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joshua (Lionsgate/Fox, 2002)

We have heard a lot about The Passion of the Christ, a movie that focuses on the last hours of Jesus' life. It is a narrow story, with appeal to some Christians, but the life of Jesus is a story with something for all people. Consider that Jesus is revered as a prophet of God by the Islamic faith, and that the poems of Rumi, a Sufi mystic, contain many references to Jesus. In Jesus Through Jewish Eyes, Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro says that Jesus was sending a message that "My way is the way of unity, the way God intended the world to be." One does not have to be a Christian to find something valuable in the teachings of Jesus.

At a time when the public discourse about Jesus seems to generate divisive questions, where can we look for another view of Jesus that is accessible to all people? The movie Joshua is a contemporary story set in the small town of Aurora, a place where a stranger is anyone who has lived there less than 15 years. Joshua, played by Tony Goldwyn, arrives in town, hops out of an old truck, and strolls÷unnoticed÷through the streets of Aurora. Here he witnesses townspeople engaged in daily conflicts and struggling with their lives' burdens.

Soon, Joshua finds an unused barn to rent as his home and woodworking shop. Now people in town are starting to wonder, "Who is this curious loner? Why is he here?" Without invitation or help, Joshua begins his first carpentry challenge÷the rebuilding of the Baptist Church. Why is he working so hard without pay?

In every conversation with curious townspeople, Joshua invites them to join in his work, and people are surprised to find themselves drawn to help with the project. Soon everyone is talking about Joshua with appreciation, saying, "Joshua is an amazing guy. Before, we lived together, but we weren't a community. Joshua brought us together."

It doesn't take long for people to start building friendships with this quiet, direct man. He seems to be everywhere at the same time, helping people with whatever they need by encouraging them to look within. He makes complicated problems seem simple. Still, his friends wonder about who he is and why he is in Aurora.

One of Joshua's closest friends is a priest named Father Pat. Kurt Fuller plays Pat as a somewhat goofy and likeable guy, who works for Father Tarbone, a priest with connections to the Vatican and higher aspirations than preaching to a small congregation in a small town. Father Tarbone, played by F. Murray Abraham, grows irritated with Joshua's popularity and influence.

As the townsfolk are drawn to Joshua with increasing awe and trust, Father Tarbone feels his authority as a religious leader is threatened. When his own congregants start telling strange stories about miracles, Father Tarbone decides he must expose the truth about this charlatan. He reaches out to Rome for help, arranging a meeting for Joshua at the Vatican.

I won't reveal the somewhat surprising result of Joshua's trip to Rome. Instead, I invite you to share this G-rated movie with your children and your grandparents, watching it side-by-side and discussing its message. You may wind up creating the kind of community that Joshua gathered around him.

This movie helps us to imagine what it would look like if Jesus returned today to remind us of his message of love÷not through cataclysmic upheaval, but by quietly moving through the world, much as he did the first time. Joshua is an accessible movie that people of different backgrounds can enjoy watching, to be reminded of÷or perhaps learn for the first time÷the simple, life-altering truths Jesus taught and lived.÷nancy hirsch

Copyright 2004, all rights reserved. You can contact Nancy at njh02@earthlink.net.