After Watching The Passion

I'M writing this article just a few hours after watching "The Passion of the Christ" for the first time. By the time you read it you will have probably been flooded with a multitude of articles and interviews and news stories about this movie. I really resisted the urge to try to add anything to what has already been said, so I guess this article is more or less just to get it off of my chest.

Several people have already asked me what I thought of the movie and the only word I can come up with is "exhausting!" I have never been so tired from sitting for two hours before! This movie took a lot out of me. I definitely want to see it again, but I don't know when that will be. Right now I can't imagine having the energy to invest in watching it again, it just wipes you out that way.

The movie is definitely not for everyone—please hear that. There are children who shouldn't see this and a lot of adults who shouldn't either. Still, there are some people who probably shouldn't miss it. I can't tell you what category you fall into. The movie is bloody, gory and—I'm afraid—still not quite accurate enough. As horrible as the scourging scene was to watch I can't shake the feeling that it still doesn't quite touch the reality of it all.

Much has been said about how the movie is "anti-Semitic," that it presents the Jewish people in a bad light and holds them responsible for the crucifixion. Let me say first of all that I have a deep love and respect for the Jewish people. I have found myself in tears over the Holocaust and other atrocities that have been committed against these people through history. I have been humbled and honored to teach on their history and tradition. My prayer has echoed the words of Ruth (a gentile like me) to her mother-in-law, Naomi (a Jew), "Your people will be my people and your God my God (Ruth 1:16)." If I were to identify myself with any heritage outside of my own it would be theirs.

In my opinion, this movie pays great honor to Jewish tradition and faith. In one scene in particular, Mary, the mother of Jesus, awakens startled—it's as though she senses something terrible is about to happen (her son has just been arrested). She turns to Mary Magdalene and says, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" What we "gentile believers" might miss is that this is the first question traditionally asked at The Passover—the most holy night on the Jewish calendar. I think the scene is a reminder to the Jewish audience that this is one of their own—a person who celebrated the same things they celebrate to this day.

Though I must say, I did come away with a sense of blame over who killed Jesus. Watching the torture and crucifixion I found myself personalizing like never before the words from Isaiah 53:5,

But he was pierced for my transgressions,
he was crushed for my iniquities;
the punishment that brought me peace was upon him,
and by his wounds I am healed.

Gibson himself expressed the truth of his own guilt in his one cameo in the film. You won't see his face, but you will see his hand, holding the nail as it is driven into Jesus' hand. Gibson has reportedly said that it was his way of saying, "I did that."

I did it too.

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