KMC Forums - Kevin Smith and Jesus?

What do Kevin Smith and Jesus Christ have in common? Aside from the long hair and beard, both men only speak in parables. Webster’s defines "parable" as a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle. You probably already knew that Jesus only spoke in parables. But what religious principle are Jay and Silent Bob trying to illustrate? Get ready for this…it’s the same one. That’s right. Jay and Silent Bob are saying the same thing Jesus was saying 2000 years ago.

According to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 8, Jesus said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "though seeing, they may not see; though hearing they may not understand.'" The words Jesus was using were originally used by the prophet, Isaiah. According to Isaiah, these were the words of God spoken to him. Check out Isaiah, Chapter 6. Apparently, Isaiah was instructed by God to make the heart of the people calloused, their ears dull, and their eyes closed until all is laid waste. When all the trees are cut down, the holy seed will be the stump in the land. Luke explains that the seed is the word of God. I'm explaining that the word of God is truth. Check out the rest of Luke, Chapter 8.

These "secrets" have not changed since the beginning of time. We know that Jesus studied the Old Testament. Luke says that at the age of 12, Jesus was in the temple demonstrating an amazing understanding. What did Jesus posses that the teachers of his time were so impressed by? He obviously understood the truth in the scriptures that was hidden from those who had come before him. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus said, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you."

Jesus understood, undoubtedly through experience, that truth is absolute. He understood that truth is identifiable. He understood that living in truth was the only path to freedom, to understanding, to God. When a man understands and lives in truth, no man holds any power over him. His fears and insecurities are but a memory. This fact has been the curse and the salvation of mankind throughout history. Although the knowledge sounds easy enough to understand, we as humans choose to ignore it so that we might pursue our own interests. Many of the worlds great leaders have come to understand truth and used this knowledge for their own personal gain. They have understood that the "sheep" in the world are easily led astray and manipulated for their own purposes. When a man decides to use truth for his own gain, he accepts his place in the hierarchy of man. Truth shows him that although he might control a whole nation's people, he is not the absolute ruler. His life then becomes a struggle to build and maintain his "flock".

So why doesn't the Bible just start out by saying, "this is a guidebook that shows you how to live a happy, free, meaningful life"? My best guess is that people still wouldn't listen. The temptation to live for solely for yourself is a strong one. When a person lives for himself, he is the center of his world. He is, in his own mind, the most important person in the world. Common sense should tell us that this isn't the case. How many of you would consider me the most important person in the world? Hopefully, none of you. So, if we know we're not the most important person in the world, why do we focus all of our efforts on ourselves? The logical answer is, "because no one else will do it for us". Although logical, it just isn't true. When we live in truth, without greed, selfishness, pride, fear, and lust, our needs will be provided for. If we choose not to live in truth, our needs will never be met.

Our society (especially here in North America) is much different than it was 2000 years ago. Back then, stories about farming, family, and nature should have had a good chance of "striking a chord" with the listener. Yet, not many were able to hear. So is it surprising that in today's age, few people are willing to consider, much less implement the teachings in the Bible? Many of today's prophets and teachers know that they cannot use these "outdated" stories if they hope to connect with the people. Any ideas where Jay and Silent Bob fit into the picture?

Personal responsibility, tolerance, and compassion are common themes in all of the Kevin Smith movies I have seen. For this discussion, however, I will focus on his trilogy ("Clerks", "Dogma", and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"). If you've already seen these films, I recommend that you read what I have to say and watch them again. If you haven't seen them, I recommend you watch each of them at least twice.

I will begin this discussion by providing a brief history of my history with Kevin Smith and his movies. Clerks was released in 1994. This was Smith's first movie. The movie was out on video by my freshman year in college. Although I heard plenty of passing references to the award winning independent film, somehow I never took the time to watch it. I saw Mallrats and Chasing Amy when they came out on video (not part of the trilogy). When Dogma came out in 1999, my senior year of college, I thought enough of Kevin Smith to go see the movie in the theater. I thought it was smart and funny but no masterpiece. I waited for "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" to come out on cable. I smoked a few joints and found it entertaining enough. Obviously, I have not been the biggest fan of Kevin Smith.

That is, until earlier this month. On Friday, May 14, one week after having opened the New Testament for the first time in over a decade, Clerks came on HBO. During that week, I came to understand who Jesus was through reading the Gospels, I watched Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ, I watched Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", and to top it off, I watched Kevin Smith's masterpiece, "Clerks". Thinking that I was going to be taking a 2 hour break from the serious topics that I had been addressing during that week, I was soon shown otherwise. When I saw that the movie was about to begin and decided to watch it, I had about 10 minutes to spare. It just so happened that a George Carlin comedy special was starting at that moment and I decided to give it a try while I waited for "Clerks" to begin.

The rest of this post can be viewed at my 2 day old site, infiniteperspectivevortex.com. It is titled, "Jay and Silent Bob and Jesus?" (The post has too many words to fit in this forum.) I hope you'll let me know what you think.