XL: The Temptation of Christ (2018) - full transcript

My name is John.

For years I lived
in the wilderness.

Waiting for the Messiah to come.

This is where I stay, every day.

Warning Israel they must
turn from their sinful ways.

And prepare their hearts
for the coming of our Savior.

Hundreds, thousands came
to the river to be baptized.

Then one day,

He came.

The clouds parted and the
Spirit descended upon us.

This is my beloved Son.



In whom I am well pleased.

And just like that,

He was gone.

This is where my story ends
and yours with Him begins.

Before Israel, Christ
journeyed into the Judean.

No food, no water.

No sin for Him to carry.

This is the beginning

of the 40-Day
Temptation of Christ.

May the morning bring me word

of your unfailing love

for I have put my trust in you.

Show me the way

that I should go for
to you I entrust my life.



Teach me to do your will

for you are my God.

May your good spirit

lead me

on level ground.

Remember not the former things

nor consider the things of old.

Behold,

I am doing a new thing

and now it springs forth.

Do you not perceive it?

I will make a way
in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

Yeshua?

Yeshua.

Go tell your father
supper is almost ready.

He'll wanna finish his work soon
so he can eat while it's still hot.

Yeshua, what's the matter?

This is rotted. This is
no good. This is split.

No good.

I can use that.

That's not bad.

Yeshua?

Yeshua, what's wrong?

The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him.

Though he may stumble,

he will not fall

for the Lord will uphold
him with his hands.

Send me your light
and faithful care.

Let them lead me.

Let them bring me
to your Holy mountain

to the place
where You dwell.

The Heavens declare
the glory of God.

The skies proclaim
the work of His hands.

Day after day they
pour forth speech.

Night after night

they reveal knowledge.

But they have no speech.

They use no words.

No sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes
out to all of the earth.

Their words to the
end of the world.

In the Heavens God has
pitched a tent for the sun.

It is like a bridegroom
coming out of his chambers.

Like a champion
rejoicing to run his course.

It rises from one
end of the Heavens

and makes its circuit
to the other.

Nothing is deprived
of its warmth.

In the deserts,

prepare the way for the Lord.

And make straight in the
wilderness a highway for our God.

Every Valley shall be raised up.

The mountains
and hills made low,

the rugged
ground made level

and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of God
will be revealed

and all of mankind will see it

for the mouth of God has spoken.

"Comfort,

comfort my people,"

says God.

I'm not hungry.

Please Mary, I
have to finish this.

He's asleep.

Can you tell me what he said?

You heard what he said.

Not when he was with you.

You heard what he said, after.

Yes, but what did it mean?

You know what he meant.

Please don't speak
to me in riddles.

Mary.

When I found him in the temple I went
to reprimand him for running away

and he looked at me and
said, "Where else would I be

but in my father's house?"

My father's house!
He said that to me!

What else could
he have meant?

Do you remember the year
before he was born

or have you forgotten it?
Because I sure haven't.

How could you ask me that?

Because sometimes it
feels like it was a dream.

And sometimes I wish,
selfishly, that it were a dream.

That he really is our son.

And he will always be our son.

When you found him,
what was he doing?

What was he doing? He was talking
with the elders in the courtyard.

About what?

I'm not gonna go there.

About what, Joseph? I want to know,
I want to know what our son said.

Not our son.

Your son.

Your son.

No man in history has ever had to
carry the burden you have, my love.

And no man ever could but you.

You.

You are the greatest man I've
ever known, Joseph of Nazareth.

God would not have given you
Yeshua if that were not true.

Yeshua was telling them
the story of Abraham.

And how he carried Isaac
up the top of Moriah

as a sacrifice for the sins.

And how God provided him a ram.

Mary, I was just telling
him that story last week.

But it was different.

When he told it was,
it was like nothing I ever heard before.

As if he, as if he were
somehow inside the story.

As if it were about him.

Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death,

I shall fear no evil.

For You are with me.

Your rod and Your staff.

They comfort me.

You prepare a ta...

You prepare a table

before me

in the presence of my enemies.

Who are you?

