A Freeper Review of The Passion of Christ

Vanity | 2/21/04 | John Fields

[jonboy]

I'm not sure where to start. I'm a fellow Freeper who also happens to be minister. I was invited today to see a screening of the Passion of the Christ at our local theater. I have been fascinated, and you might even be able to say obsessed with this movie ever since I heard about it a few months ago and first saw the trailer (I cried every time I saw it).

Given that I have watched and listened to several interviews and read several news stories about this movie I was as prepared as I thought I could be to watch it. I HAVE NEVER BEEN THROUGH ANYTHING LIKE THIS MOVIE! I sobbed, I throbbed, my Kleenex became a fairly useless mess that occupied the hand not tightly gripping the seat. IT WAS HARD TO WATCH. The cruelty was overwhelming, but approximated what we have a glimpse from in scripture. The violence and horror of what was done to Him nearly overwhelming, but not gratuitous as some have claimed.

As to the charges of anti-semitism, I can understand how a Jew who does not believe that Jesus is their Messiah would be frightened by this film. However, it was NOT anti-semitic. I could just as easily be moved to be against Italians for what the Romans did as I could be against the Jews. If one were inspired to hate the perpetrators if this event, they would be anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-Arab, anti-Japanese, and anti-__________ (fill in your own blanks). I was filled with the grim overwhelming knowledge of my own guilt as much as anything else. As I watched Him writhing in pain, the ribs virtually exposed from the beating that He had taken, as I watched His shoulder ripped out of socket as they stretched his hand to make it to the pre-drilled nail hole, as I watched the blood flowing and the breath ripped from His body from the pain, one thing entered into my mind above all else. I PUT HIM THERE! He could have come down, He could have called in excess of ten-thousand angels. He could have stopped that horrible mockery and evil in its tracks by coming down off of that cross, healing His own wounds, and then saying go to it boys as He releases the angels to take care of business. BUT HE DIDN'T. I am in awe.

I admit that I has moments when I felt like ripping the Jewish and Roman perpetrators apart. How dare they laugh in the face of such agony! How dare they spit on Him! How dare they stand in pompous, arrogant, self-righteous judgment of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (how dare MYSELF go on sinning after what He did for me)! But as the High Priest is walking away from making fun and mocking. He hears Jesus softly say, taking up precious breath, "Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing." The High Priest pauses in uncomfortable silence, then walks on. Later, after Jesus has died and the earthquake has damaged the temple and they are very aware that they have done something terribly wrong the High Priest is seen crying out and holding his face in grief and horror.

This movie was about love and forgiveness and about our sin and what God and His Son did together about that sin. It is about the horrible things that men do to their fellow men which can still be forgiven if they will but repent. Some of the Jews were depraved and some were compassionate. Some of the Romans were depraved, and some of them were inclined towards compassion. Anti-Jewish? NO WAY! Besides, the early church was exlusively Jewish. The movie is not about Mel Gibson having some kind of point to prove to anyone, let alone the Jews. It was Mel's passion, a labor of love. Will it profit Him? Unbelievably! Did he do it for the money, not a chance.

Were there any liberties taken with the scripture? Maybe a few. Poetic/artistic license was taken to a degree. There were some scenes with Judas that were extra Biblical, but imaginable. Surprisingly, he was shown as a somewhat sympathetic character, which is something I've felt to a degree for him. I doubt that he was a completely depraved man, he just wanted to speed things along so that Jesus would have to rise to the throne and have to take His true place. When he realized he had been horribly mis-lead he admitted guilt but then went out and killed himself. There was a scene in which the unrepentant thief had his eyes pecked out by a crow. I thought that didn't gel well with the theme of forgiveness and should have been left out. It seemed to represent Divine retribution since the thief had just been blaspheming Jesus. But the cross wasn't about retribution, that will come later at Judgment, it was about mercy.

