The Passion of the Christ

Last night I watched Mel Gibson’s much-discussed movie. By now I had already heard and read so much about it that I had become extremely curious to see how I would experience the film myself. Various evangelical leaders have promoted the film as a biblically faithful depiction of the final twelve hours of Jesus’ life. Well—forget it! What Gibson presents is the Roman Catholic version of the passion narrative, which stands miles apart from what “is written.”

There are truly dozens of examples of specifically Roman Catholic fantasies (channeled or not through the nun Anne Emmerich). I’ll name just a few—far from a complete list:

• Mary receives clean cloths from Pilate’s wife to wipe up the blood from Jesus’ scourging;
• Peter confesses his denial of Jesus to Mary (and even calls her mother!);
• Judas is pursued by children and demons and hangs himself near the carcass of a donkey (directly taken from Emmerich);
• Jesus carries a cross. Scripture uses the word stauros, which refers simply to a stake. Strangely enough, the men crucified with Him in the film carry only a beam or stake;
• Jesus falls repeatedly, and the scenes we see are taken directly from the Stations of the Cross images in the Roman Catholic Church;
• The long-haired Jesus figure is typical of Roman Catholic imagery—Jewish men wore short hair;
• A girl wipes Jesus’ face on the way to Golgotha—taken from the legend of Veronica;
• Jesus says to one of the men crucified with Him: “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (instead of: “Verily, to you am I saying today, with Me shall you be in paradise”), thereby implying that Jesus did not truly die;
• Mary kisses Jesus’ feet on the cross—reflecting the Roman Catholic practice of kissing a crucifix;
• Jesus’ mother, Mary Magdalene, and John take Jesus down from the cross—while the Bible mentions only Joseph of Arimathea;
• Mary holds Jesus’ dead body on her lap—a familiar image from Roman Catholic illustrations.

Truly shocking is the excessive violence portrayed in the film. Not because the violence is too realistically shown, but because it goes far beyond what Scripture says.

• With extreme violence (chains, whips), Jesus is taken captive and led away;
• For about half an hour we watch Jesus being brutally assaulted over His entire body at Pilate’s order (while Mary and the Jewish leaders look on???). The soldiers in the film are unstoppable in their torture, while nothing in Scripture suggests hatred from the Romans toward Jesus (for them it was more of a mockery);
• Jesus is continually kicked and beaten on the way to Golgotha—the Scriptures are silent on this;
• The cross falls forward dramatically—a fabrication.

In other respects as well, the film is unrealistic. I’m thinking of the bandit-like way in which the Jewish leaders are portrayed, and the almost dim-witted proceedings within the Jewish Council. The Roman soldiers too are often depicted as half-imbeciles—just like the characters in Herod’s palace. All of it reminds me more of a farce or stage play.

In addition to additions to, and distortions of the biblical account, there are also disturbing omissions. I mention:

• The three hours of darkness, as the ultimate low point of God-abandonment. Instead, we see a strong wind rising.
• The Bible describes that Jesus died on the day of “Preparation” (14 Nisan), just before “the great sabbath” (15 Nisan). In Gibson’s film, this detail is missing.
• Instead of the curtain of the temple being torn (which we do not see), the entire temple structure collapses! And I’ll refrain from further commenting that the Roman centurion likely saw the curtain tear from the Mount of Olives.

It will be clear by now that I consider the film anything but a recommendation. Not that there was nothing good to be seen—that would be an exaggeration. I did find the quote from Isaiah at the beginning powerful. But then again, you don’t need to go to the cinema for that. The recurring image of the full moon was also beautiful. And the filming of the stone being rolled away from the tomb—seen from inside the grave—I found original.

But none of that can undo the overall impression I had of the film. Unfortunately, just like in the Church of Rome, the focus is primarily on the dying Jesus, who supposedly achieved the victory in that way. Gibson shows Satan wailing loudly in this setting. Wrongly so. For when Jesus died, the Adversary was actually making his point. Satan suffered his defeat only when Jesus left the tomb empty on the third day.

In short: the Book is infinitely better!

Delen: