WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:01:11.000 Whenever Hollywood tries to make content based on the Bible, based on Christianity, I cringe. I die a little inside. Um, this is an example of possibly that happening again. We'll see. I don't know. I'd like to have high hopes, but I already quickly viewed the trailer for Netflix's new upcoming movie Mary, and it doesn't look great to me. I think it's gonna be a movie, not a show, but we'll see. Hopefully it's a movie and not a show. It doesn't just keep going and going. I'm just being real with you guys. We're gonna watch the trailer today and I'll share with you some of my thoughts on it to help you guys kind of think through this stuff. I've thought about doing this kind of thing forever for many years, trying, um, to comment on some of the popular representations of Christianity. I'm not saying this is meant to specifically meant to undermine Christianity, but will it represent things properly or not? That's the question. Because a, uh, good cinematic treatment of Mary's life would actually be very great, but incredibly difficult to do. Well. So the opening scene, there you go, Mary. That must be Joseph. He's on the horse, she's on foot for some reason. Mhm. It's kind of weird. 2 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:26.000 I don't know why, but I was chosen for this. Mary, your birth was the gift for your mother and I. It was a miracle. 3 00:01:26.000 --> 00:04:43.000 But in exchange I made a promise. Hold on, a lot just happened there. So we have, uh, Mary talking apparently to her dad, and there he tells her, you know, your birth was a gift, it was a miracle, but in exchange I made a promise. So this is definitely, you know, this is extra biblical content. There's nothing in scripture about this. The only thing we have in the early, early days of Christianity related to the birth of Mary, other than just simply an account of her genealogy, like in Luke, um, the only thing we have is, or maybe it was Matthew, the only thing we have is, um, non biblical writings. Gnostic writers who were trying to sort of what they would do is they saw the rise of Christianity, they wanted to hijack it and bend it towards their own means. So these are effectively heretics and they wrote about the birth of Mary and it's some strange stuff. That's the earliest thing you get anything about the birth of Mary in actual official Christian teaching. There's nothing in the early days of the Christian church, nothing in the Bible about that except that she's born. We know that she was alive, but he says it came With a promise he made. What does that mean? So we do have the story of, um. I think it was Hannah in the Old Testament who couldn't have a kid. And she promised, lord, if you give me a child, I'll dedicate him to you. And that was where Samuel comes from. One of the. Well, the guy in first and Second Samuel in the Old Testament, maybe they're taking that and adapting that for Mary. I don't know. I wonder what that's going to be. They're writing a lot of drama into it. So the other thing you saw. You saw this elderly lady briefly, that we do read about in the New Testament. I think I know what that is. She goes, we've been waiting. This lady right here, we've been waiting. And she's. There was a woman who prophesied about Jesus when they came to the temple. Um, this could have been that woman, but this would be after the birth of Christ, not before. You can actually see her right here. In Luke 2:36, there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, which is. You know, this lady is pretty old. So I was thinking maybe that was supposed to be her. Um, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, she's 84 years old, and she stays at the temple worshiping and fasting and praying. And she comes up and she prophesies about Jesus. And then in verse 38, we read coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak to him of him, of Jesus, to all who are waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. But this is after the birth of Jesus. This is. They're in Jerusalem, not even in Bethlehem. Right. This is after the birth of Christ. They're coming for this. Effectively, the circumcision of Jesus eight days later. So that's what this. This is right here. Is that what they're doing? I don't know. Let's. Let's keep watching. Great. Herod, the prophecy. They got Anthony Hopkins to play Herod. That's interesting. So Hannibal Lecter is Herod. That's appropriate. Herod was. Herod was a dangerous man. That's very, very true. Okay, so here we have someone telling Herod, hey, there's a prophecy about the coming Messiah. And here's his response. Speaks of the coming Messiah. 4 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:46.000 What need have we of a Messiah? 5 00:04:46.000 --> 00:06:49.000 That's a weird line, but let me explain why. So Herod was the last Jewish king. Herod the Great. The Romans were the Ones who were in control of the Jewish, uh, country. Right. They were in ultimately control of Israel. And they had appointed Herod to be the king of the Jews, but he had to be subservient. And he was very faithful and loyal to the Romans. He was known as building many great things for the glory of Rome. So he was a very Romanish type, supposedly Jewish ish, kind of king, um, but not really a king king. Now after he died, the Romans never trusted his descendants as much as they trusted him. So they would be called like a tetrarch or a lower thing. They wouldn't usually be called kings. One of his descendants liked to call himself king, but he wasn't officially a king. It was interesting stories there. Herod was known for being jealous, uh, for his power and violent to anybody who he even suspected might go against him. Even killing family members who he thought would go against him. So Herod was a scary dude. We know this historically speaking. He, uh, goes after and tries to kill Jesus. We know the story of the wise men. They show up, or the magi, they're coming from, from the east. And they come and they talk with Herod, you know, Herod then finds out that there's this Messiah character. But here's the thing, what's strange, you guys know the Christmas story, but the strange thing is Herod's saying we have no need of a Messiah. The belief in the Messiah is deeply entrenched in Jewish religion. And it's a highly political issue for Herod to say something like, we don't need a Messiah. Even in scripture, when we read about the story, he doesn't tell anybody we don't need a Messiah. He instead asks them, where is this new Messiah being born? I will come and worship him. Because he knows the political machinations. You don't want to offend the religious leaders who are dependent on the Messiah, who believe the Messiah is coming. If they think you are coming against the Messiah, it could foment rebellion. It could cause you problems with Rome because your job is to keep the Jewish people subservient and peaceful and part of the Roman Empire. So it's just strange to have him say something like that. It feels weird. 