The Passion of the Christ:
Before and After
Before:
It is 10:20a.m. In a little less than nine hours I will be sitting in a movie theater in Augusta, Georgia watching The Passion of the Christ. I have already written a little about the controversy concerning this film (See Who Killed Jesus?) but in this article I wanted to share my reaction to the film. I will be seeing the film with my Home Group, a group of believers who meet in my home each week for worship, Bible study, and prayer. I have been inundated with news about The Passion for weeks now. The anticipation is building. I certainly do not want to be disappointed. Here's what I expect: I expect that the movie will change my life - again. I expect that I will come back to this computer Thursday night or Friday morning and write that seeing Jesus beaten, crucified, and killed filled me with awe at His great love for me. He did this for me! I think I will say things like, I will live my life for Him with much more appreciation from this point on. I hope I will mean it. I certainly thank Him so much for saving me, for dying for me, for helping me to live a better life than the one I was destined for. I don't know if I will cry - I do that sometimes in movies and at church - but nobody sees it. We are all going to meet after the movie to talk about it. I don't know if I will be able to talk or if I will just want to be alone. Will I be depressed or elated? Will I love my wife and kids more? Will I love my friends and strangers more? Will I just have seen another movie or will this be an event that marks a change for me and for the world? Will this be the beginning of a great revival in our nation? I pray that it is so. I'll see you a little later with what I find out. ~Gary~(2-26-2004)
After:
It's 10:00a.m. Friday. Let me share what The Passion of the Christ was like. It was like no movie I had ever seen before. It was truly like watching history and yet it was way beyond that. It was a bit like reading the Bible - you read the words that people say but it also shares the thoughts and intents of people's hearts. That's what it was like for me. It begins in the Garden of Gethsemane (I will not give away too much, I promise) and Jesus is praying to the Father. He asks if it is possible for "the cup to pass", that is, is there any way to avoid the suffering that is about to come. And, of course, He says, "Not my will but Yours be done." Every word spoken is in Aramaic or Latin (with English subtitles). Typically Jesus and His followers spoke Aramaic and the Romans spoke Latin. When Jesus spoke to the Father, He used the word, "Papa". It sounded so soft and wonderful and yet He was at the crisis point of His life. In the garden Mel Gibson's direction came into play and he projected Satan (or at least pure evil) into the scene. It worked very well and was quite shocking. There are several demonic appearances that are quite frightening - you have been warned. The scene of Jesus' betrayal by Judas is as one would expect: utter chaos. When Jesus is taken by the Jewish authorities, the mistreatment of Our Savior begins and does not stop until near the very end of the movie. The movie is very close to the Bible but takes several acceptable diversions. Several times Jesus or His mother have a flashback to a happier or better time. These are such grand contrasts that they are as shocking as the demonic scenes in their own way. Jesus' humanity is fully revealed and He is portrayed as a real man, not the wimpy versions of Jesus that so many other Biblical epics turned Him into. He looks Jewish, because He was.
I looked long and hard for any touch of anti-semitism because that was the hue and cry before the movie was released. I found none. Jews were both heroes and scoundrels in the movie as were the Romans. The Romans were by far the most brutal. The Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and, according to their Law, He should die for "making Himself equal to God." Jesus, in one of the great flashbacks, makes it very clear that "no man takes My life, I have the power to lay it down and to take it up again." He forgives the Jews and Romans for the crucifixion, while on the cross! Jesus lays no blame on His people and the movie blames us all. One of the more heroic figures in the movie (besides Jesus) was a Jew. I will have to leave it at that because I promised not to spoil the movie for you. In short, the movie did not make we want to go out and kill Jews. It made me love them all the more because they were wrong back then and I do not want them to be wrong when Jesus returns for them. They won't be, by the way, I read the back of the Book!
Did the movie change my life? Yes and no. I left the theater changed and touched but the world was the same. I was the same. I still had to drive home and do all the things I normally have to do. We stopped with two other couples for coffee and to talk. Nobody else wanted to - they all wanted to get home. This was partly due to their difficulty talking after the movie (there was utter silence when the movie ended) and partly due to the ice storm we were having. We talked at Dunkin Donuts but not in great detail. We all knew we had been through something special but we were not sure how it would impact us just yet. We came home and watched a little TV before going to bed. Everything on TV seemed so unimportant to me - I watched anyway.
Today I am still sorting through things. I will lead a discussion of this at our next Home Group meeting. I urge you all to see the movie and bring people who may not be Christians. I really think the movie will help people see the great love Jesus and the Father have for them. Use it as a beginning point for discussion, not as an emotional appeal. Pray that more people see the movie and more people are touched by the Christ. I will buy the DVD and will use it to share with others. May God richly bless each of you. I know you all have difficulties and problems in this life. We all do. Turn them over to the Savior Who has already taken on the burden of our sins so we do not have to suffer an eternity way from Him. Trust Him. Love Him. Believe in Him. His name is Jesus and He is the Messiah.
~Gary~(2-27-2004)