The King of Kings Movie Talking Points
The recent movie “King of Kings” by Angel Studios took the box office by storm this past week, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts or talking points as the Pastor for Children’s Ministries. I took my family to watch it last week, and I left both thankful for many aspects of the movie and sad that some essential truths were missed, or at least not very clear.
Movies are such a powerful communication tool. Like any tool, they can be used for right or wrong. The movie “The King of Kings” is the story of the life of Jesus as told by Charles Dickens to his children. Since it is a retelling of the story, don’t expect exact quotes from Scripture. Instead, there are many paraphrases of Scripture. Don’t let that throw you off. Personally, I would have loved to see exact quotes from Scripture, but the paraphrases do communicate much of the original truths, though they are more interpretive in nature. You could think of it more like a storybook Bible. It is, after all, made for kids.
I found the narrative to be very close to the narrative in Scripture, with some obvious artistic licence. At the same time, it seems to me like it was purposely crafted to appeal to as many different faith groups as possible. It does mention the fall of Adam and Eve and the results of sin. It talks a lot about faith in general and our need for Jesus to save us. Those are powerful truths from Scripture.
One of the most emotional moments is towards the end when the movie changes perspective from Charles Dickens and his son, and shifts to the perspective of all those whom Jesus healed or rescued. You see Jesus through the eyes of those individuals as he reaches out to heal them. It is extremely moving as it reminds us that Jesus didn’t just come for a nebulous mass of people, He came to rescue YOU.
Theologically, I did find a few things to be missing. One of the biggest theological ideas missing is the call that Jesus Himself gives in Scripture to “repent and believe in the gospel.” The movie does talk about belief or faith, but there is no clear call to repent of sin, or at the very least, I missed it. Sin and the truth that sin makes God sad are mentioned. The movie also states that Jesus came to pay for our sin, but that’s pretty much where it stops. As Christian parents, don’t let your gospel witness to your children stop there. All of us are called to repent/turn from our sin and put our faith in Jesus.
Another theological truth that was missing or at least severely muddied is the truth that Jesus is not just the Son of God, but that Jesus is in fact God. He clearly claimed in Scripture to be one with the Father. His claim to deity in Scripture was the reason the Pharisees called for his crucifixion. The movie talks about Jesus as being the Son of God and being close to God, but it doesn’t clearly state that Jesus is God. That’s a big miss. Again, I chalk that up to trying to appeal to as many faith groups as possible. That’s an important clarifying talking point with your kids.
I don’t feel it is my place to tell you to go see any specific movie with your family, but if you do go see it, I think it is helpful to keep some of these ideas in mind as you talk to your children about what you see. At the end of the day, God has commanded parents to teach His commands to their children “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” If The King of Kings movie is part of the way you walk, then use it to point your children to Jesus as He is clearly taught in Scripture.
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