Jude

The second to last book of the Bible, in the New Testament. It is an epistle written by Jude, brother of Jesus.

1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.

11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:

23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
Book: Jude
Chapters: 1 ·

This epistle is addressed to all believers in the Gospel. Its
design appears to be to Guard believers against the false
teachers who had begun to creep into the Christian Church, and
to scatter dangerous tenets, By attempting to lower all
Christianity into a merely nominal belief and outward profession
of the Gospel. Having thus denied the obligations of personal
Holiness, they taught their disciples to live in sinful Courses,
at the same time flattering them with the Hope of eternal Life.
The vile character of these seducers is shown, and their
sentence is denounced, and the epistle concludes with warnings,
admonitions, and counsels to believers.

Jude a film released in 1996, was directed by Michael Winterbottom, also known for Welcome to Sarajevo, and just recently The Claim starring Wes Bentley and Sarah Polley. It wasn't a very publicized movie, so I was greatly joyed when I found it one day in a video store and just bought it. It's based on one of my favorite books Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. I've decided to not talk about the whole storyline or plot of this movie because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who wants to watch it.

Cast

Christopher Eccleston .... Jude Fawley
Kate Winslet .... Sue Bridehead
Liam Cunningham .... Phillotson
Rachel Griffiths (I) .... Arabella
June Whitfield .... Aunt Drusilla
Ross Colvin Turnbull .... Little Jude
James Daley .... Jude as a Boy
Berwick Kaler .... Farmer Troutham

The movie I must say is very good. The film stars Kate Winslet, known mainly to the american teen audience as the lead girl Rose in Titanic, but actually known for her better roles internationally as Marianne Dashwood in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, Juliet in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, and recently as the young Iris Murdoch in Richard Eyre's Iris. Winslet gives the perfect portrayal of Sue Bridehead, the confident heroine. The heroine that eventually denies her true feelings and emotions, breaks down, and turns to God.

Christopher Eccleston gives a good portrayal of Jude, the tortured hero. When I talk about tortured, I mean, Jude is the man with the ideals, he believes generally that society is good, he is ultimately optimistic. But with the constant societal forces working against him, being rejected from Christminster -- their reason being he is better off remaining as a carpenter -- and society's denial to look at his relationship with Sue as being a marriage without the actual papers had driven him to the depths of despair. Though I often imagined the character of Jude to be a bit younger, he does a good job. I'm not saying that he is bad, in fact I think Christopher Eccleston is one of the better actors out there, though he does a lot more television than he does films. You might remember him as the Duke of Norfolk in Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth.

Though the movie is not entirely faithful to the novel, it can stand perfectly on its own. To even try to adapt the novel completely would require a 3 - 4 hour long movie of depression that just keeps getting worse and worse.

The movie takes the most important parts of the novel, changes a little details (because some things in the novel would be unexplainable in the film medium), not much so that any meaning is changed altogether, and makes everything work out. In fact, many of the scenes that occurred in the movie are exactly how I imagined them in the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and didn't believe that it was either too short, or too long. It told the story of how people were treated back in the day in a very realistic manner. You might see Jude and Sue's relationship as being trapped in the past while it's trying to be modern. And Arabella's (Arabella being Jude's ex-wife) career as a bar owner as very modern, she is the independent woman, the woman who contributes to society's destruction of Jude and Sue. Rachel Griffith's did an excellent job as Arabella, because having not being exposed to her in other movies before I saw Jude, I actually hated her so much, much more so than in the book. One has to remember that a lot of the Arabella storyline was left out of the movie that was in the book. In actuality the way that the movie portrayed her, the little snippits should only have made me hate her less, but because of Rachel Griffith's excellent acting I actually hated her more. Her acting even affected how I looked at her in later films, my emotion of hate towards her carried over, but it's okay now I think she's a great actress. She can currently be seen on the television series Six Feet Under.

Michael Winterbottom utilizes a lot of face shots which I believe helped the film a lot. Emotions can always be conveyed in a much greater strength and intensity when using the face shot correctly. The camera also gives equal time to Jude and Sue telling both sides of their stories fairly. The first half of the film primarily focuses on Jude from his childhood to his meeting with Sue. The second half is about the both of them, while the last half really focuses on Sue. Warning this film is a tear jerker, and some people may find some aspects of the film just wrong, but this film is completely actor driven, that you may find anything forgivable.

I know this film isn't one of those Oscar films, but I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to feel depressed for a while, or for those who just want to see a good movie because I think this film is totally underrated.

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Cast list borrowed from The Internet Movie Database.