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Back in 1960 (a mere seven years before my birth), Stanley Kubrick directed the movie Spartacus which starred Kirk Douglas. It was a movie about a man during ancient Roman society who rose from the dust of his slavery to shake the very pillars of Roman rule with his declaration of freedom. Still, while the movie certainly relied on the tried and not-so-true Hollywood concept of rewriting history (for the sake of the cinema), Spartacus was a real person. In fact, he was the leader of the slaves in "The Third Servile War", (yes... I Googled it) a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic.
It is even thought that Spartacus may have once served as a soldier with the Romans, but later was taken prisoner and sold for a gladiator. After escaping the gladiatorial school, he assembled a vast slave army of some 70,000 who came to pose a serious threat to Rome. Spartacus led many successful battles, but was eventually betrayed while taking some of his troops to Sicily to stir additional slave support. After this, he and his men met their end as they turned to face the Roman forces, and were routed completely in a final stand.
Okay... that was real history; but in the movie Spartacus arrives in Sicily only to find that the Romans have beaten him to the punch and paid-off the Sicilians. At this point the Sicilian envoy offers to convey Spartacus, his woman, and his senior officers to Asia to live as kings, but Spartacus won't hear of it... he refuses to abandon his army. Spartacus then turns to face the Romans at which point he and his army are defeated. They are then taken captive (rather than being killed in battle as history reports) which, of course, allowed for the famous scene where the Roman commander demands to know the identity of Spartacus. Upon getting ready to stand to his feet and reveal himself, Spartacus sees each of his men... one after the other, stand and declare, "I am Spartacus". After this it is found that Spartacus is one of two remaining men who are forced to duel to the death with the winner to be crucified. Out of love and honor for each other, each struggles to win to keep the other from having to suffer the torture of crucifixion. But finally, Spartacus prevails.
The reason I go to some length explaining the basic plot of the movie is because whether Mr. Kubrick intended it or not, there are some scenes I just described that (to me) parallel some Biblical themes.
You see, Jesus also came (essentially) as a slave. But even though He is the King of the Universe, He didn't seek the blood of His enemies as He had every right to. Rather, He exhibited the attitude of service to others, even at the expense of his own life. Rather than seeking the blood of His enemies in a violent revolution, Jesus sought His own blood, giving His life through a love revolution for His enemies to secure their freedom. It's like Romans 5:8 reads, "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners" (New Living Translation). Wow!!! He didn't wait for us to prove our worth... He did it because He loves us... despite what He knows about us.
But like that Sicilian envoy who offered Spartacus an easy way out; you know that satan did the same with Jesus to steer Jesus away from His destiny. Jesus had the opportunity to "have it all" (as satan put it) when Jesus was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by satan. When that didn't work, you also know the enemy was at work when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsamane. But rather than taking the easy way out, Jesus submitted to the Lordship of God. In Matthew 26:39 it reads, "He went on a little farther and bowed His face to the ground, praying, 'My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from Me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine'" (New Living Translation). And then, not long after this declaration, Jesus was betrayed. And not by someone He didn't know (like the situation with Spartacus), but by one of His own... Judas.
Like Spartacus' men who stood and devotedly declared that they were Spartacus; we too, as Christians should be so devoted to Christ as to be willing to give our lives for the sake of His name. But by "give our lives" I not only refer to the fact that there are those, even in modern society, who may have to literally give their lives for the sake of Jesus' name... but we must also surrender control of our lives (giving our lives to Him) for the sake of His name!
There is a strong survival instinct in all of us that would seek to sacrifice others to preserve our lives, elevating ourselves over others. But Jesus spoke of this and even modeled it in every aspect of His life as He declared in Matthew 20:28 that, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many" (New Living Translation).
In truth, what really is impacting here is not so much my declaration of loyalty and love for Jesus (as important as that is) as much as it is Jesus' declaration of loyalty and love for us. That while he was on the cross He was the one who said, essentially, I am Spartacus! Thank you Lord for loving me so much that you would be willing to give your life for me as well as all of the undeserving Spartacus' of the world!
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perry meade
