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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
by Steve
Beard
Church
folks should be warned, this is not a
family-friendly "Christian" movie such
as Chariots of Fire or The
Ten Commandments. The
Passion is the most brutal movie
you will probably ever see. People will
be sobbing in the theaters or running
out to get sick in the
lobby. This
is not the kind of movie that you
merely watch, it is one you experience.
Think back to when you first saw the
movie, Roots, on TV -- seeing a
white man whip a black man's back. It
wreaks havoc on your gut. All of the
high school history lessons about the
Civil War changed in a dimension of
your comprehension -- moving from your
head to your heart. It is
painful to watch as Jesus stumbles
through the Via Dolorosa -- the path of
pain -- on his way to Golgotha, as his
beloved mother watches helplessly from
the sidelines, flashing back in her
memory to a time when she could still
cradle her son in her arms. As Jesus is
nailed to the cross, you know you will
never view communion the same way
again. As
our group talked with Mel Gibson after
watching the movie, it was very clear
that he was most vexed about the
charges of anti-Semitism leveled
against the movie. "To
be certain, neither I nor my film are
anti-Semitic," Gibson said in a
statement published in Variety.
"Anti-Semitism is not only contrary to
my personal beliefs; it is also
contrary to the core message of my
movie." Jim
Caviezel, who plays Jesus in the film,
put it this way: "We're all culpable in
the death of Christ. My sins put him up
there. Yours did. That's what this
story is about." The
Passion of the Christ grew out of
Mel Gibson's own personal need for
redemption. Christ's
passion became his obsession -- and
ultimately a healing balm. "The
Holy Ghost was working through me on
this film," Gibson has said, "and I was
just directing traffic. I hope the film
has the power to
evangelize." That
shouldn't be a problem. I have been a
Christian for 20 years and after seeing
The Passion of the Christ, I
wanted to sign up all over
again.
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
Ministry
of the
Word:
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E-Mail
ON
FILM
From
Gateway
Today
The
e-magazine of
Gateway Church
SPRING
2004
The
Passion of the Christ
In
November, with a handful of rock
musicians and artists, I saw an
unfinished version Mel Gibson's movie,
The Passion of the Christ, in
the boardroom of Gibson's Icon
Productions. For people who make their
living with microphones and electric
guitars, they were stone silent at the
end of the film. We all were.
This is definitely not a date movie;
it is a think flick. You need a cup of
herbal tea and a handful of those
aromatherapy candles to chill out and
process afterward.
Anti-Jewish?
From my
perspective, the film makes it clear
that there were righteous and
unrighteous Jewish and Roman leaders
who played a part in the drama unfolded
around the crucifixion of
Jesus.
The
power of the gospel
"[I
had] come to a difficult point in
my life and meditating on Christ's
sufferings, on his passion, got me
through it."
Steve
Beard is the editor of
Good
News,
a magazine focused on United
Methodist renewal. This review is
condensed from a longer version in
the March/April 2004 issue of
Good News.