Tag: Daniel Coulombe

Europe, in particular, stands aghast at a world where spirituality and power go hand-in-hand and where elders are part of the political and religious structure. So the question as to whether Jesus was exclusively a religious leader or a politician is one that would sound absurd to people in much of the world. But take a look at Denis Arcand’s Jesus of Montreal – the best of the so-called Jesus films – and you’ll get a sense of how absurd it is to separate the politician from the religious figure. As he researches Jesus’ life and reenacts that life in the play, the events of Daniel’s own life show startling parallels to key scenes in Jesus’ life: the turning over of tables in the TV audition, breaking bread for the audience, the trial in the Montreal court, the temptation by Mireille’s lawyer (who takes Daniel/Jesus to the top of a Montreal skyscraper and shows him all he could possess). He heals people and calls them to a new life and prophesies about future judgement. He calls his opponents a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33), “whitewashed sepulchres” (Matthew 23:37) and “children of the devil” (John 8:44). But mostly Jesus lifts up those who were ignored in that society: children, women, the poor. Passion for politics Who was this Jesus? A Jesus who is neither a member of the established religion of the day nor a career politician. Perhaps the challenge for European culture in the 21st century is to rediscover a holistic approach to politics and faith – an awareness that faith envisions politics and that politics is the outworking of a moral vision at the heart of what it means to be human.