A Review of the Movie Invictus Through Bible Literature

In his sermon, Jesus' Inauguration Day, Samuel Wells Dean of Chapel Duke University tells us that Mark's gospel describes three phases in the life of Jesus: Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the suffering servant and the cosmic Jesus.



This well crafted message of Reverend Wells teaches that some of Jesus' followers tend to associate him in only one or two of these life phases. But Mark's gospel clearly describes Jesus as a full participant in each of these life phases.



Professor Wells posits that these people mistakenly expect their lives to follow a similar abbreviated pattern as they see Jesus' life. Continuing he says, when life presents to them the life phase they eschew from Jesus' life, they tend to experience spiritual disappointment.



In this message the Reverend Doctor Wells teaches that Jesus' followers should fully embrace each of these three life phases. Because each phase prepares one for a deeper spiritual understanding, thereby positioning a person for a mature spiritual life.



The movie, Invictus, shows these three life phases in the life of Nelson Mandela, the political prisoner who becomes the first black president of South Africa. 



Invictus does not followed Mark's ordering of Jesus' life phases but the three phases are present. 



The movie opens with Mandela ( Morgan Freeman) in the Messiah role. 



His country suffers a deep racial divide from the now legally defunct apartheid. Mark's gospel presents Jesus driving out an evil spirit in his first healing. Invictus presents Mandela preparing to drive out an evil spirit in his first public act.

The act takes place at a community meeting. Some black citizens gather to change the name and colors of the country's rugby team. White South Africans had a passion for rugby. It was their game, their soul. To eliminate or change it in any way was to cut deeply their soul.



Mandela rushes to the meeting and takes a stand against the action. He espouses a gospel against vengeance. Inclusion and forgiveness were to be his design to heal the racial divide and to forge a nonracial South Africa. His voice wins the action of the day. 



Invictus ushers us through the stories and incidents that make the healing possible.



All "messiahs" must gather followers, charge their followers with a mission and equip them to usher in a new order.



To foster a healing between blacks and whites South Africans. The new president chooses rugby through which to meld the country's two peoples. He invites the country's rugby captain (Matt Damon) for tea and communicates his desire for a competitive season. The president's forthrightness captivates the rugby captain, he believes and he is converted to make the president's desire a reality. This is a messiah recruiting an apostle. 


The captain's commitment for a competitive season converts his teammates to discipleship. The team travels the South African countryside to give rugby training sessions to black youth. The sessions bond black youth to the previously despised sport of the once ruling class. The black citizenry warms to rugby and to the rugby team.

Mark's gospel thoroughly develops the life of Jesus as a suffering servant, Invictus gives only glimpses of the suffering servant through flashbacks of a laboring Mandela during his incarceration - a period of 27 years.



This is a parting of the movie from Mark's gospel. For in the gospel, the suffering servant endures a horrible death, rises then he is taken away on a cloud in his glory as cosmic Jesus.



In the movie, against infinitesimal odds, the South African rugby team plays for the rugby world cup. The country's stadium is packed for the event. By television the rest of the nation intently watches. Against incredible odds, the team wins. 



South Africa erupts into celebration. 



During these moments of celebration South Africans who previously felt an uneasiness about each other united to express their pride for their successful rugby team. Rugby had cracked the curtain forged by apartheid.



Invictus shows the cosmic Mandela glorified as he waved to 60,000 South Africans chanting his name in the celebrating stadium. Mandela is in his glory.

The celebration, a natural act, had spiritually transformed the country. The healing process had begun when all South Africans began to emotionally support the rugby team for success.



Journeyman actor, Morgan Freeman, comfortably plays a respectable smiling Nelson Mandela. Without effort he brandishes the public attributes of this famous man. His costar, Matt Damon, deliveres an incredibly performance of a disciple smitten by the teaching of his savior.



Don't miss this must see movie! It dramatizes Professor Wells' call to fully engage the three life phases for a richer spiritual life.