The concept of The Young Messiah fits well into a world obsessed with trilogies, prequels, and reboots. Based on Ann Rice’s bestselling novel, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, this story of what life may have been like for Jesus at age 7 is kind of like a prequel to Risen. Or more accurately, like fan fiction of the Gospel. Like Smallville, we get to go back and explore what our hero may have been like when He was first discovering His powers, complete with parents who struggle with how much to tell Him about who He really is. This is, of course, one of the reasons the film has been criticized. Some argue vehemently that it is not biblically accurate because Jesus had to have known of His special relationship with God from the beginning.
The truth is, we don’t really know if Jesus supernaturally knew He was God from infancy or if He found out at some point along the way. Besides the ambiguous “He emptied Himself” of Philippians 2:7, the only clue we have is Luke 2:52 – “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.” Though that doesn’t really say anything outright, the implication is that if He was growing in wisdom, He didn’t start out with all of God’s wisdom from the beginning.
Personally, I have no problem imagining a young Jesus struggling with discovering just who He is. In fact, I find it rather fascinating to imagine. It makes Jesus more human. That is where I think the strength of The Young Messiah lies. The portrayal of Jesus is very real, very consistent with His character as portrayed in the Gospels. Though we don’t know if He actually performed miracles prior to His public ministry or confounded rabbis in the temple before the age of 12 or encountered the Devil before His temptation in the desert, they are all things He would one day do. So, though the individual events are a work of fiction, the character of Jesus was accurate.
The downfall of the film for me had nothing to do with biblical accuracy. It was the simple fact that though a lot of things happened in the movie… nothing really happened. The attempt at a plot was, ironically, exactly the same plot as Risen – there was a Roman soldier looking for Jesus, wanting to kill Him. My biggest problem with that wasn’t that we have no biblical evidence of that ever happening. It was that because we all know He become an adult, there is never really any fear that He will die, and so never any tension or suspense. From a story standpoint, the plot was kind of pointless.
But what was interesting for me was the concept itself and the questions it raised. It was particularly fascinating for me to watch The Young Messiah because I have a 7 year old boy myself. As I watched the young Jesus, I could imagine my son behaving in a lot of the same ways. Except, of course, for the raising a boy from the dead and healing his uncle from some fatal disease.
This concept reminds us that our Savior, our God, was once a child, a little boy. That He was human in every aspect of the word, and yet without sin. The narration at the end of the movie addresses this – that the reason for these early years was to experience being human, to experience being like us in every way, even when it hurts. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses.” Hebrews 4:15
Also, as a mother of a 7 year old boy, I identified with Mary in a way I never have before, imagining just how difficult it must have been for her, those first 30 years, raising the Son of God. How do you set boundaries and rules for God Himself? How do you teach God about the world? How do you train God in the way He should go? How do you discipline God?
The Young Messiah wasn’t the greatest film I’ve ever seen, but it raised good questions. And isn’t that what any Christian film, sermon, Bible study, or discussion should do?
The Trailer:
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To me the high point of the film was when Satan was tempting Jesus and became frustrated to the point of exclaiming that the world was chaos and he (Satan) was the prince. My immediate thought was how nothing has changed in 2000 years.