some thoughts on mel gibson's passion
Good Friday felt like the right time for me to see this film again. Corey and I saw it on Ash Wednesday (minus the resurrection, remember) and I was still having a lot of thoughts about it, looking for a way to express my real feelings about it. I've read many, many articles (and student papers) about The Passion, and I've sat with my own stuff for over forty days now, and I think I've come to some conclusions.
My realization came to me during our Easter
worship service this morning. Unitarian-Universalists tend to celebrate the
life and teachings of Christ and do not focus on his suffering and death, and
rarely on the mystery of the resurrection. So while I listened to the sermon, I
thought about this difference between UUs and Catholics and I wondered about why
the world has been so taken by this
movie.
I remembered that it has been 2,000 years since the world witnessed the beating, torture, and public execution of this man Jesus. And today, the global community has turned out in force to witness these events again. The difference, and the only difference that I see, is that this time around we have paid cash to see it. (About four hundred fifty million dollars worldwide, as of today.)
I've always liked that the Passion story involves so many characters, all of which we can relate to on some level. When we used to read the stations of the cross in my Catholic elementary school, they had meditations that sounded like, "And Lord, when have I turned away from you and denied you, just like Peter did? Help me to be brave and stand up for the things I believe in . . ." When I was a kid, none of that really made sense, but the story affects me in different ways today. We all play those parts, and we play them every day. Sometimes we're a Pilate, pretending to be innocent while allowing someone to suffer when we had the power to stop it. Sometimes we are Veronica, and we show a little mercy to someone who is having a hard time. And sometimes we are a soldier, hiding behind the "just doing my job" line or just someone in the crowd, secretly enjoying the entertainment because we are so glad that it's not us out there.
What amazes me about this Passion phenomenon is that we all seem to have missed the point again. We all showed up to watch, and we all paid our money (except me, I had a free ticket both times) but how many of us stepped in to help? How many of us walked out of the darkened theatre resolving to be a Veronica or a Simon? How many of us took a step towards non-violence? How many wrote a letter to a senator that day? How many sought out a homeless person and bought them dinner?
And how many of us good-intentioned "Christians" walked straight back into our ordinary lives, ignoring the bundles of huddled poor on our sidewalks, oblivious to the suffering nations outside our borders, and unwilling to put our own lives in harms way when it comes to demanding a better life for our own citizens?
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.
I can still remember those words from the hymn we used to sing when I was young. Above all things, I think Christ wanted us to learn the language and lessons of love. The new covenant. The new commandment. This theology that was so radical two thousand years ago, but that is still largely misunderstood in today's world.
And this is where I think the media and so many of us have really missed the point of Passion. The film (and the book, for that matter) wasn't about who killed this man two thousand years ago, how he died, who was responsible, how violent it was, or even whether he really rose from the dead or not. If we take Jesus' words into our heart, we must realize that the point has more to do with what we are doing today. The point is that we are killing Jesus right now, with every step we take that is not one of radical love, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. We (like Mel Gibson) drive the spikes into him with our very own hands.
And when we pay money to see this brutality and do not allow ourselves to be changed by it . . .
Well, what part are we playing? Which character are we being most like? And is that who we want to be?
I think Jesus would invite us to pick a different part (like the one he played, for instance) and try it on for size. . . .
I remembered that it has been 2,000 years since the world witnessed the beating, torture, and public execution of this man Jesus. And today, the global community has turned out in force to witness these events again. The difference, and the only difference that I see, is that this time around we have paid cash to see it. (About four hundred fifty million dollars worldwide, as of today.)
I've always liked that the Passion story involves so many characters, all of which we can relate to on some level. When we used to read the stations of the cross in my Catholic elementary school, they had meditations that sounded like, "And Lord, when have I turned away from you and denied you, just like Peter did? Help me to be brave and stand up for the things I believe in . . ." When I was a kid, none of that really made sense, but the story affects me in different ways today. We all play those parts, and we play them every day. Sometimes we're a Pilate, pretending to be innocent while allowing someone to suffer when we had the power to stop it. Sometimes we are Veronica, and we show a little mercy to someone who is having a hard time. And sometimes we are a soldier, hiding behind the "just doing my job" line or just someone in the crowd, secretly enjoying the entertainment because we are so glad that it's not us out there.
What amazes me about this Passion phenomenon is that we all seem to have missed the point again. We all showed up to watch, and we all paid our money (except me, I had a free ticket both times) but how many of us stepped in to help? How many of us walked out of the darkened theatre resolving to be a Veronica or a Simon? How many of us took a step towards non-violence? How many wrote a letter to a senator that day? How many sought out a homeless person and bought them dinner?
And how many of us good-intentioned "Christians" walked straight back into our ordinary lives, ignoring the bundles of huddled poor on our sidewalks, oblivious to the suffering nations outside our borders, and unwilling to put our own lives in harms way when it comes to demanding a better life for our own citizens?
Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.
I can still remember those words from the hymn we used to sing when I was young. Above all things, I think Christ wanted us to learn the language and lessons of love. The new covenant. The new commandment. This theology that was so radical two thousand years ago, but that is still largely misunderstood in today's world.
And this is where I think the media and so many of us have really missed the point of Passion. The film (and the book, for that matter) wasn't about who killed this man two thousand years ago, how he died, who was responsible, how violent it was, or even whether he really rose from the dead or not. If we take Jesus' words into our heart, we must realize that the point has more to do with what we are doing today. The point is that we are killing Jesus right now, with every step we take that is not one of radical love, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. We (like Mel Gibson) drive the spikes into him with our very own hands.
And when we pay money to see this brutality and do not allow ourselves to be changed by it . . .
Well, what part are we playing? Which character are we being most like? And is that who we want to be?
I think Jesus would invite us to pick a different part (like the one he played, for instance) and try it on for size. . . .
Posted: Sun - April 11, 2004 at 10:43 PM
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Published On: Jan 02, 2005 10:40 PM
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