Friday, June 10, 2005
The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of The Christ
By
Phoenix Mary Grace Hocking
It is not my intent in this article to “review” Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of The Christ. It is more a searching of my own heart to discover the film’s meaning for me, personally. I know I walked away from the theatre a changed woman and seeing my life and my faith in a new way.
Initially I was amazed, even mortified, to see people walk into the theatre with bags of popcorn and candy and sodas, as if they were going to see just some ordinary Hollywood film instead of attending the crucifixion of our Lord. Did they not know? Did they not understand the import of what was to come? Apparently not, and I could only pray, “God, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.”
The movie begins in the Garden of Gethsemane, with Christ’s earthly flesh in terror of the torture He knew was coming. A chilling Satan, smooth-voiced, tries to talk Him out of it. “No man can bear the sins of the world; its too much to ask,” he says, or words to that effect. But when Christ arises from his knees, decision made, He is strong and resolute.
I have seen “Jesus films” before. I have seen Hollywood’s depiction of the crucifixion. Even my favorite Jesus film, Matthew, cleaned up the crucifixion scene to maintain their PG rating. There is no “cleaning up” in The Passion, and the movie is not rated R for nothing.
I have read the Bible. I have read that He was crucified for my sins, and rose again that I might have eternal Life with God. I knew that. My head knew that. But until I saw The Passion my heart didn’t know it. To know He was crucified is one thing. To see it is another.
Compressed into a movie of two hours or so is twelve hours of torture. Unbelievably cruel torture, and watching my Lord be whipped and beaten until he was naught but a bloody mass broke my heart. And even so, even so, what was depicted on the screen was not how it was in real life. In real life, Isaiah says, He was beaten so badly as to not be recognizable as a human being.
In the movie, it is clear in the very beginning the purpose behind Christ’s death. Isaiah 53:4-6: But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us. We saw his suffering and thought God was punishing him. But he was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds. We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way. But the Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done.” (The Everyday Bible, New Century Version)
There is more! Get out your Bibles and read the rest of Isaiah 53! There is more! He willingly gave his life and was treated like a criminal. But he carried away the sins of many people and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.
It is Mel Gibson’s hands who nail Christ’s hands to the cross. It was his way of acknowledging his role in Christ’s death. But it could easily have been my own. Or yours. For Christ went to the cross for me; He took my sins upon Himself and went through horrible pain and suffering for me, and with each whip that tore His flesh and each fall and each blow, I flinched. And I cried. I cried for my Lord and my Master, Who did this for me, willingly, lovingly, that I might be saved.
It is almost a relief when He finally makes it to the cross. He had been through such torture, such pain, such humiliation. Once He came to the cross, at least I knew that it was almost over. We, the audience, were spared the hours and hours and hours of watching Him gasp for every breath, blood dripping from His hands and wounds. But He was not spared. He lived through every hour of torture, for me. And for you. His mortal flesh was in agony for us, and yet He was very clear. “No one takes my life from Me,” He says. “I give it up willingly.”
If I have a criticism of the movie, it is that I wish they had spent a little more time on the Resurrection. For Christ not only suffered for us, to take our sins upon Himself, but He rose again, to gain our entrance into Heaven, saved and washed clean.
I would not take a young child to see The Passion. In fact, I would be circumspect about taking any person under the age of perhaps 15 or 16, and even then only if their emotional and spiritual maturity was sufficient. Do not expect to come out of the movie unchanged.
As a side note…I had decided to fast on Fridays as my Lenten discipline this year, and yesterday, every time my wicked earthly flesh started to look for ways to weasel out of the fast, I saw Jesus, beaten and bloody, making His slow painful way to the cross, and I was struck with sorrow. My tiny sacrifice, my little giving up, is nothing, less than nothing, compared to what Christ did for me.
Grateful is too small a word for how I feel. Humbled, and saddened, and profoundly thankful that because of Christ’s sacrifice, I am a child of God. Because of what Christ went through on the cross, because I have seen with my own eyes what He suffered for me, I know that His was no cheap Hollywood death. His was the death that I deserve; and He took it upon Himself, that I might live.
What is man that You are mindful of him? wrote David. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me!
I now have a better understanding of what I mean when I say that Christ died for me. Because I saw it happen, and I know the cost. And because of the price He paid, I am free.
