Oh, For Art's Sake! (The Passion)

Thanks for the ping AnnaZ! Great writing. I've been on vacation for the last week, so I'm just now catching up on my Freeping. I plan on seeing The Passion this weekend with my wife.

Looks like I'll be seeing it for the third time next week, when my mom comes into town. I have never ever done that before... not in a theater.

(An aside: I find it interesting that, as overrun as we are by a secularly biased media that extols the virtues of "nuance", the biggest moneymakers on the big screen haven't had any shades of gray.)

I just saw The Passion of Christ.

Powerful…

I feel I have to give background first, sorry to those who don’t want to hear it.

I am a born-again Christian. I lived without God in my life and in a pit of despair, lost and confused, I prayed for help. How I got there before and after are too long a story and a distraction, but I feel my point-of-view is very important to my view of this movie. The hymn Amazing Grace is about me; and that greatly affects how I saw the movie.

I know the story well. After turning back to God, I’ve read and studied the Gospels along with the rest of the Bible. And I’ve read and studied other “texts and lost gospels” not in the Bible.

With all the hype, I expected the “graphic gore” to be much worse. Honestly, I think it fit very well to what I know of the time. I didn’t find it a distraction, but I did find it made it more personal and real, than previous readings have done for me.

When Judas pointed out Jesus, my eyes already began to swell. I felt pain for Judas and what had begun.

When Peter denied Jesus, my chest heaved. The pain he was going through for how he responded in fear, and the fulfillment of prophesy just hours before was already moving me.

When Jesus was first being beaten, my tears fell. Later, during the flogging, when I remember the phrase “this is my body, broken for you; this is my blood, poured out for you”, I wept.

While Jesus began to carry the cross (and this sounds corny), I wanted to carry it for him. I knew Simon was coming and somehow I wanted that to be me. Then I thought “I can’t carry the cross for Jesus, he carries it for me”. I wept a lot after that. During those scenes, I often heard sobbing in the theater from others.

I feared the crucifixion scene by now. What I have read, I expected this to be the worst part. I think this was intentional glossed over; by now many of the audience is wrenched.

When I had previously read about Mel Gibson’s cameo, I thought it a bit too much, too vain. I know understand better his desire and think better of him for it.

I expected the sub-titles to be a big distraction; I’ve never liked them in a movie. At first, they were somewhat of a distraction, but quickly became unimportant to me. In retrospect and a global perspective, it is probably better. No one on earth will see this movie made for their country as it is in a dead language. Perhaps it will give it more appeal to the rest of the world.

I cannot begin to see this movie as anti-Semitic. I saw the high priests as foolish people caught up in their own importance. The multiple lies they tell trying to get Jesus executed made them seem foolish and scared. But this was not a trait of their faith and people, just the selfish people trying to have fame and fortune they did not deserve. All of the people who tried to help Jesus were Jewish. The only outright scorn give by the Roman to the Jews were to Jesus and Simon who helped him.

I’ve never been to a movie where everyone stayed quiet and seated until the very end of the credits. In reality, I needed that time to pull myself together. Walking outside through the snow in 18°F weather seemed something of a shock. I stumbled out of the theater without a clear understanding where I was.

I went alone. My wife is too emotionally involved to see it in a theater scene. We will own it on DVD and she will watch in the privacy of our home, with plentiful use of the pause button.

I’m glad I saw it in the theater. I may need to see it there again, I will own a copy of it for our home. I don’t think it is for young teens, and I think a talk about it before and after would be best for older teens seeing it.

I’m glad we had communion this Sunday. I would like some time before I take communion again.

Peace of God be with you all.

While reading your review, you brought me right back into the theature to see it again.(through your eyes)

Excellent job, and believe me when I say that I experianced the same thing to a T.

I just saw The Passion of Christ.

Yes, you did. In a way that few really could.

Take care bro'.

Hey, good to see you!