Notting Hill Jesus

Critics of Christianity often claim that Jesus was a figment of the imagination, a man-made invention by the religious who sought to control people in earlier times. Throughout my extensive reading and education, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was in fact a real person and a historical figure, but just barely. What I mean by that is that there is enough evidence that any person can get ahold of to verify Jesus existed—but all the historical evidence boils down to the fact that Jesus died on a cross. That’s it. Scholars have deduced much more than that from there, but the truth is that very, very little is known about this lower-class Jewish preacher from rural Galilee who was crucified by the Romans in ancient Israel. I argue that most of us know and interact with Jesus more through a mythological lens than any other way. How you interpret that argument will be different than how someone else might, but the key, at least in my opinion, is not about trying to settle our differences, but to celebrate them in hopes that a clearer understanding about him might emerge.

My favorite romantic comedy of all-time is Notting Hill, hands down. In this movie Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant star in a modern-day fairy tale, about a wildly famous actress who falls in love with a humble shopkeeper. It checks all the boxes: the wacky friends, the lovable stars with electric chemistry and a skill for adorably awkward entanglements. The scene where Julia’s character Anna Scott, a version of her high-profile actress self, is standing before Hugh Grant’s character William Thacker, who is humble, coy, irresistibly charming, and hilariously loveable. Their relationship has gone back and forth up to this point as every good Rom-Com does, and then, at the climactic moment, in complete vulnerability, Roberts exquisitely delivers this beautiful, simple and elegant truth in hopes to secure her character’s love interest:

“The fame thing isn’t really real, you know. And don’t forget, I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

I don’t know how many times it took for Julia Roberts to deliver that line, but somehow, she was able to capture the simplicity and emotional impact of its truth and in my opinion, her effort was exemplary. That is putting it lightly. This scene crushes me every single time I see it. I am such a softie! And it’s not just romantic comedies; when Roy plays catch with his father at the end of Field of Dreams or when The Rookie Jimmy Morris receives the news that he is being called up to play in the Major Leagues, any story that conveys a person’s lifelong love for something or someone transforms me into a puddle of tears. Have you ever allowed a story to resonate with you like that? Have you ever been sucked into something so much that your heart swelled, and you got that lump in your throat and those impossible-to-hide tears welled up in your eyes? Has the story of Jesus ever gotten to you like that?

As someone who makes a living telling and retelling it, Jesus’s story doesn’t regularly bring me to tears, but he continually captivates me. I am captivated historically and theologically, and while there’s nothing inherently negative about the Jesus story, something about it isn’t “adding up” anymore. Occasionally I find myself suspicious and skeptical, increasingly curious that the Gospels were literary accounts that were fictionally staged. I don’t consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I can’t shake this feeling that the way the New Testament talks about him makes a little too much sense to me. It’s almost as if it’s too plausible for me to accept as true. As a film-lover, the Jesus story feels like something one of my favorite directors would depict on the silver screen. Is the Jesus Christians have been taught about only a character in a cosmic theater production? How much of these accounts are historical and how much of them convey the mythical perceptions of those writing about Jesus? I wonder. Was Jesus was truly this Godlike superhero as many of the Gospels make him to be, or was Jesus just a man, standing in front of his friends, asking them to listen, love, and to stay awake with him?

Despite two-thousand years of the Christian Church telling the story of Jesus, the gist of his meaningful legacy endures. Despite all its flaws, deceits, and misunderstandings, the Jesus of the New Testament still elicits a heart-swelling feeling within. Sometimes I am filled with sorrow and other times I am filled with pride and awe for this man. In fact, I have developed deep feelings for Jesus of Nazareth. I confess that of all the people I have learned about from history, Jesus is the only one I have truly ever loved. I appreciate the deeds of many, many others, but none are as captivating as Jesus procuring my love. That statement and sentiment makes me pause because normally, developing love for someone takes a great deal more than learning about them from what has been written or spoken of them. And yet, I cannot nor will not deny that I do love Jesus as much as I love my wife and my children and my family and friends. If you don’t feel the same way about Jesus, perhaps you are wondering: how can this be? Do I even know Jesus? And here’s where it gets even weirder for me. I do not think I know the real Jesus, I don’t think anybody does—at least not those who have based their knowledge of him solely on the New Testament.

The longer I study, preach, and teach about him using the Bible, the less it feels like Jesus was who the scriptures say he was. Of the words and deeds ascribed to him in scriptures, the less I intuit was a man who would desire anyone’s worship—an act that is the central ritual of most Christian communities today. The real Jesus, or at least a more accurate version of Jesus, is accessible to those who seek to know him rather than to just believe whatever you’re told about him. Speaking from experience, exploring the epic questions leads to dangerous depths—but not “dangerous” in a negative sense, but in a “point of no return” sort of way; committed, curious, discipleship is a endlessly life-giving exploration and exercise of the inner spirit. I expected my inquisitive journey to uncover the real Jesus would ultimately dissolve my love and trust in him, but shockingly, the opposite has transpired. I appreciate the real Jesus and his story more than ever!

Most scholars are in consensus that Jesus existed historically. What and who the real Jesus was beyond that will be up to you. The Christian tradition says that in Jesus, "God became flesh and lived among us." We are taught that Jesus looked like us, ate like us, walked on two feet like us, felt similar emotions, and suffered death like us. We’ve also been taught that Jesus wasn’t like us—he was also how Notting Hill’s shopkeeper William Thacker viewed the actress Anna Scott; Jesus was a celebrity, someone who was like us in appearance, but not really like us—Jesus was God. Which is it, reader? Was Jesus like us or was Jesus God? Can it be both?