Christ's Life
|
Neo's Life
|
|
Christ's Virgin
Birth:
Matthew 1:24, 25 - And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of
the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife, and kept her a virgin until
she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
|
Neo's "Virgin Birth":
Neo is literally born into the real world from the womblike incubator that
he's existed in all his life! The imagery in the movie is even symbolic of a
birth - from an enclosed sac (complete with several umbilical cords!), down
the chute of the birth canal into the world!
|
|
What's in a Name?
Matthew 1:23 - "Behold, the virgin shall
be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name
Immanuel", which translated means, "God with us".
Christ was also referred to as:
- the "Son of Man" (see at right and below in "Judas");
- the Christ of God, His Chosen One;
and a host of other names.
|
What's in a Name?
Thomas Anderson - The name "Thomas" can be linked to "Doubting
Thomas", in that Neo never really believed that he was The One. The name
"Anderson" means "Son of Man", which is how Jesus was
often referred.
Neo's name means "new" or "change". That's exactly WHY he
was there. Neo was expected to change things, to bring about a new world
order. Neo is also an anagram: Neo - Eon - "One".
|
|
The Disciples
Mark 3:14 - And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He
might send them out to preach.
|
The Crew
Neo is brought into a group of people that are excited about his presence;
that are willing to believe he is "The One".
Tank: "If you ARE (the One),.....it's a very exciting time!"
|
|
John the Baptist
John 1:29, 30, & 34 - The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He
on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I,
for He existed before me'. And I have seen, and have borne witness that this
is the Son of God."
|
Morpheus
Neo's way was prepared by Morpheus who fervently believed and proclaimed to
everyone that Neo was "The One". And the Oracle told Morpheus that
HE would be the one to find "The One".
Morpheus: "We've done it, Trinity. We found him."
Trinity: "I hope you're right."
Morpheus: "I don't have to hope. I know it!"
|
|
Predicted Coming
Isaiah 7:14 - "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold,
a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name
Immanuel."
|
Predicted Coming
Neo's coming was foretold by the Oracle (and this woman was never
wrong! We never saw an instance where she missed a prediction! She always
knew what was going on!).
Morpheus: "... the Oracle prophesied his return and that his coming
would hail the destruction of the Matrix and the war, bring freedom to our
people."
|
|
The Brothers
Matthew 4:18-20 - ...He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And
He said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.
|
Tank and Dozer
There are two brothers in this crew on the Nebuchadnezzar. With Jesus, there
were 3 sets of brothers among the apostles. The fact that there were siblings
in this small group (especially brothers!) makes this noteworthy as a
parallel.
|
|
Judas
Matthew 26:15, 16 - ...and said, "What are you willing to give me to
deliver Him up to you?" And they weighed out to him 30 pieces of silver.
And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.
Luke 22: 47, 48 - ...and the one called Judas, one of the 12, was preceding
them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him,
"Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"
|
Cypher
The group is betrayed from within their own group by Cypher. Here, the Christ
allegory breaks down somewhat in that Neo is not really the target of the
betrayal as Jesus was with Judas (....if the Agents had only known!). The
Agents, unaware of Neo's real importance, want Morpheus, and that is the deal
Cypher makes - to lead Morpheus and the rest of the group (including Neo)
into a trap where Morpheus can be taken. Cypher's "payment": to be
reinserted into The Matrix for a "better" life.
|
|
Foretelling of Death & Resurrection
Matthew 16:21 - From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that
He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.
|
Foretelling of Death & Resurrection
Neo's death & resurrection is predicted by the Oracle during Neo's visit.
She tells Neo that he has "the gift", but it looks like he's
waiting for something. Neo asks, "What?" And the Oracle (very
prophetically!) replies, "Your next life, maybe!....."
|
|
Sacrifice
Matthew 20:28 -
"...just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life a ransom for many."
|
Sacrifice
Oracle ( to Neo): "Morpheus believes in you, Neo. And no
one, not you, not even me can convince him otherwise. He believes it so
blindly that he's going to sacrifice his life to save yours. You're going to
have to make a choice.....One of you is going to die. Which one will be up to
you."
When Neo makes the decision to go "in" to rescue Morpheus, Neo goes
with the full knowledge that he will die ("One of you is going to
die."). The Zion mainframe codes must be protected at any cost, or
humanity is lost. With this act, Neo is, in effect, knowingly sacrificing
himself to save the rest of humanity.
|
|
Death & Resurrection
Matthew 12:40 -
"...for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth."
Luke 24: 4-7 - "...And it happened that while they were perplexed about
this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel; and as
the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to
them, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here,
but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee.
Saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise again."
|
Death & Resurrection
Later, Neo IS killed by the authorities (the Agents), and, instead of 3 days,
in less than 3 minutes he is resurrected! We know that showing the passing of
3 actual days in this situation would've been impossible, so how did they
symbolically represent 3 days? Neo is dead for about 72 seconds on screen.
Those 72 seconds are symbolically 72 hours, and 72 hours = 3 days.
Now,...what force brought Neo back from the dead? LOVE! The instrument of
that love was Trinity (and not necessarily the person as much as what the
NAME signifies in Christianity!).
With that in mind, let's look at that resurrection scene.....(the) Trinity
leans over Neo and kisses him (the proverbial "kiss of life" or
"breath of life"!) and Neo awakens! And the first words Neo hears
are in the form of a command from (the) Trinity, "Now,....get up!"
(Can't you imagine God breathing life back into Jesus, and the first words
Jesus hears are God's, "Now,....get up!")
|
|
A Greater Power After the Resurrection
Matthew 28:18 - And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth."
|
A Greater Power After the Resurrection
After his resurrection, Neo's mastery of the Matrix is total, and the
authorities (Agent Smith) are powerless against him.
|
|
Radiant Presence
Matthew 17:2 - And He was transfigured before them;
and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
|
Radiant Presence
After he inhabits Agent Smith's body and causes the Agent to explode, Neo is
represented as an incandescent figure!
|
|
Ascension
Mark 16:19 - So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received
up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
|
Ascension
At the end of the movie, Neo hangs up a telephone after telling the
Artificial Intelligence that this is the beginning of a world with no boundaries
and no borders; then he "ascends" into the sky. A very fitting end!
|
Zion
In the Book of Revelation: Zion is the kingdom of God where the righteous will be saved
after the destruction of the earth.
|
Zion
With earth destroyed, Zion is the only city
where humans are free.
|
|
Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar was a Babylonian king who searched for the meaning
of his dreams.
|
Nebuchadnezzar
Morpheus names his ship Nebuchadnezzar and visits an oracle to
interpret reality -- really a dream.
|
