PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON: FROM JESUS OF NAZARETH

PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON

THE CROSS: SUPREME SIGN OF CHRIST'S LOVE

Many non-Christians and non-believers remain perplexed in front of the statement that mankind has been saved by the Cross of Christ. How can such a cruel death save people?

A satisfactory answer can be found not along the lines of retribution / punishment for sins, but only along the line of LOVE, because we believe in a God of love and that we are saved by His Merciful Love. Our Catholic Faith, rooted in the teaching of the Bible, teaches us that God is love in person and that He created all things out of love.

Of all His creatures, God loves mankind best and He would do anything to prevent that they might have to suffer. This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that he who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

We believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to save mankind from the disastrous consequences of sin and to teach it how to live the way God wants. He did that by living a life that was characterized by a pure, constant, perfect, unconditional LOVE FOR GOD and FOR PEOPLE. This is what saves humankind. This is what makes up for all its crimes and sins. “The Way of Love” is the way to build a better humanity and a society that is according to God’s plan – His Kingdom on earth!

But how do we measure love? How do we gauge the depth and sincerity of the love of a person? By the sacrifice which he/she is prepared to make for the person(s) one loves. Love is measured also by the circumstances in which one continues to love. The harder the circumstances, the deeper the sincerity and transforming power of the love manifested by the person who endures them.

Jesus Christ proved the depth and sincerity of His love for his Eternal Father and all human beings by continuing to love them even in the hardest of all circumstances: his having been condemned to die on a cross, in spite of His being absolutely innocent, and His feeling abandoned not only by His Disciples, but even by the Father.

His love in those terrible circumstances was absolutely heroic, especially because it included even his enemies. In all truth, there can be no greater love than this – to lay down one’s life not only for one’s friends, but also for one’s enemies. This is beyond the unimaginable. Such was the great love of Jesus Christ.

Such a heroic love has an immense value – a value that far outweighs the burden of human sinfulness, and which makes up for all unfaithfulness and lack of love on the part of all human beings. This is how humankind has been saved from sin and its deadly, destructive consequences.

It is not the cross itself, therefore, nor just the sufferings that Christ endured before he was crucified and while he agonized on Calvary that saved mankind. Rather, it was the supreme love with which He endured those sufferings that He earned the Father’s forgiveness and abundance of life for all. It was that love which transformed the cross from being an instrument of human retribution, vengefulness, hatred, and death into an instrument of redemption and life.

This is why and how we can speak of "The Triumph of the Cross." It is the triumph of Christ’s love for God the Father and for all human beings. It is a love unto death, death on a cross. It is the triumph of love over hatred; of holiness over sinfulness; of life over death. This is the Supreme Divine Love that leads to and gives ETERNAL LIFE.

JESUS OF NAZARETH: THE DVD FILM REVIEW

In the entire history of mankind, there has never been a more controversial, admired and most talked about person other than Jesus Christ. So much has been written about this revered Holy Man who is so misunderstood despite the fact that He willingly offered His very own life on the Cross as a supreme sacrifice so that all of mankind may be saved.

For those who prefer watching movies rather than reading the Bible, I highly recommend that you see this great classic film in its entirety; as it will surely change your perspective of Jesus Christ. It has touched and inspired many of my friends including skeptics who have seen this movie many times over.

In a person's lifetime, JESUS OF NAZARETH is one must see great movie on DVD, I enthusiastically encourage everyone to watch. The entire movie consists of a two (2) discs DVD with Disc 1 focusing on the origin and birth of Jesus and Disc 2 detailing His life, work, teachings and suffering.

While each Disc is about three hours in viewing duration; but under the artistic masterpiece and superb direction of the multi-awarded Film Director Franco Zeffirelli; the entire story was so engrossing in its realistic presentation that the viewer intensely enjoys uninterrupted viewing; hardly noticing the duration time has passed by.

It was originally presented by Sir Lew Grade and produced by Franco Zeffirelli Productions in 1977 as a television mini-series televised as continuing episodes with a total running time of 6 Hours and 22 Minutes.

The powerhouse award winning casts boast of Hollywood's greatest actors during their production time which had included Robert Powell, Anne Bancroft, Ernest Borgnine, Valentina Cortese, James Farentino, James Earl Jones, Stacey Keach, Tony Lo Bianco, James Mason, Ian McShane, Sir Laurence Olivier, Donald Pleasance, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Quinn, Fernando Rey, Rod Steiger, Peter Ustinov, Michael York, and Olivia Hussey as the Blessed Mother Mary.

This magnificent classic is the greatest Jesus movie of all time and what never ceases to amaze me is the par excellance performance of Robert Powell as Jesus Christ. He actually looks and talks like Jesus.

Even Director Zeffirelli was so impressed at his outstanding performance; he noted that Robert Powell never blinked his eyes even in the delivery of his long parts, which to him was the mark of a great actor as it was the first time he has witnessed such.

The following review is an excerpt of my movie review of Jesus of Nazareth as featured in Amazon.com:

No doubt about it, this for me is the greatest film on the life and story of Jesus Christ. While the Passion of The Christ centers on the actual suffering and was graphically vivid for the excruciating pain our sins have inflicted on Jesus, the movie Jesus Of Nazareth focuses more on his teachings and the impact of His earthly presence among those who have come into actual contact with Jesus.

This timeless masterpiece is a creatively brilliant humanist portrayal of the divine virtues of Faith, Hope, Love and Humility as Jesus teaches us to emulate.

In various scenes within the movie, Jesus emphasizes the fact that "All who were fortunate enough to see what others dreamed to see and to hear what others longed to hear" refer to the fortunate crowd who have actually witnessed the teachings of Jesus in the flesh as compared to those who only read in the Holy Scriptures about the coming of the Messiah.

But the greatest irony of all was those who were indeed fortunate enough to witness Him in the flesh were even the ones who rejected His Holy Presence even questioning the selfless purpose of His foretold Divine Mission, were the very same religious leaders entrusted to preach the Scriptures.

Well fortunately for us all, Jesus of Nazareth is now on video and although I've probably seen this over a dozen times; it never ceases to amaze me that I always get a different perspective of spiritual enlightenment and contemplative appreciation of the same impressionable scenes every time I watch it during Lenten Season and Christmas.

Now as a video viewer, you have two choices. You can either embrace and come to love the film as strong as your faith in Jesus or you can reject it by pressing the eject button and stow the discs away in its protective jewel box.

Either way, it's worth one complete viewing which guarantees not only five star entertainment but an all star casts entertainment. This spectacular masterpiece film is always great no matter how many times one watches it; since the story is about the life of the greatest superstar of all time who ever walked the earth, none other than Jesus of Nazareth.


EDWIN L. YAP
Makati City, Philippines
2008 All Rights Reserved