In the garden Jesus is not alone. Unfortunately the disciples are all asleep. Jesus is there with his thoughts and they are troubling. “[Y]et not my will, but yours be done.” says Jesus. In the movie The Passion of the Christ the scene is one of pain and struggle. There is a task at hand, it is unavoidable. It will be painful and end in death.
A similar narrative has been in theatres this year. Multiversal time travelling tales have been offered by the superhero studios. Across the Spider-verse and The Flash, talk of causality, the butterfly effect, time travel and dimension hopping.
Yes, this article contains spoilers for The Flash movie. If you are going to see it then read this after.
Destiny and Time Travel
In Across the Spider-verse our hero, Miles Morales, is told that someone must die otherwise the whole of creation will fall into chaos. In The Flash, our hero Barry Allen, goes back in time to save his mother from being murdered. In doing so he changes everything. A new reality is formed and this one leads directly to the destruction of the Earth.
We do not know where the Spider-verse tale will end up. The second part of Across the Spider-verse will not be released till 2024. Barry’s tragedy in The Flash is told in full. By saving his mother all of time has changed. Like a stones ripple in a pond his actions have split off into a totally different version of reality. Every attempt to fix the problem will not change the destiny of this Earth and its destiny is destruction.
For the two Barry’s (its time travel you can meet yourself) every effort they make is in vain. Every time they attempt to avoid disaster by travelling back in time, it fails. There is only one agonising and painful way to end this disaster. Set things back to the way they were.
The Passion of Barry Allen
The passion of Barry Allen is that he has the power to save his mother and change his fate. However by doing so everything will be destroyed. It is a staple in time travel tales. It is a tragedy. Just like the Greek tragedies of Oedipus, Achilles, Orpheus, and Icarus. The hero is bound to his fate. There is no way to avoid it. To do so is to defy your destiny and that path leads to destruction.
Jesus is in the garden. He knows what is coming. Thirty three years earlier he was born into this world. Before and now Jesus is a being unlimited by time, outside of a corporeal experience. In that moment he is well stuck inside a time constrained, embodied existence. His fate is sealed. His destiny is as certain as the rising of the sun.
Destiny is a tough concept. In The Flash movie Barry is beaten down by Destiny, to such an extent that he has to reset the timeline so that his mother will die. The Flash movie is a tragedy, an unapologetic one. It is a sad story of a sad hero who, despite all his powers, cannot save his mother.
Atonement, Altruism, Destiny
In The Passion of the Christ, Jesus falls on the way to Golgotha. Mary, his mother runs to his aid, as mother’s do. Mary distraught tries her best. One-eyed, bloodied and beaten, Jesus smiles to his mother revealing. “I am making everything new.” In the Gospels Jesus is set on his journey to the cross. Jesus knows his time will come. Jesus also is privy to the results of his sacrifice. Atonement for all who believe.
In a Spider-Man tale we are told “With great power, must also come great responsibility.” That past event is a spur, there is a reason for the pain. One death inspires the hero to save the ones he can. The tragedy ushers our hero into an altruistic path of self-sacrifice in the service of others. Thus ends the lesson.
Destiny is unavoidable says The Flash movie. Or does it? Despite the chaos one little change wrought on reality. Barry makes one last change. Despite all the death and destruction, despite all the pain of his mothers death, Barry tries again. This time destiny is kinder. The lesson? P erhaps you can get away with it. You just have to know by how much.