Those of you who have read my first book, In the Foosteps of Jesus, are familiar with this story. And if you’ve ever been at an event where I spoke, you probably heard me tell this story. But as newjesusmovie.com reaches more and more folks, I can guess that it will be an unfamiliar story to many of you. And even if it isn’t, in all humility, it’s a story that bears serious repeating…
We were filming Matthew in Quarzazate, Morocco. I was standing in a tiny village courtyard surrounded by hundreds including cast, crew, extras and villagers. The art department had transformed this little area into a first century marketplace, and we were two or three minutes from the cameras rolling on Matthew 11:20-24, “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!…”
During that shoot, I prayed like crazy before filming every scene. I was so aware that the only chance we had of sccessfully representing Jesus, was if he, by his Spirit, led us all the way – just as I am now equally aware with Jesus… No Greater Love. And so my approach was pray, pray, and then when you’re done praying, pray. Praise the name of Jesus!
This particular day, as I looked out at all the people who surrounded me, and the village, I prayed a very specific prayer. It was a prayer of desperation for an understanding of Jesus’ perspective. If I can put it this way, an understanding of what the world looks like through his eyes.
It wasn’t that I was aiming for some supernatural experience or “vision.” As an actor, an understanding of the character’s “perspective” is vital, and I didn’t yet have a handle on it with regard to Jesus. And with the cameras ready to roll in minutes, I was desperate for it.
And so I prayed and prayed, “Lord, show me what it all looks like through your eyes.” Pacing back and forth, looking out at this whole scene before me, “Lord, show me what it all looks like through your eyes…”
Here’s where the story gets a little tricky, for if I’d had any idea that the Lord would answer that prayer the way he did, I wouldn’t have had the guts to pray it…
I was pacing and praying, and then suddenly – it was like a literal shock of pain beyond pain that exploded through my heart. And it was only a fraction of a moment of time. And what it was, was heartache like I never imagined heartache could ever be; a pain and trauma I never knew was possible.
And standing there in the middle of all these people, I just exploded in magnanamous weeping. Unconrollably, I stood there, tears streaming down my face, entirely unable to regain my composure. And in the middle of that a Scripture rose in my heart, and I knew in the ways the Lord deals with me, that he was giving me a billionth of a billionth glimpse of…
“He had compassion on the crowds, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
I would weep like that for more than an hour that day. Again, as hard as I tried I couldn’t pull myself together. It was that terrible, that deep, that painful.
The director, Regardt van den Berg, came to ask if I was alright. I just looked at him through my tears and all I could say was, “It kills him, Reg… It just kills him.” Somehow he understood what I was saying because his eyes welled with tears of his own, and he replied, “I know. That’s why we’re out here doing what we’re doing…” He went on to tell me to take all the time I needed to get myself together and then we would continue.
That experience changed my life. I’ve never been able to look at, well, anything or anyone, quite the same way since. And I’m convinced it is why, to this day, I do what I do and make the vocational choices I make.
In fact, Tuesday I’ll get on a plane to South Africa to share Jesus with thousands, as I’ve done more than 50 times over the past many years – and that experience that day is undoubtedly why I do it. By the same token, that experience is why, in spite of the fact that I’ve been carrying this vision to film John word for word for many years now, there is no letting it go. There is no giving up. There are souls on the other end of it, and so there is no turning back.
That day, to gain even a tiny glimse of his heart like that - of his pain to see even one of his “little ones” live even one day outside of his “hope and future,” outside of his care and provision, outside of his eternal salvation. The pain, the heartache, of Jesus… for the lost.
Again, may I say, there is no turning back, my friends. As Reggie so eloquently stated that afternoon, “That’s why we’re out here doing what we’re doing.” Yes, that’s why we filmed Matthew and that’s why you and I together are on our way to filming Jesus… No Greater Love.
My next blog entry will be from South African soil. I will report on all the wonders I’ll undoubtedly be seeing at his wondrous hand - because he is so incredibly faithful and so longing for his people. And if I may be uncharaceristically bold, while i’m busy over there, please, let us continue to keep walking this journey toward Jesus… No Greater Love.
You see, it is really up to you, not me, to see this film fulfilled. Yes, I’m at the spearhead, and yes, I’m at the creative helm. But you are the ones who the Lord is calling to spread the news, to pray and interecede, to talk with your pastors, family, friends… and even to give where you are able.
I can write blogs till my fingers are blue. I can spend ooldes putting up fancy websites and organizing simpler ways for folks to support. I can do a million interviews and write a million newsletters, and pen the finest Jesus movie script in history (I hope so!), and assemble the greatest team of film makers ever before assembled…
But it all amounts to nothing if you, the body of Christ, my fellow brothers and sisters, don’t join me. Each of us has a part to play – and the astounding thing is that your part is no smaller or bigger than mine or anyone else’s part, for if even one piece of the puzzle is left out, the picture is incomplete and God’s perfect will is fallen short of.
Truly, I have zero illusions here. This isn’t “my vision” we’re pursuing here. It is us, all of us together, impassioned lovers of Jesus and lovers of people who need him, united, joining hands, asking God, “What do you want me to do,” and then doing it unto his glory and the salvation of precious souls.
Let us continue to move forward, our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus; our eyes on those precious, precious souls… Glory to the name of Jesus!
Bruce Marchiano
