Some Jewish leaders have suggested the movie is anti-Semitic. What you get out of it depends on what you bring to it. “The Passion of the Christ” is such a film.
But now and then, maybe once a decade, a film comes along that forces us to deal with ultimate issues. Most movies don’t change us or force us to think deeply about anything. A movie appears at the local cinema, you read a review, you see an ad, and you decide to go see it.
Most movies, nearly all of them in fact, come and go without much notice. It occurred to me that this movie is a kind of cultural benchmark. And in the end, Jesus triumphs because it is not Pilate or the Jewish leaders who put him to death. But it succeeds in showing the evil in the world that sent Christ to the cross, bearing the sins of humanity. The movie is brutal and violent, and it assumes a basic knowledge of the life of Jesus. If I had been there, this is what I would have seen.” The film is rightly R-rated because crucifixion was an R-rated event. I said to myself, “This is what it was like. I found it powerful, overwhelming, disturbing in parts, emotionally draining, but riveting and impossible not to watch. I have seen “The Passion of the Christ” three times in the last five days. He brought Jesus to the center of American public life, if only for a few fleeting days. Mel Gibson has done what Billy Graham could not do. Guess what they were talking about? Jesus! In my lifetime such a thing has not happened in America. After I came home from the discussion time, I turned on the History Channel. When I turned on the Fox News Channel, they were talking about Jesus. Between the film and the meal, I went home for a few minutes. Afterward we came back to the church for a meal and a time of discussion. Last night 450 people from Calvary attended a showing of “The Passion of the Christ” at a local theater. In fact, they were talking about why Jesus died on the cross. Last Wednesday afternoon on CNBC, they were talking about Jesus. But they weren’t talking about stocks and bonds, and they weren’t talking about Martha Stewart.
When I got home, I turned on the TV and happened to watch CNBC, the cable channel that specializes in financial news. That afternoon I saw the film with a friend. On Fox News Channel they were talking about Jesus. That morning I turned on the news to see what was happening in the world. For various reasons the film has stirred up enormous controversy. Last Wednesday the new movie by Mel Gibson, “The Passion of the Christ,” premiered around the country. This has been a week unlike any other in my lifetime.