The "Gratuitous" Violence of the Passion

I thought some light on the subject from the source might be helpful.

Don't forget the psalm about them piercing His hands and feet, and His being able to count all His bones.

Liberals genuinely HATE ALL religeon!

I once labored to put a timeline of events and an approximation of what He went through putting all of the gospels and prophecy together. This was as close as I came. Doubtfull I got all my ducks in a row, but maybe this would be helpful to some.

The Events of the Cross

Jesus started out that last period of time before His death with His disciples in extreme stress and remorse. He was so remorseful that He even prayed to God that He would remove this cup from Him, never the less He accepted that He was going to follow through with what He had to do. A number of times in between prayer He returned to His disciples only to find them sleeping, despite His admonishments to keep awake and alert on His behalf. Jesus prayed and suffered alone. He was so emotionally upset that He even sweated blood. This may have been caused by a rare condition called Hematidrosis. This condition occurred when small capillaries just beneath the skin burst, allowing the blood to come out of the sweat pores. It made the skin extremely sensitive to the touch and itself brought great discomfort. Judas came and betrayed Him with that awful kiss, “Hail, Rabbi.” Jesus submitted to this unruly mob who had come for Him just as if He was a common criminal. When He first acknowledged them by telling them who He was, they fell to the ground in fear. But seeing that nothing happened they arose and Jesus repeated who He was and offered to go along with them. But not before Peter wildly swung his sword, cutting off the ear of Malchus one of the slaves of the High Priest. Jesus reminded Peter that those who use the sword perish by the sword. He then reminded him that He had more than ten thousand angels at His disposal if He needed help. He then healed the man’s ear. Then Jesus asked that His disciples be spared. All of His disciples fled, deserting Him.

Jesus was first taken to Annas, the former High Priest. He was completely alone. Annas’ interrogation of Jesus was to secure evidence against Jesus because in order to try Him they had to get the Sanhedrin together, taking them from their families even as they were participating in Passover related activities. Annas wanted to secure some evidence as justification for calling them at such an irregular and inopportune time. They found no evidence, even so, that didn’t stop them from unjustly slapping Jesus in the face for answering Annas truthfully. You see Annas wasn’t following lawful procedures, not having produced any witnesses, and both He and Jesus knew it. The Sanhedrin was called anyway.

A show trial began before the Sanhedrin as Caiaphas, the current High Priest, began questioning Jesus. Many false witnesses came forward who had stories that were full of inconsistencies. It was likely during this trial that some prophecies from Isaiah 50:6 and Isaiah 53 were fulfilled. During this trial, even though He was only accused and not proven guilty, never the less, they beat Him over the back with rods, and it was probably at this time that they pulled out some of the hairs from His beard, just like the prophecies said would be done. These would have been especially painful due to His skin inflammation if He did indeed have Hematidrosis, which caused His sweating of blood. He was also mocked. They covered His head as they struck Him with the rods, “Propecy to us, who was it that hit You?” Jesus remained silent, while more than ten thousand angels remained in the wings to defend Him. Never the less they were never called. In 2 Kings the story is told of more than 185,000 men of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who were struck down by an angel as they thought they were about to annihilate the Israelites. That night they were fully prepared to fight the next day. That morning they were all dead. One angel was responsible. What would have been the fate of man if more than 10,000 angels had come to defend the honor of the Son of God? We all know the answer to that. Finally, these corrupt men got what they wanted when two witnesses came forward and said that Jesus had stated that “He would destroy the temple of God and then re-build it in three days.” Jesus was silent when confronted with this misrepresentation of a charge. Finally, Caiaphas said, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God." To which Jesus said, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." Caiaphas tore his robes, he had what he had been looking for. They charged Jesus overwhelmingly with blasphemy, which was punishable under the Law by death. But under the law of their Roman occupiers, they could not carry out the death penalty. That’s why they ended up taking Jesus to Pilate to request that He be put to death. It was sometime during the Jewish phase of the trial that Peter denied Jesus three times. At the sound of the crow of the rooster after Peter’s third and last denial, Peter saw the agonized gaze of Jesus fall upon him across the way, only then realizing that he had done just as Jesus said that he would. Peter went out and cried as he’d probably never cried before. Bitterly.

That morning at dawn, the earlier nights proceedings were legitimized by a meeting of the counsel at which Jesus reaffirmed His statement from earlier in the night. The Lord’s enemies had what they felt they needed. Jesus was taken to the Romans abandoned and friendless in the hands of an unruly mob. It was around this time that Jesus’ betrayer, Judas, returned the thirty pieces of silver. Instead of repenting of his sin, as Peter later would, Judas went out and hung himself.

Meanwhile, Jesus stood before Pilate. Pilate at first told them to take Him and judge Him according to their own laws, to which they answered that they could not carry out their own law due to Roman law which would not allow them to perform capitol punishment. They then laid out the charges. They said He had been inciting the people to rebellion against their Roman overlords, that He had forbidden the payment of taxes to Caesar, and that Jesus had said that He was the earthly messianic king of the Jews. It was this last charge that caused Pilate to take Jesus in to question further, because under Roman law only Caesar could proclaim a person king. Inside the judgement hall, Jesus in essence, answered Pilate in such a way that showed that Jesus’ kingdom was spiritual in nature and would be no threat to Rome. This satisfied Pilate to such a degree that he brought Him back out before the crowd and proclaimed Him innocent of the charges. The council would have none of this and kept on accusing Jesus of various things as all the while Jesus was silent. Pilate was amazed that Jesus made no attempt to defend Himself even after being reminded that He could. When the council continued accusing and let it be known that Jesus’ teaching began in Galilee, Pilate decided to send Him to Herod, who was there for the Passover. He felt that it was in Herod’s jurisdiction and basicly wanted to pass the buck.

Jesus was taken to Herod and the text says that Herod was very glad to see Him. He thought he might get to be entertained with a miracle or two. The Jews continued accusing Jesus vehemently. Herod questioned Jesus himself but received no answers. Because Jesus was not willing to perform any miracles, Herod had to settle for other entertainment. Herod and the soldiers treated Jesus with contempt while mocking Him, finally sending Him back to Pilate in a gorgeous robe in further mockery. Pilate answered the people that neither he nor Herod had found any guilt in Him and would punish Him instead with a lesser punishment. Some of the events that followed after are subject to having occurred according to different orders, while difficult to put in order with certainty, I’ll do my best to put forward the most likely scenario.

At this time of year, as a gesture of good will, the Romans had established the precedent of releasing to the people one prisoner. Pilate asked whether they wanted Jesus released or Barabbas, a notorious murderer and insurrectionist. He probably assumed that such a stark contrast and choice would go in Jesus’ favor. The people, at the spurring of the leaders, chose for Barabbas to be released. Pilate was still very much against executing Jesus and was intent upon getting Jesus freed. It seems that it may have been at this time that Pilate had Jesus scourged, hoping perhaps that the crowd might have pity on Him.

Scourging was a horrible punishment which sometimes even caused death. A scourge was a leather whip with 12 or more thongs, each thong embedded with pieces of bone, metal, rock or other types of material. Sometimes the punishment was administered by two men, each with his own scourge. The person who administered the punishment would hit the person extremely hard at which time the thongs would wrap around the persons back and torso, the foreign objects imbedded in the leather cutting into the back and sides. The punisher would then pull the whip back in such a way that the flesh that had been grabbed by the foreign objects in the leather would be ripped apart. Jesus probably received no less than 39 lashes which was the Jewish standard for this punishment. After the scourging in a gross mimicry of royal tradition, Jesus, being accused after all of being a king, had a crown woven out of thorns thrust upon His head, a purple garment placed upon Him, and a reed placed in His hand as a scepter. The whole cohort of Romans then proceeded to mistreat Him horribly. They spit on Him. They slapped Him. They punched Him in the face. They beat Him over the head with the reed that they had given Him, driving the thorns further down into His scalp, in mock loyalty they bowed to Him while saying "Hail, King of the Jews!" After again saying that Jesus was innocent Pilate had Jesus brought back out before the people. "Behold, the Man!" The pitiful sight of Jesus’ condition did nothing to remove the cruelty within those peoples’ hearts. A back and forth ensued in which the people yelled out that Jesus should be crucified and Barabbas released while Pilate pleaded that He was innocent. It may have been at this time that Pilate’s wife warned him to have nothing to do with this righteous man because she’d suffered about Him in a dream. The people kept up there cry. In disgust Pilate said to them, "Take Him yourselves, and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him." To which the people responded, "We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God." This scared Pilate, who took Jesus back inside. Pilate asked where Jesus was from, getting no answer, Pilate then said "You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?" To which Jesus responded, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin."

