Risen

Last Saturday we saw the new epic bible story “Risen”, which takes place during holy week and ends with Jesus’s Ascension. The movie starts out with Roman soldiers in a brutal battle with the Judeans. The movie depicts life in the holy land similar to the Bible series A.D, with the extreme violence of the Romans and the persecution of Jesus's followers by the Pharisees. Jesus and his disciple were constantly on the move and had no safe haven. The movie focused on a Roman solider, Clavius, who experienced a conversion when he was put to the task to find the missing Jesus. I thought the whole theme of the movie, and the conversion story was just perfect for today. Clavius worshiped the Roman gods, but he was intelligent, or perhaps it was the Holy Spirit working in him, and he began to think outside the box and believe in the possibility of the resurrected Christ. The evidence was unfolding for Clavius and then he meets the resurrected Jesus.
I won’t tell the whole story, but I did enjoy the movie and the ending and how they depicted the ascension of Jesus. Jesus, his disciples, and Clavius were on a mountain together when they noticed that Jesus was walking away from them. Jesus turns around and waves to them and then continues to walk away. Light begins to circle around Him and it gets brighter and covers the horizon. You can still see Jesus at the center of the light for awhile, and then a blast of light fills the sky and the He is gone. 

http://www.risen-movie.com/ 

The next morning was Palm Sunday, and the mass readings came to life in a new way for me. As a teacher, I know that emotional learning is resilient and lasting. This new and dramatic story of Jesus’s life, meshed with the teachings of the church, reinforces God’s mercy and for all people.