I have yet to see Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”. (I have seen some of the promotional clips on the Internet.) No approved version has yet appeared in Malaysia though I know that there are pirated versions making the rounds. All the reviews I have read agree on one point. The movie is violent and gory.
Senior movie critic Roger Ebert:
“If ever there was a film with the correct title, that film is Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” Although the word passion has become mixed up with romance, its Latin origins refer to suffering and pain; later Christian theology broadened that to include Christ’s love for mankind, which made him willing to suffer and die for us. The movie is 126 minutes long, and I would guess that at least 100 of those minutes, maybe more, are concerned specifically and graphically with the details of the torture and death of Jesus. This is the most violent film I have ever seen.”
“The Passion” doesn’t flinch from portraying the suffering that Jesus endured as He is arrested and executed. And I say “one thumb up.” Why? Because we use the term “the cross” too glibly.
It has become so much a part of Christian and popular culture that it has been sucked dry of its original impact. The cross has been reduced to a fashion ornament. It no longer provokes any fear or loathing. “The Passion of the Christ” reminds us of the true nature of the cross. It was the Roman Empire’s most feared method of execution. It was reserved for the Empire’s worst political enemies and her most notorious criminals.
Stripped of all dignity the prisoner died slowly. Hanging on the cross, every breath you took was impossibly painful. So you stopped breathing till your lungs cried out for oxygen. And you had to painfully inhale. This went on till you no longer had the strength to breathe. Then you died. The stronger you were the longer it took you to die.
“The Passion” thus gives flesh to a key element of Christian doctrine. That Jesus is God come as man to suffer and die for the sins of humankind. We do not pray to a God who has no direct experience of human suffering. He really understands our pain.
Indeed understanding what it really means that Jesus suffered and died for us should leave us in no doubt as to the extent of His love. He loved us that much. Even an unsympathetic film reviewer understood that.
“Jesus’ suffering is all that matters in this movie. It’s as if Gibson is measuring God’s love by the amount of blood he shows on the screen.” (Glen Whipp, Film Writer)
Yes.
I don’t think “The Passion” is entertainment. But I am grateful that it was made because it has helped rescue the cross from its usual popular, saccharine romantic associations.
But why only one thumb up? Because I am not sure that God wants to traumatize our emotions with the gore of His suffering.
The passion of Christ is clearly a key component of all the gospels. It takes up an inordinate amount of space in all the four gospels. Clearly, Jesus’ suffering and death was the key event for all the gospel writers.
Yet when you read the accounts of Jesus last days on earth in all the gospel accounts, you find the violence and gore strangely understated. Of course it can be argued that the original readers of the gospels would have been familiar with the practice of crucifixion and so there was no need to go into the bloody details.
Still if it had been the purpose of the gospel writers to shock and awe as Gibson obviously has done with “The Passion”, they would have written their accounts of Jesus’ passion quite differently. Instead the gospel writers are more concerned to focus on the “who”, who is this person who suffered and died, and the “why”, why did He do it?
Hence we have the Roman centurion confessing, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”(Mark 15:39b). And we have recorded for us the tearing of the temple veil(Mark 15:37-38). The Holy God was once again accessible.
The fact is, all crucifixions are gory. Focusing on that fact alone would not have made much impact on the Gospel writers’ original audiences, or to modern readers for that matter. People die horrible deaths every day. What’s one more?
But it would make a world of difference if the God of the Universe were to come as man to suffer and die for us so that our sins may be forgiven, and to give us new life in His Name. It would make a world of difference if Jesus of Nazareth is God. Hence the bible’s preoccupation with the identity of Christ and the significance of His death.
Besides I have found that changes wrought by emotional manipulation alone usually do not take. With the passing of time such changes tend to unravel.
So as we commemorate another Good Friday, let us be aware of the extent of God’s love as shown on the cross. And for that let us be grateful for Gibson’s movie. But let us focus on the significance of what happened. That God loved us so much that He came as man, to suffer and die on our behalf, so that we may have eternal life.
“And can it be that I should gain An int’rest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love! How can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!” (Charles Wesley)
Your brother, Soo-Inn Tan