Risen: The Christian Life has Always Been a Manhunt

Last updated on: February 11, 2016 at 1:38 pm by Steve the Missionary

Risen: The Christian Life has Always Been a Manhunt 2016-02-11T13:38:41-08:00 Steve the Missionary

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This Friday, Sony Pictures with Affirm Films and TriStar Pictures is releasing Risen, the manhunt that changed the course of history. It tells the story of Clavius, a roman soldier (Joseph Fiennes) who is tasked with finding the body of Christ after it has been “stolen” from its tomb. What follows plays almost like a detective story, with this soldier interrogating various stars of the gospel story (Mary Magdalene, the Virgin Mary, and various disciples) trying to find what he is looking for. They all tell him, to one degree or another, the same thing: you won’t find what you’re looking for.

You see, Clavius is looking for a dead body stashed somewhere and the culprits who managed to snatch him from his tomb. He is looking for the physical evidence of someone who was and remains dead. As anyone who has heard the story knows, he is looking for something that simply isn’t there. Clavius’ slow realization of the truth provides the lynchpin of the drama in the movie. If he wants to find out why Jesus’ tomb is empty and why the, he’s going to have to stop looking for a dead body and start looking for Jesus.

It’s this disparity between what he is looking for and what is actually there that tells a very important part of the story of every Christian. No one starts their journey toward or within Christianity explicitly looking for Jesus. We are always looking for something else and seemed surprised by what we end up finding. Any honest Christian will tell you that at the beginning of their faith journey, they were just like Clavius. We were looking for a dead body, viewing it as our goal and the best available option. We have different titles we give to that dead body; purpose, meaning, community, enlightenment, forgiveness, mindfulness, peace. But the dead body simply isn’t there, it was never an option. Only the risen Christ waits for us. The first big lesson of the Christian life is a re-arranging of what we are searching for.

It’s our great temptation to limit Christianity to a truth, an idea, or a statement of fact. Notice I said “temptation”, and it needs to be resisted. In fact, BXVI said that “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”. Clavius can look for a dead body all he wants, but he will only ever be shown a walking, talking, risen Jesus. I can look for interior peace all I want, but I will only ever be brought to the path of Jesus.

The trick to Christianity is to realize as quickly as possible that it’s not an idea-hunt, or a discipline-hunt, it’s a manhunt. It’s the manhunt that changed the course of history. It will certainly change your life, so long as you don’t let other pursuits derail it. This Lent, use your sacrifices, prayer, and alms not to seek out “deep truths” but to simply seek out Jesus.

Here is the movie’s website.

Images: Courtesy Sony/Affirm Films/TriStar Pictures

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