This is the famous marketplace scene from the Bible as depicted in Martin Scorsese's 'Last Temptation of Christ' starring Willem Dafoe. I like the way Jesus is humanized in this film. This scene shows Jesus in the marketplace attacking the money-changers.
What I think this film is about
I think the film is about conflict; conflict between good and evil, the spirit and the flesh, man and woman, man and God. This society, in which Christianity is the dominant religion, that puts “in God we trust” on its dollar bill, that celebrates a pagan holiday named after Jesus Christ—this society is not unlike the society that crucified Jesus 2,000 years ago--rebellious! He even says--according to scripture-- that upon his return, he will go to war with the world.
Jesus, in this film, is a revolutionary and is vilified in much the same way as today's revolutionaries like Fidel Castro, Martin Luther King, Louis Farrakhan, Martin Luther, William Wallace, Mahatma Ghandi, Che Guevara, Castro, etc.
Throughout 'The Last Temptation,' there is the conflict between his (Jesus') fleshly desires for a wife and his ultimate destiny, which is dying on the cross.
Quotes of conflict:
In Jesus, time, Rome was the dominant world government but Jesus spoke of overthrowing the world, which, he says, belongs to Satan, the “God of this world”
Mark 3:25 “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”
Matt 10:34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Romans 12:2 "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Luke 12:49-56 “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. 51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.”
Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
You would get most of the world (including family and friends) to go against you with this verse out of the book of Jeremiah, in chapter 10 and verses 3-5 in particular:
“For the customs of the people are vain;
for with the axe one cuts a tree out of the forest (Christmas tree!),
the work of the hands of the workman.
4
They deck it with silver and with gold;
they fasten it with nails and with hammers
so that it may not move.
5
They are as a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
but do not speak;
they must be carried,
because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
nor can they do good.”