What brings you here?

What have you come to do?

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

Do you know who I am?

How you have fallen
from grace, morning star,

son of the dawn.

You have been cast
down to the earth.

You who laid low the nations.

You said in your heart,

"I will ascend
above the Heavens.

I will raise my throne
above the stars of God.

I will sit enthroned on
the mount of assembly.

I'll rise above the
tops of the clouds

and make myself
like the most high."

But you've been brought down
to the realm of the dead

and the depths of the pit.

Those who stare at you

ponder your fate.

Is this the man
who shook the earth

and made kingdoms tremble?

Is this the man who made
the world a wilderness?

Who overthrew cities

and would not let
his captives go home?

So you do.

Now I've seen you before, down
by the river, with the Baptist.

You smell awfully familiar.

Like two people I have not
seen in a very long time.

The first one I met in a garden
centuries ago and the other one

is much older than that.

Do you know what brings you

or do you just
follow the wind?

Where He leads
me, I will follow.

Where He calls me, I will go.

Take a look where
you're standing.

This.

All of this is mine.

And I can help you.

I can show you the way.

I am the way.

No.

No, what you are is lost.

You're frail,

afraid,

and helpless

ever since the day the dust released
your kind from its clutches.

Just as the shepherd watches over his
scattered flock when he is with them,

so will I watch over my sheep.

I will rescue them from the places they were
scattered on that day of clouds and darkness.

The sheep are hopeless.

They do nothing but wander.

They always lose their way.

They always stumble to
the mouth of the beast.

You think you are doing something
good but you do it in vain.

Because in the end,
death swallows it all.

I swallow it all.

I will find the lost
and the stray.

I will bind up the wounded
and strengthen the weak.

I will shepherd my
herd with justice.

You need help

in order to see
how things truly are.

I will help you.

The Spirit
of the Lord is on me

because He has anointed me

to proclaim good
news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted.

To proclaim freedom
for the captives

and a release from
darkness for the prisoners

and bestow upon them a crown
of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of joy
instead of mourning,

and the garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

You're
frail, afraid, helpless,

ever since the day the dust released
your kind from its clutches.

The sheep are hopeless.

They do nothing but wander.

They always lose their way.

They always stumble into
the mouth of the beast.

Because in the end,
death swallows it all.

I swallow it all.

Just as the shepherd
watches over his scattered flock

so will I watch over my sheep.

I will rescue them from the
places they were scattered

on that day of
clouds and darkness.

Grass withers and flowers fall but
the word of our God endures forever.

The sovereign Lord
comes with power.

He rules with a mighty arm

and His reward is with him

and His recompense
accompanies him.

He tends to his flock
like a shepherd.

He gathers all the
lambs into His arms

and carries them
close to His heart.

He sits enthroned above
the circle of the earth

and from the Heavens
He makes a canopy

and spreads it out
across the sky

to make a tent in which to live.

He brings princes to not

and reduces the rulers
of the world to nothing.

He makes strong the weak

and makes mighty the weary.

Even young men
grow old and frail

but with the Lord in their heart

they will soar.

As if upon the
wings of eagles...

the Lord, our God,

our God is one.

Love the Lord
with all your heart,

with all your strength,

and with all your soul.

This is a perfect lamb.

Do you know why?

It's got no marks on its skin, no wrinkles,
no wounds and its legs are strong.

But you know why a lamb like
this has to die every year?

It's because our sins are many.

We don't know alwa... we don't always do
what we should do or say what we should say.

God demands a sacrifice for our sins
but He's also willing to pay it.

Sin is the reason that we suffer,
Yeshua, and it's the reason that we die.

It is written.

For your iniquities have made a
separation between you and your God

and your sins
have hidden His face,

so that He cannot heal.

Ah, Yeshua.

Sometimes I think that,

that I am the son and you
are the father, teaching me.

Do you remember the story
I told you about Abraham

and how He told Abraham that
He would provide him a lamb?

Yeshua,

you wish this lamb
didn't have to die?

Me too.

But I suppose
that a merciful God

who gave us this lamb to go in our place
will one day give us one to go in theirs.

