This page was created on April 8, 2005
This page was last updated on May 14, 2005

—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections

Comments by Greg Wright

Balian finds neither faith nor forgiveness in Jerusalem because the city is no magic talisman. No city is. Fallen man is still fallen man, and no earthly city can fix that. Jerusalem, as the Muslim leader Saladin tells Balian, is nothing. Unless, of course, one has at least learned that very lesson from Jerusalem; then, perhaps, as Saladin also observes, Jerusalem may be everything.

At the end of Scott’s story, Balian is still a just a fugitive blacksmith in search of forgiveness and the hand of God: he has not completed his journey of faith; he has simply eliminated one useless and tragic option for its completion. Like Scott himself, Balian remains unsure of his faith.

Given the story and its setting, this is perhaps as it should be. Jerusalem itself, after all, is not the Way, the Truth and the Life—and Jesus never claimed that it was. He claimed that He was all that, and more. And as pop musicians Switchfoot observe in their song “Dare You To Move,” maybe a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is far too distant and unnecessary a journey:

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go...
Salvation is here

Continued on Greg's blog

I will not post these comments. I welcome your spiritual concerns and prayer needs.  I will correspond with you, usually within two weeks.
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