6 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:59.000 What need have we of a Messiah? Let it be understood, I am your king. 7 00:06:59.000 --> 00:08:53.000 So that must be the Mary actress there. I'm glad that she's not 12 years old. I know there was some people who try to, they try to push the date of Mary, her, uh, her pregnancy as young as possible for their own agendas. Realistically, um, we have no reason to think she was that young. There's good reason to think she was older. She was like, you know, an age where it wouldn't have been as big of a thing. I mean, you know, we like to have kids when we're like 35 in our culture or something like that. We like pushing it way back. But she wouldn't have been like a 12 years old person. The statement, I am your king. That's great. Yeah. Herod, very jealous, very nervous, very paranoid about, you know, controlling everything to make sure that he is given the authority and the respect that he wants. And he does see Jesus, uh, when he learns about him as a potential threat to his throne. Okay, that was a little strange. He looked at Mary and he said, child, I guess they're going to make some kind of personal connection between Herod and Mary. I'm guessing that that's the case. That seems very strange to me because, um, the idea like, of what God did with Jesus is that he picks people who are, they're nobody in the eyes of the world. They're not important in the eyes of the world. You know, he goes, jesus picks fishermen, random fishermen. He comes to Mary, who's just a random Jewish. No, uh, she's not random in the sense that her character is great. She's not of low character, but she's of low stance in the culture. And I think that's actually an emphasis in scripture. I wonder what they're going to do to make a connection between her and Herod. To tell a different story perhaps than the one that actually happened. You are far more powerful than words, child. This is the girl boss part that I'm worried about. 8 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:55.000 Um. 9 00:08:55.000 --> 00:10:13.000 You know what they did with Pocahontas? Disney took the Pocahontas story and they turned it, turned her into a Disney princess sort of. Right. And it's not historically accurate. It doesn't represent real things that really happened or real people or the way that they thought or behaved. It doesn't represent the religion that Pocahontas would have ascribed to. It doesn't represent any of those things. Well, it's just a nice story for kids. I'm afraid they're doing something like this, uh, this you're a girl boss type thing. You are more powerful than words. Like nobody in the first century says this to anybody. Nobody says this to anybody. These concepts come from Oprah. These concepts come from, come from modern Disney films. Um, this is like the very self focused, um, bucket list version of humanity where we're sort of Focused upon our experience and living our journey and experiencing our lives and seeing ourselves as powerful and strong. And look at. You're so powerful. This is anachronistic is what this is. There's no way these ideas are in the minds of the people in Mary's life or Mary herself. It means that people are taking their own thoughts and their own worldviews and projecting them onto what is really the most important story in the world is the story of Jesus Christ. 10 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:19.000 Don't understand how it is your will that I should marry this perfect stranger. 11 00:10:19.000 --> 00:11:41.000 There's the next one. In Disney movies, it is normal for a girl to have an arranged marriage that she doesn't want to have. That's like something I've seen so many times. Disney and Disney type films. Right? Modern movies. Most likely. Mary would have been perfectly content to have this arranged marriage with Joseph. It turns out that Joseph actually is a great guy. And parents back then doing arranged marriages would have wanted to get a good guy for their child, not just some random dude. This is probably just a projection of modern uncomfortability. Is that a word with the idea of someone having an arranged marriage? Mary definitely had an arranged marriage. This is not seen as a bad thing. It's seen in other places. It doesn't mean it's required either. But we shouldn't knock it and just act like no. All marriage should come from our great personal romantic experiences. Certainly that works out great. You know, we have over 50% divorce rate for the people doing it that way. So I'm not going to suggest. The problem with marriage is when you have an un. You don't share the same culture and values. And those values aren't grounded in God's truth. That's the problems with marriage. But arranged marriage can work fine. There's plenty of arranged marriages throughout time. Yeah. Uh, I don't like it personally because I'm not in that culture. It's weird to me personally. But I'm not going to project my personal cultural baggage onto scripture, which is, uh, unfortunately, what's happening there. Very Disney, Disney princess feeling. 12 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.000 You are to have a son. 13 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.000 But that's not possible. 14 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:54.000 All things are possible. 