(SPOILERS ALERT!)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it was the 80’s, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull did not exist.

Instead, we had the original trilogy of the Indiana Jones movies.

The last of these movies was aptly titled, “The Last Crusade”. It was the (for a while, at least) last Indiana Jones movie, and a movie about searching for religious artifacts.

The movie climaxes in an iconic scene where Indy and “bad guy” must locate the Holy Grail (AKA the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper) from among a room full up cups. Bad guy, knowing very little about Christ, chooses the biggest, most expensive chalice in the room. The guardian of the Grail replies, “you have chosen poorly,” and bad guy dies. (Ok, that’s a really oversimplified version, but stay with me here). Indy says to himself – correctly – that Jesus was a carpenter’s son. Thus, Indy chooses the very simplest, most humble cup in the room. The guardian says “you have chosen wisely,” and Indy doesn’t die (and whether or not this is a good thing depends on how you felt about the Crystal Skull).

But that’s not necessarily correct, because the Grail never belonged to Jesus! In the Bible it clearly says that Jesus, who had given up pretty much everything He owned by this point in His ministry, asked a complete stranger for use of an already set-up room for this meal. Now, to put this in perspective, crashing a Passover meal is about like showing up at someone’s house at Thanksgiving to say that you and your followers  have need of their spare room and entire meal. I don’t know who that guy was that lent Jesus the entire 2nd floor of his house and his entire 12-person meal, while he and his own family presumably sat in the kitchen eating sandwiches without plates, but that guy was AWESOME. Way to put God first.

So, getting back to Indiana Jones, we have no idea what the cups in the good stranger’s house looked like. They could have been plain, or, more likely, since he was able to spare food and room for thirteen spontaneous guests, they probably had at least a little swag going on.

So, if the day ever comes that someone invites you over to their house to watch a 20-year-old movie, you can pause it at the iconic climax, Google this entry, read it aloud, and feel confident in pointing out that Indiana Jones is not theologically accurate.

I never said this story had a really important point.
God Bless Ya,

Morgan Hart

(For the full account, read Matthew 26:17-19, or Mark 14:12-17, or Luke 22:7-14.)

For a free online Bible, try Biblegateway.com

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