The question I have been asked more than any other in the past two months has been, “Are you going to see that movie about the Passion?”  I’m sure you hava all been asked it as well, only now the question has switched to “Have you seen the movie” or “when are you going to see the movie?”

 

There seems to be an expectation that because we are “religious-type” people, that we somehow can’t wait to see anything about Jesus.  The publicity has certainly made this a controversial issue and there seems to be very strong, almost fanatical opinions on both sides.  It’s natural that this is a hot topic, after all we are now officially in Lent, and in a few weeks the television will be full of the old classic movies, “The Ten Commandments”, “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, “Jesus of Nazareth”, “Ben Hur” and many others, but it’s the “hype” that’s built up about this film that is worrisome -  the pressure that some people are feeling that they “have” to see it.

 

There are both strong supporters and strong detractors of this movie, and some of the supporters would make it seem like it’s your Christian duty, you almost have an “obligation” to go and see this film.  But that’s not true, when all is said and done, it is only a movie, and you have no obligation to go at all, and perhaps there are reasons why you should not go.

 

In the gospel today, the Devil tempts Jesus three times, once with worldly desires, once with worldly power, and finally with the most powerful temptation for a good person, to test their faith by making God prove that he loves us.  Sadly, it seems that in many of the more ardent supporters of the Passion movie, there is an element of this third temptation - to see how much pain we can endure to test our faith, to prove how much we love by how much we can stand to look at.  Several of the people that saw the movie have said that they were merely numbed by the violence and they turned off their feelings to protect themselves.

 

The other problem with this film is how often the word “Realistic” is used, as if we could somehow experience the “real thing” by watching an actor wearing a rubber suit filled with fake blood get whipped.  It may look like what it might have been like, but that is all we can say.  We know that Jesus suffered torture and pain, but scripture doesn’t count the lashes, or describe the weapons, or even say how long it took.  The entire recounting of the passion in the gospel only takes a few minutes to read because it is not the details that are important, only that it happened and that Jesus rose again. 

 

Each of us has experienced suffering and pain in our lives, whether it is sharing in Jesus’ humiliation before Pilate when others make fun of us at school, sharing in the physical pain of Jesus by being abused by parents, beaten by bullies or through illness or accident.  This is what we are called to understand in the mystery of the passion of Jesus, that he has shared our suffering and taken on our punishments for us and with us.  It’s hard for us to listen to a reading of the passion or attend the stations of the Cross without tears coming to our eyes, because we understand already.  What was really sad was to listen to people who went to see the movie on Ash Wednesday evening instead of going to mass where is where our real obligation lies.

 

It’s only a movie, it is not scripture, it is not “realistic”, it is one man’s interpretation.  Much has been made of the fact that Mel Gibson is a “good” Catholic and that they said Mass every day on the set of the movie filming.  This is Mel Gibson’s movie - it is not the Church’s.  Mel Gibson has a very personal view of what the church should be, he refuses to accept the teachings of the Vatican Council and would prefer we were all speaking in Latin again at mass like the brutal soldiers in his movie. 

This is a man who has spent his entire career getting very rich making some of the most extremely violent and bloody movies of our time, Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, Payback and others, so his image of the crucifixion is also centered on violence and blood. 

He has said that he “needed” to make this movie and felt a call from God to create it.  That’s fine, and I hope it helped him get better as a person but it doesn’t mean that we need to watch it to have our faith confirmed.

 

Each of us will make our own choice, and I will choose not to see this movie.  After all, even the apostles didn’t have to watch the crucifixion, they all ran away.  And yet they knew what happened, and they had the courage to face martyrdom when it came to them even though they hadn’t been there to “see” what Jesus did for them in person. 

 

Even the title of this movie shows something of the attitude of its maker.  It is called “The Passion of The Christ”.  “The Christ” - like one is referring to some far away noble by their title.  Jesus isn’t “The Christ” to me - a stranger known to me only by his title, he is Jesus, my friend, who lives right here with me.  I know what Jesus did for me, I know it here – in my heart, and I don’t need to watch someone else’s violent personal vision of what happened to appreciate that.  Each of us could consider whether to spend 15 or 20 dollars to make the theatre owners and popcorn sellers and yes, even Mel Gibson richer than they are already, or perhaps that that money may do more good in a Share Life envelope.

 

You may choose to see this movie, and that is perfectly OK.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t.  You may find it a powerful experience that will help your faith.  That would be wonderful and a blessing from God if it happens.  But if you go, go because you choose to go, not because you have been pressured into it by a skilful media campaign.  You have the right to go, but you also have the right NOT to go without feeling that you are shirking your duty. 

 

Remember, it is only a movie.  Can it be a tool for good in God’s hands?  Yes, anything could possibly be – but just as the gospel today shows that Devil knows how to quote scripture, he also knows how to tell stories about Jesus that are close enough to the truth to sound real and yet far enough away to lead us astray. 

 

Our society has been transformed by Television and the Movies and it seems that we are led far too often only by the images we see.  Lent is the season where our focus is called to be internal, to reflect on our lives and what we have done, and to prepare ourselves to be ready to experience the resurrection of Jesus, not just the sorrow of his passion.