Remember.

Remember how
the Lord, your God,

led you all the way

in the wilderness

these forty years.

To humble

and to test you

in order to know
what was in your heart.

Whether or not

He would keep His commands,

Ah...

He humbled you,

causing you to hunger

and then feeding you mana

which neither you

nor your ancestors had known.

In order to teach you

that man,

that man does not...

Yeshua, join me.

You know some days
I come up here after work.

Before I even come home
and see you and your mother I

come up here and I sit

and I pray

and I think.

I look out here
over all of Nazareth,

at least what there is of it,

and I remember.

I remember when your-

your mother first told me that
she was pregnant with you.

I was furious.

I wanted to know who
the guy was and I...

she told me the story of
the angel that visited her

and the baby wasn't from another
man but from the Holy Spirit.

And I was... at first I was,

I was torn because I

felt like I should turn her in but I
knew if I did then they would kill her

and

despite all of it
I still loved her.

I felt it'd be better to
send her away in secret.

The night she told me that she was pregnant
with you, I was so mad I didn't go home.

So I stayed here that night.

I didn't want to go home.

And I remember lying down there on the
bed where, right were your bed's at now.

And I looked up at
the sky and the stars

because there was no roof yet

and I fell asleep.

Angry as I could be.

When I woke,

sometime in the middle of the night,
I can't remember exactly what time it was

because I had just been drugged from my
sleep and I saw a bright-bright light.

I kept looking up to see what it was
and it was a man up here on this roof.

Right here.

And he was doing something. I couldn't
see what he was doing, it was so bright.

So I quickly... I ran outside to see if I could
see up here on the roof and I was looking up

and he said, "Joseph, again do not be
afraid for Mary is telling the truth.

The child in her womb
is not from man

but from the Holy Spirit."

And I could see
what he was doing.

You know what he was doing?

He was building this roof.

He was telling me to go forward

with marrying your mother.

So when I woke up I...

I quickly went and
told your mother

that now I believed her and I came back
here and I started building this house.

I started building this roof.

I guess what I'm
trying to say is,

you scared us last week.

You scared us bad.

More than I've ever
been scared before.

Even when we had
to run away to Egypt.

You were gone for three days and
everywhere I looked I couldn't find you.

Your mother was so worried.

We thought we lost you

or that you lost yourself.

What I'm trying
to say by that is that

when you get lost,

you can always remember
to come up here on the roof

to think,

to sit

and to pray.

You look out over all of Nazareth
and what's up there beyond heaven.

And you too, you can remember.

So when you enter your
kingdom remember this house

that I gave to you.

And when you do, remember me.

When you enter your
kingdom, remember me.

Oh, my sweet boy,
I thought I'd lost you.

Why did you come out here to this wasteland?
I've been looking for you everywhere.

Why did you come out here?

To seek and to save
what has been lost.

Here? What's been lost here?

Ah!

Why did you bring nothing with
you? No food, no shelter.

Why are you tormenting
yourself like this?

Rest now, rest.

I understand.

I understand.

You feel you must suffer.

Going days and
weeks with no food.

Keeping no shelter
except the stones.

No bed except the dirt.

You were always a lonely boy.

You'd often wonder
away hours at a time.

Your friends, your
thoughts and prayers.

Why did you come here? What
do you hope to get from here?

My flock is without a shepherd.

Thus, has been plundered
and made food for wild animals.

My shepherds,

my shepherds no longer
look after my flock

but rather care only
for themselves.

I will find my sheep.

I will look after them.

Is that what this is about?

A sheep?

Son, I do not understand.
You are not a shepherd.

There are plenty of sheep.
Our little town is overrun with sheep.

What's so important, just one?

If any man has a hundred sheep
and even one goes astray,

does he not leave the ninety
nine on the mountain

to search for the one
that has been lost?

And he shall rise and shepherd his
flock with the strength of the Lord.

In the majesty of the
name of Lord his God.

And they shall remain,

for at that moment,
he will be great

to the ends of the earth.

And now you're
quoting scripture to me.