By
Phoenix Mary Grace Hocking
It is not my intent in this article to “review” Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of The Christ. It is more a searching of my own heart to discover the film’s meaning for me, personally. I know I walked away from the theatre a changed woman and seeing my life and my faith in a new way.
Initially I was amazed, even mortified, to see people walk into the theatre with bags of popcorn and candy and sodas, as if they were going to see just some ordinary Hollywood film instead of attending the crucifixion of our Lord. Did they not know? Did they not understand the import of what was to come? Apparently not, and I could only pray, “God, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.”
The movie begins in the Garden of Gethsemane, with Christ’s earthly flesh in terror of the torture He knew was coming. A chilling Satan, smooth-voiced, tries to talk Him out of it. “No man can bear the sins of the world; its too much to ask,” he says, or words to that effect. But when Christ arises from his knees, decision made, He is strong and resolute.
I have seen “Jesus films” before. I have seen Hollywood’s depiction of the crucifixion. Even my favorite Jesus film, Matthew, cleaned up the crucifixion scene to maintain their PG rating. There is no “cleaning up” in The Passion, and the movie is not rated R for nothing.
I have read the Bible. I have read that He was crucified for my sins, and rose again that I might have eternal Life with God. I knew that. My head knew that. But until I saw The Passion my heart didn’t know it. To know He was crucified is one thing. To see it is another.
Compressed into a movie of two hours or so is twelve hours of torture. Unbelievably cruel torture, and watching my Lord be whipped and beaten until he was naught but a bloody mass broke my heart. And even so, even so, what was depicted on the screen was not how it was in real life. In real life, Isaiah says, He was beaten so badly as to not be recognizable as a human being.
In the movie, it is clear in the very beginning the purpose behind Christ’s death. Isaiah 53:4-6: But he took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us. We saw his suffering and thought God was punishing him. But he was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds. We all have wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way. But the Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done.” (The Everyday Bible, New Century Version)
There is more! Get out your Bibles and read the rest of Isaiah 53! There is more! He willingly gave his life and was treated like a criminal. But he carried away the sins of many people and asked forgiveness for those who sinned.
It is Mel Gibson’s hands who nail Christ’s hands to the cross. It was his way of acknowledging his role in Christ’s death. But it could easily have been my own. Or yours. For Christ went to the cross for me; He took my sins upon Himself and went through horrible pain and suffering for me, and with each whip that tore His flesh and each fall and each blow, I flinched. And I cried. I cried for my Lord and my Master, Who did this for me, willingly, lovingly, that I might be saved.
It is almost a relief when He finally makes it to the cross. He had been through such torture, such pain, such humiliation. Once He came to the cross, at least I knew that it was almost over. We, the audience, were spared the hours and hours and hours of watching Him gasp for every breath, blood dripping from His hands and wounds. But He was not spared. He lived through every hour of torture, for me. And for you. His mortal flesh was in agony for us, and yet He was very clear. “No one takes my life from Me,” He says. “I give it up willingly.”
If I have a criticism of the movie, it is that I wish they had spent a little more time on the Resurrection. For Christ not only suffered for us, to take our sins upon Himself, but He rose again, to gain our entrance into Heaven, saved and washed clean.
I would not take a young child to see The Passion. In fact, I would be circumspect about taking any person under the age of perhaps 15 or 16, and even then only if their emotional and spiritual maturity was sufficient. Do not expect to come out of the movie unchanged.
As a side note…I had decided to fast on Fridays as my Lenten discipline this year, and yesterday, every time my wicked earthly flesh started to look for ways to weasel out of the fast, I saw Jesus, beaten and bloody, making His slow painful way to the cross, and I was struck with sorrow. My tiny sacrifice, my little giving up, is nothing, less than nothing, compared to what Christ did for me.
Grateful is too small a word for how I feel. Humbled, and saddened, and profoundly thankful that because of Christ’s sacrifice, I am a child of God. Because of what Christ went through on the cross, because I have seen with my own eyes what He suffered for me, I know that His was no cheap Hollywood death. His was the death that I deserve; and He took it upon Himself, that I might live.
What is man that You are mindful of him? wrote David. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me!
I now have a better understanding of what I mean when I say that Christ died for me. Because I saw it happen, and I know the cost. And because of the price He paid, I am free.
# posted by Phoenix MaryGrace Hocking : 11:38 AM
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