Israel was under the control of the Roman Empire. The time period was 6 B.C. to

around 30 A.D. At the time of Christ’s birth, Herod the Great stilled ruled. There were rumors of a king to be born and rule Israel. Ultimately, Herod’s fear of a future king had him order all children two years and under to be murdered. Matthew 2:16 “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”. Historically this has not been proven, but given Herod’s nature and known history for his deeds, it is conceivable.

This epic tale of the life of Jesus Christ is possibly the best and most accurate accounts of his life. Using all 4 gospels as a reference Franco Zeffirelli creates a historical and accurate account. Using the gospels Luke and Matthew primarily as a guide Zeffirelli paints a humanistic quality

of Christ. Robert Powell, who portrays Jesus, strives for a more God like Christ in which I believe he accomplished. Jesus appears to be in a trance like state for the majority of the film. Perhaps this could be the way Jesus really was, but who is to say for sure. I have always pictured him as a friendly person and a very compassionate man. The film portrays him as both, but he does come across as someone with authority. His teachings are stern and with authority, especially in his voice.

As Jesus of Nazareth moves along, Zeffirelli hits a lot of the major points of Jesus’ life. He captures most of the major events that happened scripturally. One of the key events that Zefirelli left out was the first miracle or sign as the scriptures call it. Jesus was at a wedding with his mother and turned water into wine. In my opinion, since this was the first sign, it should have been included in the film. Zefirelli does show the complete Sermon on the Mount which was one of Jesus’ greatest teachings.

We now have moved to time of the crucifixion. This is where the movie leaves out some important details. Some are minor, but what is minor to a believer can be major to an unbeliever. This film’s passion scene along with every other movie about the life of Christ, seems to always paint a lighthearted view of what actually happened. Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged. The Romans take Jesus outside strip him down to his loin cloth, chain him, and proceed to flog him. From Zeffirelli’s view the Romans used what appears to be a leather whip. Historically, we know that Jesus would have been stripped naked for the flogging and for the crucifixion. The whip used for flogging was strips of leather but in the middle of the strips were metal balls, and on the end of each piece of leather strip was sheep bone. The actual flogging would have caused Jesus’ body to go into shock. The metal ball and sheep bones tears out big pieces of flesh, even to the point where bone could have been exposed. The Romans then proceed to place a robe on his back and a crown of thorns upon his head. By placing the robe on the back of Jesus, it causes the blood to clot and possibly stopping the potential to bleed to death. While they are still beating and mocking Jesus the thorns are pushed into his head causing nerve damage and extreme pain down

Some topics in this essay:
Historically Jesus, Gethsemane Jesus, Franco Zeffirelli, Franco Zeffirelli’s, Jesus Zeffirelli, Jesus Nazareth, Zeffirelli Christ, Christ Nicodemus, Jesus Christ, Nazareth Nicodemus, franco zeffirelli, jesus nazareth, john baptist, jesus christ, minor believer major, extreme pain, sea galilee, pharisee nicodemus, life jesus, believer major, beside sea galilee, nailed cross,