In this still from the movie, Judah Ben Hur tries to give water to Jesus Christ as he falls on His way to Golgotha. The cup is thrust from Ben Hur's hands by the guards who would deny any succor to the young rabbi who has aroused the wrath of Rome.
I have seen this three hour plus movie in whole or in part many times in my life and not until I saw it in its 70 mm technicolor splendor on a big screen at the Egyptian Theatre last weekend did I realize why the story of the fictional Ben-Hur is the "Tale of the Christ".
Before I explain, let me recapitulate the movie. I shall try to condense the three hours plus to something manageable for this page!
Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy and prosperous young Jew, born at the same time as the Christ child. His best childhood friend is a Roman, named Messala (played by Stephen Boyd). When Messala returns to Judea to be right hand to the Governor of the region, the reunion of friends is marred permanently by Messala's request that Judah betray those in the Jewish Community who might be overtly rebellious to the Romans, which Judah rejects. He would do anything for his friend, but not that. Messala is outraged. The outrage goes beyond the political to the deeply personal. No one, especially Judah, can say no to Messala.
Circumstance and evil disposition provide Messala an opportunity for a vile revenge. While the crowd gathers to watch the Governor ride through the streets of Jerusalem, Judah and his sister, Tirzah, do so on the roof of their home. As Tirzah moves her hand along the tiles, several loose large ones fall and hit the Governor. It is an accident, but Messala allows it to condemn Judah and his mother, Miriam and Tirzah, they to the dungeons and Judah to the death work of being a galley slave.
As Judah is marched mercilessly to his fate, the Roman soldiers stop at a town, Nazareth, to water themselves and their horses. The guards forbid the townspeople from giving any to Judah. But one man, whose face we do not see, with long robe and flowing hair, brings a handled cup of life giving water to Judah. The man gently holds Judah's face as he drinks. Judah looks at him and somehow that man's act of kindness, interrupted by the angry soldiers only after Judah has managed to have his fill, gives Judah comfort. His will to live is supplied by his own desire to avenge himself and his family.
Judah Ben-Hur, for three years identified only as a number, "41", survives rowing below decks of various of Rome's battle ships, chained, whipped and starved. Most men survive merely a year of such deprivation and degradation. When a new commander, Quintus Arrius, is assigned the fleet, he tests the ship on which Judah serves for speed, a speed provided by the life's breath of these slaves. Something about Judah attracts Arrius, his strength, his rage,his faith in a God that will not abandon him, but also we come to realize, that the young man reminds Arrius of an only son who died. When battle is joined, inexplicably, Arrius orders that the chains which secure Judah to his place on the lower deck be loosed. When the enemy rams the ship, Judah is able to escape and help others escape. Arrius is thrown overboard during battle and Judah dives into the water to save him. Arrius is not amenable to being saved as he believes that the Fleet has been lost and tries to kill himself with his dagger, an attempt that Judah thwarts. The men are rescued. The battle was, in fact, won by Rome. Arrius is a hero. The Emperor gives Judah to Arrius as a slave, a reward to both of them. Judah becomes charioteer and victor of many races in the Circus under his benefactor's banner. Time passes and Arrius not only frees Judah, but adopts him as his son, with all the rights which pertain to adoption.
Judah longs for home and vindication, and he leaves Arrius' protection and returns to Judea. In time an opportunity presents itself, a celebration for another successor Governor, Pontius Pilate, a race among champions of horses and chariots. Messala is the champion for Rome. Judah is the champion for Judea. Judah believes his mother and sister dead, but Messala has located them in the depths of their prison, where they have contracted leprosy. They are released to the colony of lepers. Only one person from Judah's household knows where they are. She is Esther, who loves Judah, but who has been promised mother and daughter she will not reveal their condition or location.
Esther encourages Judah to listen to the young Rabbi who has been preaching salvation and forgiveness to the people of the area. But Judah is single minded in his mission to avenge. As Esther settles onto the grass of a hill to hear the words of the Man, Judah at a great distance walks past the crowd unwilling to hear.
The day of the race brings Messala and Judah together. There are many champions, but Messala dispatches most of them using a device on the wheels of his chariot that cuts through the wood of those of the other contestants. His interceptions of Judah are dizzying in their intensity. He will be victorious over this Jew who defied him. Judah gives no quarter, but even in his desire for revenge, he acts with honor. Messala's rage has become madness. As he makes a final violent attack of his chariot on Judah's, he loses control and is thrown. Horses and chariots run over him. Judah is victorious. He is called a god among men by Pontius Pilate.
Mass is a mass of bloody flesh, but he is not dead. He calls for Judah. He is not finished with punishing Judah even as he cries out in pain on the edge of his end. In a last act of cruelty which he believes is triumph, Messala grabs Judah's shirt and reveals his mother and sister are alive, but are cast off lepers. In disgust and shock, Judah pulls Messala's dead hand from his clothes to go in search of his family. He finds them by following Esther, who has long been bringing them extra food and supplies.
Esther and Judah have heard of the miracles of the Rabbi who has been teaching in the country side. Judah is willing to do anything. even the remote possibility of healing. He will bring them to the man who preaches love and God's mercy. But when they arrive in Jerusalem, the people have gone to watch a Crucifixion. The itinerant preacher has been condemned to death. Judah wonders what the man could possibly have done to deserve such a fate. They find Him. Along with two other men, he has ben forced to walk to the place of their own deaths, carrying the crosses, the instruments of their punishment on their shoulders.
When the Man falls, and Simone of Cyrene, is pressed into service, Judah brings the water that the soldiers refuse Christ. Judah remembers Him. Their lives have come full circle.
As Christ is crucified, Judah watches transfixed. Day becomes night. Miriam, Esther and Tirzah find safety in a nearby cave. The earth rumbles. The rain pours washing blood from the earth. Judah's anger and need for vengeance is, paradoxically, washed away as well.
As the tumult passes and the sun returns, Miriam and Tirze have been healed of their leprosy.
Christ's tale is Ben-Hur's tale. Christ's tale is our tale. That appears to be the take-away, at least for me. He made our tale His by becoming one of us, one of His creatures. It is Balthazar, one of the three Magi, whom the fictional story makes a friend of Ben-Hur, who remarks of Christ, "Life has been answered". We are restored to the possibility of eternity, that which Adam and Eve threw away of their own free will with their grasping of godhood, with their smug belief in their own power over their Creator's. Ben-Hur was treated horribly by a person who had power over him. He was unjustly judged and punished. And yet, God in his mercy, put moments and people in his path that provide hope and promise of the Good. Christ was treated horribly by Rome and his own people, who had authority over him. He was unjustly judged and punished unto death. Anno Domini: After the Lord. After the Lord injustice and death look to be the victors (like Messala) but they are not! When Christ died on the cross it only appeared that everything was over, but in fact, there was this miracle, this great miracle. Resurrection. Hope. And always, He is giving us little promises along the way, little intersecting comforts that keep us going, if only we will have faith, and not be angry and vengeful. Suffering still exists indeed, but no longer will it vanquish. We have a choice to make, each of us. Will we see and accept that suffering is no longer an end of life, but a door? It is the same door that the Man on the Cross passed through and through which He holds his Hand to us.
Through His wounds we are healed. It is just a matter of faith. Therein lies the rub. We have to believe that life has been answered.
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