" During the film, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and you see a dove descending and then John spoke those words. The calling of the first disciples happens beside the Sea of Galilee. Matthew 4:18 "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come follow me," Jesus said, "And I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:21 "Going on from there, he saw two brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John." After the baptism scene, John the Baptist tells Andrew and Phillip that Jesus is the one they should follow. Immediately following that scene, James and Simon Peter are bringing their boat in to dock. According to the film, this is the first calling and meeting of the apostles with Christ. As a result, Zeffirelli misses slightly on the actual account of this important introduction of students to teacher.
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. .
The next inaccuracy would be when the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus. In Jesus of Nazareth, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by day and talks with him. In John 3:2 it says "He came to Jesus at night and said "Rabbi, we know you a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." This meeting not only took place at night it also took place in secret. The Pharisee Nicodemus was an active ruling member of his group.