15 00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:04.000 You've laid that year to have a son. That. That would have probably been like an angelic visitation. I take it in that conversation she has with Gabriel, I think a man. 16 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:06.000 No. 17 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:27.000 So Joseph just says to her, you've laid with a man. And she goes, no. Yeah, that, that's. This is a great drama to focus on, is the drama between her and Joseph as he's like, you're pregnant and she's trying to defend herself. And this is like a great opportunity to show Mary's character, Joseph's character. That'd be great. Now, what happens here is there's a guy who's gonna. Who's saying, you know, you'll be put to death. I hope that's not Joseph. 18 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:33.000 You'll be put to death. I'm gonna bring this child into the world of love. I don't care. 19 00:12:33.000 --> 00:13:50.000 Um, I'll back up and let you guys watch this part again. But I wanted to just highlight that looked like a mob was trying to kill her, didn't it? Um, that's very much fabricated. And this can have a problem because it could also. Yeah, I'm reading into the trailer, but that's what you do with trailers. You can be projecting our modern views of saying the idea that a woman who's betrothed, which is a type of first step in marriage, it's not just an agreement. It's more than that. In that culture, you had to actually get divorced in order to break off a betrothal that had to go through a divorce process. And for her to be pregnant, it's understandable for people to think that she cheated. And according to the Jewish law, she would have received the death penalty. But, um, the timeline here, I'm pretty sure at this point in time, the Jewish people were not allowed to do the death penalty and they would have had to have a court trial. Mob attacks are not what normally would happen. Certainly the Jewish people do this. Then the Roman guard comes in and says, no, you can't do that. You're rebelling against Rome by doing that. Even the Jewish would say, this is mob. This is bad. Right. It's just. It's just kind of weird to do that. But I guess it's dramatic. So I'm going to back up and let you see more of that Again, this is where they tell her, you'll be put to death. To death. 20 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:59.000 I'm going to bring this child into the world of love. I don't care what they say. I will love you as best as I can. 21 00:13:59.000 --> 00:15:18.000 Yeah, that. That's. It's cute. It just strikes me, you guys forgive me if you like that. You're welcome to like that. I don't care for the style of it, personally. Like my cosmetic, uh, tastes for drama and TV and things like that. Um, I will love you as best I can. I don't care what they say. This sounds almost like Hallmark or Disney type dialogue. Very Surface level. Um, Joseph saying, I don't care what they say. It evidences, um, them acting like Mary is the center of the attention, and everybody's paying a lot of attention to her, when in reality, for the most part in her life, she would have just been a random person, not, like, the center of it. She's not on social media, she doesn't have a million followers, none of that kind of stuff. Joseph was going to put her away because he thought he was betrayed by her. When, uh, the angel comes in a dream and tells him he's not just, I don't care what they say, he's got a command from God, like, this is a holy thing. This is a. This is an incredible thing. It's a wonderful thing. It's the opposite of what he thought it was. Um, the emphasis on what people say is. I don't know, maybe I'm being nitpicky, perhaps a little bit. I'm just so skeptical that Netflix is going to produce something that isn't going to be bad. 22 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:34.000 This Messiah, is he real? Has he been born? Where is. Tell me, where is he? Love would cost you dearly. It will pierce your heart, but in. 23 00:15:34.000 --> 00:16:10.000 The end, pierce your heart. Okay, so in Luke 2. 34, we read this. Simeon, who is a grown man, he blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. That is the passage that seems to be getting quoted here. Um, but it was in the voice of, like, a little boy or maybe a girl. Let's listen to that again. Who said that love will cost you dearly. 24 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:19.000 It will pierce your heart, but in the end, love will save the world. 25 00:16:19.000 --> 00:18:03.000 So, yeah, sounds like a little kid to me. Maybe it was a girl. So it wasn't Simeon's eyes, but it wasn't. Love will cost you dearly. Um, maybe by love they mean Jesus is love, that kind of thing. But again, this is a very modernistic way of trying to communicate it that we don't find in the Gospels. I don't know. I'm just. I find those all to be, like, slight red flags, because if we're going to take Jesus and we're going to turn him into a modernistic metaphor of love, then we're going to lose out on the fact that he is the only way to receive forgiveness of sins. He's the salvation of God promised through all the scriptures. If you have a Mary that is modern Disney girl boss, and you lose the Jewish context and first century context, you're going to lose the significance of Jesus. You're going to lose the meaning of his coming. And so you'll have a sort of cultural Christianity type Jesus, which, which is sort of. We can all celebrate him because he ultimately requires nothing of us. He just encourages us to be loving to one another. That's the fear. Um, I think that's a legitimate fear. Uh, that's how. What I would expect to be getting out of this. But I'm. But maybe I'm wrong. Trailers are sometimes cut differently than the films themselves. So we'll see. I'll. Maybe I'll do a review when it comes out. I don't know. But I also think audiences, they don't want it to feel modern. I, uh, think that this is a bad decision. Okay. I could be wrong. Right? I'm not. I don't. I don't do media like this of stuff. But I don't think people wanted to feel modern. I think they wanted to sound like they could have said those things, they could have thought those things instead of feeling like, no, these are the things you think being projected into their minds. Which is what I feel like the trailer is doing. Yeah, but it's cool to see Anthony Hopkins there. Netflix. Is Mary coming out in December? Maybe I'll do a review of it. I don't know. Doesn't look like it's going to be very good. I think it's going to be annoying.