As to this movie being appropriate for children? That's a hard call. I think it would be best if conscientous parents screened it for themselves first. It is hard enough for mature adults to stomach. However, there is something to be said for exposing young tender hearts to the truth of what He did. Maybe knowing what He did at a younger age would lead to more mature Christians later. Again, it's an individual call.

Is this movie Catholic? Yes and no. Those who see the relationship between Jesus and Mary who are Catholic will likely see Mary as divine. Those of us who believe that Mary was a mere woman who was blessed enough to have been chosen to be the mother of the Christ will see the relationship between a mother and her Son. THIS MOVIE IS FOR ALL!!! I can wholeheartedly recommend this movie to others for personal devotion or to touch the hearts of those who are lost. I believe very much that it will be a culturally defining movie and that it will break most IF NOT ALL of the box office records both nationally and world-wide. The Lord will not be silenced. I truly feel He has spoken through this movie. Maybe its His way of saying WAKE UP before He comes again. If it is, this Christian is awake (wiping away tears).

[commish]

Ones sins is what seperates us from god. As sinners we are unworthy of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus was the perfect man and walked the earth without sin, yet in the end he gave up heaven and took upon himself all the sins of all people. He absolved us of our sins so that we may enter the kingdom of heaven, and all we have to do is accept his sacrifice to claim his prize.

[ChadGore]

Jesus was a Jew.

[Miss Marple]

When Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, sin came into the world. God cannot accept sin.

Israel was given the Law, but it was not possible for people to follow it completely.

To save man, God sent his Son as a substitute for the massive blood sacrifice that would be needed to redeem us all. He did this becuse of His love for Mankind. It is a gift.

It is important to understand that our sinfulness and our separation from God was a rule as absolute as the law of gravity. God had set up the rules, and Satan enticed man to break them. God used Jesus to defeat Satan and reclaim Man for His own.

[PJ-Comix]

I don't know what is taugh at the local Catholic Church here in my small town, but I do know that of people at my work most are Hispanic and Catholic. I can count no less that 4 or 5 images per day on cars (at any time of day or night at our work) that have pictures of Mary with the halo holy style. Most the cars have a small statue of Mary on the dash of the car too.

If those were Mexicans then it was probably Our Lady of Guadalupe. An Indian, not Mary.

[TheGeezer]

I don't know what is taugh at the local Catholic Church here in my small town, but I do know that of people at my work most are Hispanic and Catholic. I can count no less that 4 or 5 images per day on cars (at any time of day or night at our work) that have pictures of Mary with the halo holy style. Most the cars have a small statue of Mary on the dash of the car too. When you see a full size van daily with Mary on the hood then you have to wonder if Mary is not a saint to these particular people. Call me bias, call me simple-minded, call me over for supper, I don't care, but that is my daily world life work senerio.

I do not understand. A "saint" is not Divine. A halo is only a symbol of the holiness bestowed by Jesus upon a mortal human by His love for them. A statue is no more than a way to inspire remembrance, like a photograph is a way to help one remember loved ones. Devotion for a saint is not adoration. Asking a saint to pray for oneself is no different than asking a prayer chain for help.....

[Libloather]

My mother is a devout Catholic (mass every day) and she said she won't see it.

Yet, it's the story she bases her entire existence on. Strange - isn't it? I remember my grandmother being a very delicate Christian lady. I really doubt she could sit through much of what is in this film.

[votelife]

in case anyone didn't know, Gibson is in the movie. His hand holds the nail that crucifies Christ.

[Freedom2specul8]

Thank you for the wonderful review. I just told my husband we're taking a box of tissues..I hope we can make it through the entire movie.

Bumped and bookmarked.

[Freedom2specul8]

I wondered about that..thanks...

[LisaMalia]

Thanks! That helps....:)

[PJ-Comix]

I've never understood why Jews were blamed for Christ's death. He was a Jew who lived among Jews. Jesus Himself said that a prophet is never accepted in his own country.