That's the Prophet
Micah, isn't it?

Why will you not just speak
to me? Tell me why you are here.

It's like you don't know me.

I know you.

You're delirious.

It's the heat and the hunger.

You... you need to eat.
You need to rest.

I brought nothing
with me for you to eat.

Have I ever told you
what Bethlehem means?

The city in which you were born.

It means the house of bread.

Shortly after you were born,

your father had a dream.

In this dream, an
angel came to him

and told him that the king
was looking for you,

to kill you.

We left.

We fled to Egypt.

You were too young to remember.

But the king did not know we had gone and
he was determined to know you were dead.

He ordered the deaths of every boy
in the kingdom up to two years old.

Mothers and fathers, with no
explanation or understanding,

watch their children slaughtered
instead of watching them grow.

There was no child
left in the kingdom.

Where once there
was laughter and joy,

there was only weeping
and gnashing of teeth.

And there were countless graves.

Small simple graves

marked by small simple stones

in the house of bread.

Please, Yeshua, do not ask me to
lay more stones in the desert.

Ask me to mark more altars in the
name of suffering and grief and agony.

This world is filled
with emptiness.

What good can you do
by emptying yourself?

Your suffering is meaningless.

All suffering is meaningless.

Haven't the innocent
suffered enough?

What good can you do
if you too are dead?

You can end this suffering.

If you are the Son of God,

you can turn house of stone
into the house of bread again.

Starve yourself no more.

End this meaningless suffering.

If you are the Son of God,

turn this stone into bread.

Please, Yeshua.

It is written, man shall
not live on bread alone,

but on every word that
comes from the mouth of God.

You will starve

and so will your people.

I have food to eat that
you know nothing about.

My food is to do the will of Him
who sent me, and to finish His work.

Yes, the word of God.

Every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God.

I have heard the word thunder
through the very walls of Heaven.

I watch 51-35 galaxies into existence and
shape celestial cyclones out of nothing.

The word of God spat me out
like a piece of moldy bread.

You say man lives by every word
that comes from the mouth of God?

What would you know
about the word of God?

Just as the rain and
snow fall from heaven

and do not return until they
have watered the earth,

made it flourish with
seed for the sower

and bread for the eater,

so is My word that
goes from My mouth.

Then tell me, Nazarean.

What is the word of God?

I am.

We left.

We fled to Egypt.

You were too young to remember.

But the king did not know we had gone and
he was determined to know you were dead.

He ordered the deaths of every boy
in the kingdom up to two years old.

There was no child
left in the kingdom.

Where once there was laughter and joy, there
was only weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And there were countless graves.

Small simple graves

marked by small simple stones

in the house of bread.

You can't save them.

You wander away
again, my son?

Ah, just stay there.
Rest and relax.

I remember before
when you wandered away.

For three days, do
you remember that?

We searched everywhere for you.

All across the countryside
and the city.

We even searched the
temple up and down.

Oh, Yeshua, your mother... your
mother, she was so worried.

I kept having to tell her over
and over that all would be well,

God would take care of you.

I'm not really sure I even believed that
myself but it's what I had to tell her

to make her feel better.

She felt... she felt so
guilty, so responsible

like we had been entrusted with your care
and your safety and here we'd lost you.

When I found you, I wasn't an angry father
because you would run away from the caravan

and not stayed put where I told you
to be and rather than being scared

you looked at me and said,
"Where else would I be

but in my father's house
doing my father's business?"

Oh, Yeshua,

are you just lost again?

Come, my boy.

Let me take you home.

Come on.

Come on.

You're okay.

I got you.

I'll take your blanket for you.

Give me your hand.

Ah, my boy.

My son.

My idealistic son.

Look where you are now.

You're home.

I know, you had lots of homes.

Bethlehem, Egypt.

The home I built
you in Nazareth.

Those were never really
your home, were they?

This is where you
felt most at home.

Yeshua, you and me, we've kind of always
had a thing with rooftops, haven't we?

A place to come
sit, pray and think.

A place that we use to sit out and
look out there just beyond heaven

and we would remember.

I remember my
defiant little boy.

