When the King Returns

 I recently saw Christopher Nolan's movie The Odyssey, and since then many people have asked whether I liked it.  As someone who has read and loved the original story in verse, the movie version did not have a great appeal to me --- but that is not to say that Nolan did not do a good job with it.  For me, movies do not usually match the printed story, and I suppose that is because they never quite replicate my imagination.  The only exceptions for me so far have been The Secret Garden and Dr. Zhivago, although I must admit that I do not see many movies, so my judgment is extremely constrained.  

The Secret Garden was exactly the way I pictured it in reading; in Dr. Zhivago, the director used the uniques qualities of film to convey more than "the story."  He used color, sound, and motion to convey the "spiritual" and ineffable depth of experience that comes with the reading of an outstanding novel.

To be fair to Christopher Nolan, I cannot imagine anyone capturing the song of The Odyssey on film.  After all, recent research indicates that Homer's original story, much like the way the Bible was written, was added to and enhanced by one generation after another of storytellers/poets, all of whom used Homer's original catch-phrases to link their additions to the original.

That being said, there was one scene in Nolan's film that stirred and moved me -- the scene when Odysseus returns home disguised as a beggar.  I could not help but connect the imagery to Jesus' story in Matthew 25 about His return: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me; I was in prison and you came to visit me.

 Although I was disturbed at the way the film took liberties with the original ending of The Odyssey, the homecoming scene in which the faithful servants and friends of Odysseus recognized him moved me.  One by one, they knelt, bowed their heads, and began to rhythmically pound their staffs on the floor in recognition and fealty to their Lord.

And I wondered:  will I/we recognize Jesus as LORD when He returns?  Will I/we kneel in homage and fealty to One we love and honor?  Or will I/we cower in fear and trepidation at His return?

I do have to thank Christopher Nolan for the beautiful image of servants and friends who recognize in a ragged beggar the Lord whom they loved and for whose return they have awaited for so many years.