"Who is that? Why are you following me?" Jesus is being followed, but by whom? We know, but Jesus doesn't. The voice is telling him he's the Son of God, and more .... God. Is this Satan trying to convince him to become God himself and take part in all the regular sin and excess of man? Or is it truly God himself telling his Son to have faith in him and follow his path, to be the Messiah?
Along this journey of personal torment and discovery for Jesus and his followers, a lot of the regular stories from the Gospels are in place here : Jesus saving Mary Magdalene from being stoned, asking the mob who among them has never sinned. Jesus telling the parable of planting the seed. Jesus wounding the cripples, giving a blind man back his sight. Jesus attending the wedding of Cana of Galilee, turning the water into wine. Jesus leaving to stay in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, being tempted by the Devil. Jesus arriving in Jerusalem as palms are thrown in the street (the representation of Palm Sunday). Jesus raising Lazurus from the dead. Jesus tearing down the markets in Jerusalem, and ultimately, Jesus being betrayed by Judas (as he asks Judas to do) and turned over to Pontius Pilate. He carries his own cross to Golgotha and is nailed to the Cross, either his final doom or his ultimate glory.
So on the surface, the film tells the story of the adult life of Jesus, all the way to the Cross. But at its core, immersed in the basic framework described in the Bible -- Kanzantakis, in his book, and Scorsese, in the film, add the new layer of examining the truthfulness of the existence of Jesus. Christianity teaches that Jesus was born as a man, to experience the world as a man, and ultimately die on the Cross to save all of mankind for their sins. What Christianity forgets to mention in any great detail are the temptations, doubts, fears, and anger that Jesus would have experienced as a man, as do any man since the existence of man. If he was to be completely God-like from birth, which is the image most Christians want to portray, then why did God even go through the trouble of having Jesus born as a man? Does it not make sense that Jesus was meant to be a man, in order to be tempted by the sins and excesses of man, and then triumph over them? Is this not a greater glory? Is there a greater glory than a man who is able to resist temptation in order to preserve the spirit?