Pilate went back out to the people "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" The chief priests continued stirring up the people to ask him to release Barabbas instead. In continued frustration Pilate said, "Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?" And they shouted back, "Crucify Him!" Finally the Jewish leaders played their trump card "If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar." Tiberius Caesar was known to be excessively cruel and suspicious and Pilate didn’t have a clean governing record. This last threat could mean the loss of Pilates’ position, his wealth, or even his life, and he had no doubt that these leaders intended to follow through on it. Pilate made one last feeble attempt, "Shall I crucify your King?" To which the chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Bringing out the water Pilate declared, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves." To which all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" Then he released Barabbas for them and delivered Jesus to be crucified.

The soldiers in charge of Jesus took the purple garment off of Him, and it may well be that the garment had been on Jesus long enough for the blood to have at least partially dried. Taking the garment off would probably have ripped open afresh the horribly painful wounds. They then put His clothes back on Him. And after all of the blood loss, all of the horror, and all of the anxiety, this former carpenter who at one time had talked of sharing a yoke with His followers, started off alone carrying His crossbeam which weighed probably over 100 lbs. across His horribly lacerated shoulders and neck. How many of you think you could have undergone what He did and still carry a cross for any length of time? Finally, the stress was too much, the loss of blood too great. He stumbled and fell as the rough wood dug into His painful wounds. Simon, a man from the crowd, was pressed into service.

The whole way to His execution site Jesus walked through a gauntlet of jeers, spittle, and abuse. We think we have it rough. How much is one man supposed to suffer? And He still had more coming. He finally got to the execution site where His clothing was ripped off yet again. His wounds opening afresh with brand new terrible pain. They either put the cross together first and than put Him on it, dropping Him down into the hole, or they nailed His hand areas first as He hung while they positioned His feet.

Back in 1968, the remains of a crucified man from roughly the same time period as Jesus were found. The nail prints were at the very base of the hand, more in the wrist area, that being the only area that would hold the weight of the body. Contrary to established ideas, the feet were impaled by the nails not through the front, but from the side through the heels. This is what Jesus went through. They nailed five to seven inch spikes through these areas and positioned our Lord’s body so that the knees pointed together in the same direction. His naked back against the rough wood, Jesus spent the next six hours writhing in pain, moving up and down in His contorted position as He struggled for every breath, His back scraping every time against the rough wood. He either hung from His hand areas where His muscles, ligaments, and tendons would almost certainly have torn, as pain shot through those areas, or He pushed up on His feet causing the same agony to come from that area. A placard hung above Him that read King of the Jews. Pilate was unwilling to change or remove it when asked to do so. During this torture Jesus was jeered and taunted for the duration.

There are only eight recorded statements of our Lord. In the midst of all of His suffering, four of them related to others, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." As He asked for forgiveness on behalf of people who wanted none. "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." As He forgave a repentant criminal and offered him words of hope. "Woman, behold, your son!" "Behold, your mother!" As He provided for a mother’s loss and for the needs of a disciple who had returned to the foot of the cross. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" As He suffered the very worst that the cross put Him through. For you see, for the first time in eternity, the Son was separated from the Father because of your sin and my sin. Every murder, every lie, every abuse, every sin ever committed, Jesus embodied it. "I am thirsty." Jesus refused the wine which would have both quenched His thirst and eased His pain, instead He settled on vinegar. "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit." "It is finished!" At least one of the soldiers, a centurion, upon seeing the way that Jesus died, and seeing some of the events that happened said, "Certainly this man was innocent", and "Truly this man was the Son of God!" This man may also have been impressed by some of the other things that He saw. The sky went black for three hours as the light of God disappeared when He turned His back on His Son, the veil of the temple was torn in half from top to bottom during the earthquake that came, and some of the bodies of the saints arose and appeared to many of the people.

Some of the people wanted the men’s legs broken so that they could get the bodies buried before the Passover. When they got to Jesus they found that He was already dead. They stuck a spear in His side and out ran blood and water. Finally, the sinful work of man was done, His pain was over. But the work of the Lord was only just beginning. His body was taken down and prepared for burial, it was laid in a rich man’s tomb as foretold by prophecy. A huge, heavy stone was rolled into place behind a groove of solid rock, which was sealed all around. A guard was posted probably made up of Romans.

On the first day of the week a grieving Mary Magdalene came to the tomb with spices, expecting to further prepare the Lord. What she saw instead of a sealed tomb with a Roman guard, was an open tomb with a dazzling angel sitting on the stone and several soldiers petrified with fear. Death couldn’t keep Him in the ground. The main issue with the miracle of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is this. Will you bow at the foot of the cross and in obedience accept the forgiveness of a loving Savior? How will you respond to that open grave? Will you respond with devotion or with indifference. Let us all allow Jesus to not only have been raised from the dead in history, let us all allow Him to be raised into our hearts and into our lives.

