Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Clearing up confusion about ‘The Passion’

[Citizen columnist] Lindsay Bianchi summed up some people’s confusion concerning Mel Gibson’s motivation for depicting the sufferings of Christ when he said that “[p]erhaps Mel missed the lesson where it was pointed out that believing without seeing is what faith is all about.”

This is an important point. Many people have said similar things in reviews and in conversations I’ve had. The gist of their point is this: Why do we need to see Christ’s suffering portrayed so graphically? If we accept that he suffered, died, and rose again, isn’t that enough? Of course non-believers who don’t accept that fact are even more confused about the necessity of a film such as “The Passion of The Christ.”

The best way I can think of to explain this dynamic is to use an analogy. Let’s say you have a daughter and a doctor diagnoses her with terminal cancer, a type of cancer which will be painful and difficult to treat. You then find out that medical science has given you the ability to heal her completely by taking on the suffering and the death yourself.

Now, perhaps there are many who wouldn’t be able to make that choice, but I think most would want to do so. So let’s say you do, and now you are suffering immensely and on the verge of death. Your daughter sees you suffer and although terribly troubled, knows that you are doing so out of complete and total love for her.

When you die, she is left behind to live a life which has been won for her at the expense of your own. By actually seeing you suffer, she is acutely aware of the great gift she has been given, and will work that much harder to make her life meaningful and to be equally giving to others. While other people who hear about this story may be moved or inspired on some level, none will be quite as affected as your daughter because she saw it and lived it with you.

This is the dynamic behind depicting the suffering of Christ. His suffering and death gave us new life in the spiritual realm. While we may still suffer in our earthly lives, we will be spared the ultimate punishment and suffering due to our sins.

This is something that we may be told hundreds of times as Christians, and yet never really understand. Difficult truths such as this don’t usually elicit quick and complete comprehension. It takes time for it to sink in and become fully understandable, if it does at all.

The great advantage of a visual depiction, especially a cinematic one, is that it can transcend the limitations of the imagination and intellect and penetrate directly to the heart of a person. It makes you FEEL as if what you were seeing really happened and not just the pale, written accounts of some fishermen from 2000 years ago.

Hopefully, just like the little girl who saw her parent suffer, you too will be inspired by Christ’s suffering to give back to Him all that He has given to you.

If “The Passion” bothers you, instead of dismissing Mel Gibson and his fans as demented or sadistic, perhaps you should ask yourself a few questions. Going back to my rather clumsy analogy, if you were the daughter and for some reason no longer recognized that your parent had assumed suffering and death to give you life, would you like to be reminded of their suffering? In the same way, those of us who don’t fully recognize all that Jesus did for us don’t like to be reminded of it either.

Trey Hoffman

Peachtree City, Ga.