where I thought there would be a beautiful tie-in with the Bible and Jesus being found teaching in the temple. But they missed the opportunity. What they did do was cool. It is always possible that he went to the temple in Jerusalem at a different age. He very well could have been inspired to go there multiple times. The text is not there to say one way or another. From looking it up, it looks like in the bible, he went there at about 12 years old. In this movie, he was about 8 years old when he desired to go to Jerusalem for Passover.
In the temple, Jesus heals a blind Rabbi’s eyes. That was cool as well.
Satan – Went about deceiving. I really liked how they portrayed him speaking in people’s ears. He looked and felt evil.
Mary talking to Jesus of his birth – God is your father, but we are all children of God. I loved the dialog here. It is beautiful and tender. You would think at some point Mary and Joseph would teach Jesus of who he was. But, I’m also sure he was taught of his father in heaven. Through angles, dreams, and visions. He must have been taught grace by grace by his father.
Sparrow being brought to life – This is interesting. I really like how the girl asks him to heal the boy and reminds him of the sparrow he brought to life. Then they showed a dead bird washing ashore. Hi picks it up and brings it to life. In the Apocryphal writings, it talks of birds being formed of clay, not a real dead bird. Either way, I know there are flaws in the apocryphal writings, so it does not really matter. It is just fascinating how they took the writings and interpreted them in the movie. Whether it happened or not, it does not matter.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas 2:1-5
1 The child Jesus was five years old. After it rained, he was playing at the ford of a flowing stream. And stirring up the dirty waters, he gathered them into pools, and he made them clean and excellent, ordering them by word alone – and not ordering them by a deed.
2 Then, having taken soft clay from the mud, he formed twelve sparrows from it. But it was the Sabbath when he did these things, and many children were with him.
3 But a certain Jew saw the child Jesus with the other children doing these things. He went to Joseph his father and slandered the child Jesus, saying that “he made clay on the Sabbath, which isn’t permissible, and formed twelve sparrows.”
4 And Joseph went and rebuked him (Jesus), saying, “Why are you doing these things on the Sabbath?”
Jesus clapped his hands, ordering the birds with a shout in front of all, and said, “Go, take flight like living beings!” And the sparrows, taking flight, went away squawking.
5 And having seen this, the Pharisee was amazed, and he reported it to all his friends.