In summer 2016, MGM and Paramount picture released a movie Ben-Hur, which is a remake of the classic 1959 movie under the same title. One of sub-plots of the movie is the appearance of the “good thief” on the cross alongside of Jesus. The main character in the movie, Judah Ben Hur, secretly assisted the injured thief who was involved in the rebellion against Roman authorities. The “good thief” then attempted to kill Pilate from the rooftop of Judah’s family home as Pilate enters the city. Judah and his family are arrested because they were harboring the “good thief”. Judah is enslaved and his mother and sister are imprisoned. The central point of the drama is the chariot race between Judah Ben-Hur and Massala, a Roman officer who had led the arrest of his family. Ben-Hur wins the race. Then, with Ben Hur having succeeded in taking revenge, the film immediately shifts to the crucifixion of Jesus. The crucifixion scene is simply tacked onto the end of the movie. In the original Ben-Hur movie, the crucifixion of Jesus was an integral part of the story.
The flaws in the remake of Ben-Hurthat downplay the crucifixion of Christ remind me about Jesus’ disciples who fail to understand the importance of crucifixion, which we hear in the Gospel today. In this passage, instead of growing from Jesus’ teachings, the disciples seem to be regressing. They fail to understand that Jesus is the suffering Messiah. In the Gospel of Matthew that we hear today, it was the mother of James and John who approached Jesus with her sons and ask Jesus to put her son at Jesus’ right and the other at his left. In the Gospel of Mark, it is John and James themselves who come to Jesus and ask to be put at Jesus’ right and left. Regardless, the disciples, especially John and James fail to understand Jesus’s statement that the Son of Man will be handed over and killed and only through this suffering, will be raised after three days. The bottom line is that the disciples refuse to accept the reality that Jesus is the suffering Messiah. What they seek is honor as they ambition to sit next to Jesus. So, in the Gospel, Jesus is giving a test for discipleship. Can his disciples accept Jesus as the suffering Messiah and bear the suffering like him who died on the Cross? Ironically, thieves receive the positions to the right and left of Jesus on the cross, instead of the disciples.
Many people attempt to avoid suffering by withdrawing from anything that might involve pain. Recall a moment when you tried to flee from suffering and pain. In this Lenten season, reflect on how healing comes not by sidestepping or fleeing from suffering, but rather by our capacity for accepting it. We mature in faith through suffering and find meaning through union with Christ, who suffered on the cross for our sins.