Thanks for the old testament references.

Your post adds to my conviction that this entire assault finds at its core motivation to discredit Christianity itself. Secularists, including those of Jewish persuasion and sympathy, simply cannot stand the message of Christ as Savior that this film transmits.

Praise To You Lord Jesus Christ

I DID NOT THINK THIS MOVIE WAS GORY VIOLENT. I TRULY DIDN'T. I truly believe I've seen worse on the Sopranos.

My response to a comment by a Sun-Times columnist:

But the artist cannot control what the response will be.

Mine was revulsion. I felt as if I'd been visually assaulted. There was nothing spiritually inspiring about the brutality on film. It was just gross."

Well, of course. How in the world did you ever get the idea that the crucifixion was anything about being "spiritually inspiring"? Jesus didn't go to the cross to inspire you. He went to the cross to save you. Some insight into just what a horrible length he went should increase your appreciation of what it all meant. Those living in first century Palestine had a REALLY good idea about the horror and brutality and grossness that the cross represented. But they also had a better picture of the depth of love involved in what Jesus did.

Imagine people wearing little diamond-encrusted hangman's nooses or solid gold miniature electric chairs around their necks and then imagine today's Christian jewelry market. The ickiness that people feel when confronted with the depiction of a real crucifixion is the measure to which they have become insulated by time, culture, and the marketplace from that brutal reality. But it's the gore and agony and dying all alone nailed to a cross that saves, not "spiritual inspiration."

Receiving salvation isn't like eating a sausage--you get to consume the yummy goodness without having to witness all the gore that went into making it. If someone doesn't feel assaulted and sickened and horrified by his contemplation of the crucifixion, then he either hasn't seen the making of a sausage or is spiritually dead.

There's Psalm 22, written by David, , v 1, 6-8, and 11-18. This describes what happened at the crucifixion.

and also Zechariah 12:10(which hasn't happened yet) written about 520 years before Jesus. They will recognize Him whom they have pierced.

They've suddenly found their collective voice to speak out against truly dangerous things, like Jesus Christ.

Actually they're right He IS dangerous. The ulitmate radical.

Psalm 22:1; 6-8; 11-18 (1)My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.

(6) But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. 7 All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 8 "Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him."

(11) Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help. 12 Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. 13 They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. 14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

Wow. thanks. I somehow was in an Episcopal revisionist for the past few years. And since they don't study the Word much ( they have topics like Israelis/Palistine conflict, homeless discussion, etc) so I am a bit rough in my Bible knowledge. This is great.

Well, I didn't have to close my eyes except for one time, Gee whiz, I couldn't watch half of Gladiator or Bravehheart though.

I truly believe I've seen worse on the Sopranos.

I have to agree. What we saw in Gibson's movie was violence delivered and leaving the marks it's supposed to on a human body. Hollywood films deliver more blows and beatings-- sometimes even blood, such as Kill Bill-- but the marks, the evidence of real abuse, are often surprisingly absent.

I've winced at more blows delivered by hand, club, knife, axe, chainsaw, machinegun-- whatever-- and then wondered in amazement at the comparative lack of marks and wounds. This time, we saw what He suffered for us.

But I think what offends anti-Christian minds most about this movie, is the verbal scorn and abuse that they heap upon Christians delivered behind their backs finally delivered to His face. They see their behavior mirrored in the movie and can't accept that people like themselves are the ones that tortured Christ.

I am reminded that no one is without sin. We all have it in us to inflict wounds on the innocent. It shames me that yet He still died for us!

I thought the VIOLENCE in TPOTC was the most OVER-RATED thing since, well, the ANTI-SEMITISM of TPOTC.

Actually, I think the violence was *MORE* over-rated than the anti-semitism.

Because I could at least, on some level, understand how a jewish person watching this movie might feel slightly uncomfortable.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why the violence and graphic nature of this movie would "sicken" and "disgust" any movie critic. Because in all honest, even single movie critic must have seen movies just as and more graphic, *every single year*.

In fact, I don't even think this comes close to being Gibson's most graphic movie, Braveheart was more graphic and violent.

The only thing this movie does is that it takes its violence seriously, in most movies, you see the violence and the blood, but you don't have to deal with the consequences of it, those moves don't let you dwell on the suffering of the person who was hurt, nor let you dwell on how it impacts the others who love that person.

In this movie, Mel lets you see it. So the violence feels more real, because you see its full impact. So it affects you more emtionally, but to say it's more graphic is just plain ridiculous.