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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Volume 9 of The Living Christ series, March 20, 2004
This review is from: Fate of John the Baptist [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Fate of John the Baptist, the ninth episode in The Living Christ series, naturally centers on the execution of the messenger sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah. John the Baptist had been arrested, on the orders of Herod Antipas, about the same time that Jesus began his ministry. John had harshly criticized Herod Antipas for his adulterous marriage to Herodias; not only was Herodias his brother's wife, she was a foreigner who did not recognize the Hebrew God. Imprisoned in Herod Antipas' fortress at Machaerus, John had heard of Jesus' growing fame and asked two of his followers to find the Nazarene and ask Him if He was indeed the Messiah. When the men come back and confirm the truth of this, he is happy and completely at peace. Very soon thereafter, he is beheaded. Some of John's followers go to Jesus to follow Him, and Jesus is of course saddened by the death of the Baptist. The messenger is now dead, and Jesus knows that the time of his sacrifice grows nigh. As if to reinforce this fact, the video features a conversation among the disciples, in which Judas Iscariot surmises that Jesus may be targeted soon as a threat to Herod, the scribes and Pharisees, and the Romans themselves. The most interesting aspect of this whole series, at least to me, has been the portrayal of Herod Antipas. He does have John arrested for the things he has said about the king and his unholy wife, but he does not want to have the man put to death. His wife Herodias, however, desperately wants the prisoner executed for the things he has said about her, and she uses trickery to get her way. Herod asks his step-daughter Salome to dance for the guests at his birthday celebration and then promises to grant any wish she names, never dreaming she will (according to her mother's instructions) ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Before the assembled company, Herod Antipas cannot refuse to honor his word, and so John the Baptist is beheaded. According to the Bible, Herod Antipas feared that the people would be angered if this man many called a prophet were to be executed. This is certainly true, as the king was a craven and cowardly leader already held in low esteem by his people. However, Herod gets something of a sympathetic treatment in The Living Christ series. It is hard not to pity a man married to the sharp-tongued, demanding, and incorrigible Herodias - she almost makes Jezebel look like Carol Brady. Herod himself seems to enjoy his conversations with John, and at times he seems to be moved by John's message - to realize, at least to some degree, that John is right and that he is living a life that is an abomination before God. Toward the end of this video, with John the Baptist now dead, Herod Antipas seems to snap; this, of course, does not bode well for Jesus, whose time is drawing nigh.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Volume 6 of The Living Christ series, March 17, 2004
Discipleship, the sixth half-hour episode in 1951's The Living Christ series, covers a lot of important ground in terms of the early ministry of Jesus. Word of Jesus' teaching and healing powers had already begun to spread quickly across the land, and now Jesus cannot travel anywhere without huge crowds of people following Him; many come to be healed, and many come from far-off towns and villages just to hear Him preach. This video features one wealthy individual who is quite up in arms because many of his servants and slaves have left to go see Jesus, leaving the grain in the fields. He brings Roman soldiers to the place where the people are gathered, but the soldiers can detect no real danger in the words of Jesus. What these soldiers hear are the Beatitudes, for this is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, by far the most substantial recorded sermon of Jesus. At this time, we also see Jesus formally select his twelve disciples, including a certain Judas Iscariot. While this series seems quite faithful to the Gospels as a whole, the selection of the disciples at the time of the Sermon on the Mount does mark a divergence from the Gospel account - for example, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount before he even met Matthew the publican. Following the sermon, we see a poignant dramatization of the leper who sought Jesus in order to be healed. The fear and loathing the people feel for the leper is rendered quite vividly on the screen, and this reinforces the miraculous glory of his healing. Jesus asks the man not to speak of the miracle, but of course he can't keep something like this to himself. It is at this point that we see the Pharisees begin to grow concerned over Jesus' ministry and its growing popularity. They come and tell the people that Jesus' power to exorcise demons comes from Satan, but Jesus' response to their words sends them on their way without further comment. The video closes in an interesting way. The disciples are sitting around talking about prayer while Jesus is off by himself praying and meditating. Peter does not know if he can pray to God directly; up to now, prayer had basically meant recitation, and Peter feels as if he needs to know what to say when he goes to God in prayer. Jesus returns to the camp and agrees to teach his disciples how to pray, and it is here that he delivers the words of the Lord's Prayer. In reality, the Lord's Prayer was part of the Sermon on the Mount, so this scene is not Biblically correct. However, this particular way of presenting the information on prayer works extremely well. This particular episode in The Living Christ series is simply superb. Packed with important information, it does a commendable job of encapsulating the main points of Jesus' early ministry.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Volume 3 of The Living Christ series, March 16, 2004
Boyhood and Baptism is the third half-hour episode in The Living Christ Series, a series simple yet powerful in its portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ. The story picks up with Joseph and Mary returning to Nazareth from Egypt after the death of the evil King Herod. We see bits and pieces of Jesus' childhood, as the lad works with his father and studies the Hebrew law. The child who plays Jesus as a child reminds me a little too much of that mean old bully Butch from Our Gang, but that's neither here nor there. The most important event of Jesus' childhood is, of course, his trip to the temple in Jerusalem for Passover at the age of twelve. After a day's journey back toward home, Joseph and Mary realize that Jesus is not with the other boys and is in fact nowhere to be found. They hurry back to Jerusalem to find Jesus speaking to the teachers in the temple and amazing them with his knowledge. The coming of Pontius Pilate as the newly-installed governor of Caesarea is given a surprising amount of attention here. His meeting with Herod Antipas, the new king of Palestine and son of Herod, is particularly eventful, as Pilate pretty much tells Herod Antipas what he thinks of him (and it's not much, let me tell you). At the same time, we are taken out into the countryside to hear John the Baptist preach. The actor playing John the Baptist is quite good, especially when he is charging the mighty as well as the weak with sin and calling for all men to be baptized anew for - he declares - the kingdom is at hand. This video ends with Jesus coming to John to be baptized. We see the skies part and the sun shine down favor upon the Messiah in the wake of his baptism, but I was quite surprised that the words of the Lord that accompanied that moment were not included in this dramatization. Like all the other volumes in The Living Christ series, this is a wonderful and Biblical recreation of Jesus' time on earth. As this volume ends, Jesus has begun his journey into the wilderness, where he will be tempted by Satan in preparation for his ministry. Children as well as adults should enjoy, understand, and be moved by the impassioned dramatization of this and every episode in The Living Christ series.
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