Posted on 05/28/2010 6:48:31 PM PDT by NYer
For almost 400 years, the residents of Oberammergau, a picture-book village in Germany's Bavaria, have told and retold the story of Jesus' last days. Honoring a promise made to God in 1634 to perform a Passion Play once a decade if they were spared from the Bubonic plague, the townspeople began their five-month run this May.
Yet Oberammergau's current production might seem jarring to the originators of that vow, let alone those whose knowledge comes only from Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." With a revised text and new direction, the play has shifted from emphasizing Jesus' suffering—and those responsible for it—toward focusing on his life and deeds.
As the townspeople try to move away from the disturbing anti-Semitic history for which the play has been famous, while also struggling to come to terms with recent church scandals in Germany, they are re-discovering in Jesus' story another message: reform.
"For many centuries Oberammergau was concentrated on a suffering Christ," says Christian Stückl, who is directing the play for the third time. "I wanted to give him a deeper profile, to show that he was a man who wanted to say something."
Whereas the 2000 performance opened with Jesus condemning merchants in the temple, the 2010 play starts earlier in the story, with him entering Jerusalem among the people.
"For me the message of Jesus is not only that he died for our sins on the Cross" says Frederik Mayet, one of the two actors who portray Jesus in the current production. "He had very simple statutes like, 'Love your enemies' and 'If someone slaps your cheek, give him the other.'"
Mr. Mayet, who is gaunt and has shoulder-length blond hair, studied the scriptures in order to absorb these messages. But he was also trying to understand Judaism.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Each generation tries to re-interpret Jesus to suit the contemporary view of him. Will the real Jesus Christ stand up!
"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it."
- Matthew 10:34-39
A friend of mine is there now to see this.....can’t wait to hear about it.
This is worse. These are essentially quiet, unassuming country folk who fulfill a vow made 370 years ago and who have been ripped apart by liberals who can’t stand the gospel nor the original play.
It isn’t just a new generation remaking the story to fit its notions. It’s a centuries old play now destroyed by the fits and whinings of liberals. It’s a pity really.
One important part of Jesus life that has never been much highlighted is a very interesting proposition, and one that is somewhat humbling from the perspective of religion, if not the religious.
It is that God, and Jesus, operate on their own rules, not on the rules that people assign to them.
For example, in Judaism the concept of “the anointed one”, messiah, was not based on his background, so much, as to what he did when on Earth:
“The gathering of the exiles; restoration of the religious courts of justice; an end of wickedness, sin, and heresy; reward to the righteous; rebuilding of Jerusalem; restoration of the line of King David; and restoration of Temple service.”
However, while this is what the Jews thought the Messiah was supposed to do, Jesus had other ideas.
From the Jewish point of view, this “disqualified” him as Messiah. However, his followers saw this as an end of the old rules, and the adoption of new rules, based on Jesus’ ability to change the rules.
And yet, the Christians then decided to justify the new rules retroactively, to show that Jesus was, indeed, the Messiah, to try and recreate the continuity He had dispelled.
So, what we end up with is the people beforehand and after, deciding that they are the ones who determine what God, or Jesus, does. What They mean. How to interpret what They did, and what They will do in the future.
I suppose it’s God’s fault, for making all mankind babbling idiots when he destroyed the tower of Babel.
Did the promise dictate the contents of the play, or simply its title?
So what do you make of Pentecost, when the "Galileans" suddenly became (collectively) speakers of many languages and were similarly dispersed through the known world, but to bring mankind back together?
bookmark
They have a very, very long “row to hoe”. Overcoming human stupidity and mendacity is much like jumping off chairs to dislodge the Earth from its orbit about the Sun.
Well, it’s not a passion play if it doesn’t focus on the passion of Christ, which is his suffering and sacrifice.
On the other hand, I suppose anything that reminds Europe of their strong Christian heritage is a good thing. At least I hope it will be. I remember the 1980 performance very well—moving, thought provoking, aesthetically well done, and well worth the visit to that small quaint town.
Well we will see if the town gets its long delayed plague, or perhaps the liberals are that plague.
This is disgusting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.