So bold.

When I found him in the temple,
he started talking of his father's house,

his father's business, and I
had to quickly usher them away.

The chief priests and the elders,
they began to ask questions.

They wanted to know who
he might be speaking of.

And I was frightened.

Oh Yeshua, I was frightened because I knew
if they found out who you really were,

they'd ask for a sign.

They'd ask for proof.

And if we couldn't deliver, they
would call you a blasphemer.

They could have
put you to death.

They could have put your
mother and myself to death.

I know you wouldn't
have wanted that.

Yeshua, I wanted, with pride,
to tell everyone who you were.

I wanted to scream
from the rooftops

that my son was the one who
came in the name of the Lord.

That my son was
the king of kings.

My son, he was the son of the Living
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Your mother was scared all the time that someone
would find out that you would say something.

As a boy that you would tell the truth to
someone so instead we had to cover it up.

We had to lie.

We had to deny who you were.

It was hard to believe.

Where were you? We were
looking for you everywhere.

It doesn't really
matter what I believe.

It matters what
you believe, son.

Do you believe in here

that you are the son of the
living God? Do you believe?

All things have been
committed to me by my father.

No one knows the Son
as the Father does.

And no one knows the
Father as the Son does.

Except those that he
chooses to reveal him to.

That's what I wanted to hear.

That you believe.

And if you believe,
then your time has come.

Yeshua, if you cast yourself down
right here in front all those people,

they would have no way
to deny who you are.

They want to see this Messiah,
they want to see the coming.

But they need a sign.

They need proof.

People don't believe unless
they can see with their eyes.

And what better way than right here? On top
of your Father's house? On top of the temple?

If you were to fly
right down to them

and have no hair on your head
touched, no bone in your body broken,

if you were cast yourself down and
to land right in the middle of them,

they could never deny then
that you are the son of God.

They would have their sign.

Then they would believe.

Can you do that for me, son?

You have nothing to fear

for it is written that He will
command His Angels concerning you

and they will lift you
up with their hands.

And they will not let
your foot strike a stone.

You know you can't fail.

You have God's
graces defending you.

You have your
Father protecting you.

So come, son.

It's your time.

Can you do that for me, son?

And do what you came to do.

To be who
you were meant to be.

Show us.

Show me.

It is also written, do
not put the Lord, your God,

to the test.

This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Do not put Him to the test?

Why is it only He is allowed
to make the tests?

Very well.

Find your own way down.

Yeshua, it's time.

Your father is leaving.

There is so much
that I wanted to tell you

but time gives mercy to no man.

Yeshua, I know your heart

and I know why you've been
lost these past few years.

It's because you've been torn
between the will of two masters,

two fathers.

And that time
has come to its end.

My son.

You will always be my son.

Always.

Now-

now you must be about
your father's business.

My beloved.

You were right to
believe in the angel.

You made me believe.

You made me believe.

I'm glad to see you made it.

Let me help you.

Grab my hand.

Grab my hand.

I know you're tired,
weak, and hungry.

Grab my hand.

Yeshua, grab my hand.

No more games.

You have my word.

I admit that I was testing you,

trying to make you fail.

I've often issued those challenges in the
past but never to anyone as worthy as you.

You blocked every blow,

diverted every deception and
evaded every snare that I had.

Which I didn't
understand at first,

I do now.

I come to seek and save
what has been lost.

A shepherd?

Trust me, these sheep
need a shepherd.

They get lost from time to time.

By now you know who I am

and I know who you are.

I could have let you die out there
which would have been much easier.

But the more I watched you, the more I heard
you, the more I began to believe in you.

So I've decided

that I want to help you.

I surrender to the son of God.

You don't believe me?

Turn around.

Are they not majestic?

The kingdoms of the world?

Before the man and the woman broke
faith with God, all of this was bright.

They knew no pain,
no tears, no longing.

But this is what I see.

This is the world
as they have made it.

This is the world while under
the dominion of your sheep.

I thought what I wanted
was to claim dominion

over what your God so freely has given
to these people so I tricked the woman,

I convinced the man and
as a result I won the world.