Simple. Because a lot of religious literature did blame the Jews. A good example was a religious book I saw yesterday at a thrift shop. It was a 1940 reprint of a book originally published in 1898. Reading through it the basic theme was Jews Bad. Jews Killed Christ. It's their fault. Ironically enough I saw this book at a Jewish thrift shop.

[4integrity]

Thank you for your review and for sharing your thoughts.

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

It may not have the effect that many here on FR think that it will.

Perhaps not, but never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit.

[madison10]

The other poster would probably have said it better, but this is one of my favorites: From Isaiah---the Dead Sea Scrolls don't vary by much.

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He became the Paschal Lamb

[Libloather]

Gibson is in the movie. His hand holds the nail that crucifies Christ.

How do you know that?

[aruanan]

When he realized he had been horribly mis-lead he admitted guilt but then went out and killed himself.

...misled...

As to this movie being appropriate for children?

Is being present at a crucifixion or even at the open heart surgery of a parent (granted the successful outcome and consequences of either) appropriate for children?

There's something interesting, though disturbing, going on here. Whereas Thomas, who saw the crucifixion, said he wouldn't believe in the resurrected Christ until he touched the nail marks (too bad Mel went for artistic rather than historical accuracy here) and put his hand into the wounded side of Jesus, we now have Christians, who believe in the resurrection, saying that their faith has become much deeper because of having seen a reenactment of the crucifixion. If their faith was strengthened that much, it must not have been much to begin with or of the kind Jesus spoke to Thomas about: "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." And if they equate with a deepening of faith the reacting emotionally to a depiction of pain, then they have deviated from the Path in the same way as did the sect of flagellantes.

This idea of seeing as believing (instead of the other way round) approaches being the same idolatry as practiced by the What Would Jesus Do* movement. It erects in the imagination a simulacrum of Jesus and reacts to it, imagining that the reaction is essentially the same thing as, or as good as, having actually encountered Jesus.


*WWJD is the modern version of pin sticking, a form of divination practiced in earlier centuries in which people would open a Bible and stick a pin to the page at random and read the pin-pointed verse. The assumption was that God would be guiding their hands to show them something he wanted to communicate to them. At least this had the virtue of limiting outcome to something actually in the Bible--well, to a product of something in the Bible and the imagination of the reader as he tried to shape the import of an isolated verse into a means of communicating something to him about a particular problem or decision he should make. WWJD skips the Bible and just goes directly to the imagination part, informed more or less by people's more or less (usually less) accurate images of Jesus derived from the Bible, Sunday School stories, movies, and other popular sources. The aim of both methods of divination is to shift responsibility for some action to an agent outside of oneself. In the letters of Paul and other apostles, Jesus as an example is referred to, but in very specific ways, not as a plectrum of the imagination to divine the future or to decide what to do.

[Libloather]

It may not have the effect that many here on FR think that it will.

But, then again, it may. That would be good news - eh?

[RoseyT]

Gibson is in the movie. His hand holds the nail that crucifies Christ.

How do you know that?

Mel said it in the Diane Sawyer interview.

[commish]

Gibson said in his interview with Diane Sawyer that the hand holding the nail is his. It is his personal statement of culpbility in Jesus Death, and his personal recognition that Jesus died because of his sins.

[jwalsh07]

What does it mean that Jesus died for people's sins?

In Catholicism it means that we were estranged from God the Father and God being benevolent, as well as stern when necessary, decided to give us sinners another chance through his only son Jesus Christ.

Because people sinned, he died, or so that people would not sin?

He died and suffered so that we might once again have a relationship with God and a path to His knee, heaven. Think of it to the lesser extent of a soldier dying that his brothers may live, except in Jesus' case we are given the option of eternal life. That is up to us all because another of Gods great gifts is free will and to sin or not to sin is up to us all.

Or something entirely different? Thanks for not flaming me but simply explaining.

LOL, no flames. I'm a Catholic but not the best of Catholics for sure. Many here are much more conversant than I in the scriptures and I have been a sinner in my life. I'm trying to do better but the liberals are entirely too much temptation at times which causes me to utter unChristian commentary :-}