But Yeshua, I have changed

and you have changed me.

And now I see a world with
no more pain or suffering.

I see a world with their
shepherds walking amongst them

who are there to protect them
and care for them and feed them.

I know why you seek to bring your
sheep home from the wilderness.

You want to claim your kingdom.

To make a home again
for all of your lost sheep.

So Man of Nazareth,

the son of God,

I will fight you no more.

And you do not have
to take anything from me.

I will give it to you.

There's one requirement.

It's a small transaction.

A formality really.

As much as I want to, I cannot simply
hand you over the kingdoms of the world

unless you bow down
and worship me.

Yeshua,

do you prefer to
see them suffer?

You of all people should know that sacrifice
is the only way to restore the kingdom.

They will continue to be sacrificed day
after day until the end of time itself.

Is that what you wish for them?

God will always
get what he wants

and that condition
demands a sacrifice.

So why should that
sacrifice be theirs?

What other way is there besides
their continual sacrifice?

Mine.

There will come a white horse

whose rider will be
called faithful and true.

His eyes will burn with fire.

And upon his head
will rest many crowns.

On his robe

and on his thigh

will be written the words

King of Kings

and Lord of Lords.

I am that rider.

I am the way.

No, you are confused.

You are forgetting
what is required.

Yeshua, picture a world

without pain and conflict,

without strife and
misunderstanding.

This is a world with you in
control as a good and mighty leader

with me there to protect you
and to advise you and guide you.

There's not an eternity of peace
worthy of a moment's compromise.

If you really know me,

then you know my Father too.

Anyone who has seen me
has also seen the Father.

The son of man
must be raised high

so that all the world may see
and all the world may believe.

God did not send His son
to the earth to condemn it.

He sent His son to
the earth to save it,

through Him.

Anyone who calls upon
the name of the Lord

can be saved.

Even me?

Why won't you let me surrender?

Why won't you let me give
you back the kingdoms?

You answer me.

Anything else you do will lead to more
pain and suffering and death on your hands.

Yeshua, Yeshua, it is only
a moment of worship.

No one has to know, you
don't even have to mean it.

This is your last chance.

If you refuse me again, you will have
nothing to protect yourself from His wrath

and mine.

I hold the power of Hell
and death in my hands.

What do you have against me?

What do you have against me?

You answer me.

You answer me.

I am the resurrection
and the life.

Any man who believes in me

though he were dead

yet shall he live.

When all is finished,
you will beg to worship me.

You have the chance to end
the suffering of your people,

but no you would rather see
them persist in their hunger,

persist in the grief
and persist in their pain.

You are not a good shepherd,
you are just a coward and a fool!

Do you know what this means? This means
they will have every chance to reject you,

they will always have the choice
to oppose you, I promise you that!

I will use all of my power to make
sure they see you for who you are

and I will give them every
reason to doubt and distrust you.

And you, Yeshua,
will take the blame.

Get away from me, Satan.

It is written.

"Worship the Lord, your God,

and serve only Him."

The reason that
my Father loves me

is that I lay down my life

only to take it up again.

No one can take it from me

but I lay it down
of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down

and authority to
take it up again.

This command

I received from my Father.

Even after
I saw the Christ,

I didn't stop the work.

I walked in faith
to my last day.

We must walk by faith

even when we cannot see

for we do not have a high priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.

But He has been tempted
in every way just as we are,

yet he was without sin.

We need God's Word
to always light our way.

Christ is our Good Shepherd.

He came to gather together
what had been scattered.

He came to find what was lost.

To restore what
had been broken.

He came to give
strength to the weary.

To give sight to the blind.

He paid for our sins
on the cross at Calvary.

By accepting this truth, we
can receive his gift of life.

Now we are called to pick up
the cross and follow him.

Let us come together
and walk with Him in faith.

We must share the
good news with others.

The world needs the good
news now more than ever.

We are called to
be His messenger.

Let us unite together one body, one voice
and proclaim His love for all to hear.

For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son.

That whosoever believeth in him shall
not perish but have everlasting life.