Everybody has an Opinion

I finally saw "The Passion" this weekend and for the most part I appreciated the film. I know that everybody under the sun has their own opinion on whether or not they liked the movie, some positive and some negative, so I guess it is not a surprise that I have mine. I don't think the movie was too violent in its presentation. Was it gory and vividly gruesome in parts? Yes. However, I believe the picutre painted by this depiction was appropriate. Sure, the movie has an agenda and is depicted through a certain set of lenses but isn't that expected? I guess one of my questions for those who disagree with the depiction is, "How do you picture and how would you visualize the last days of Christ?"

I appreciated the connection between the flashbacks to earlier moments in the life of Christ and the suffering of Christ. Maybe I'm ignorant to the reality of punishment and crucifixion in those days but I imagine it to be a vicious experience and thus found the depiction appropriate. Granted some of the more brutal aspects made me sick to my stomach but I didn't feel it was overdone. Scripture may not focus entirely on the brutality expressed in the film but the accounts do take time to point out aspects of Christ's suffering. There is no possible way that such an experience could have been pretty. For example, I can't imagine what causes a person to cast lots for a dead man's possessions. If you will allow it, imagine coming across someone who had been slaughtered to death on the side of the road but you look down and say, "oh, nice watch" and take it for yourself. The hate and anger must have been intense to cause people to hurl insults and spit upon any man while beating him over the head with club and fist and fashioning a crown of thorns for his head.

I appreciate the emphasis on a different aspect of the life of Christ. Of course I don't want to focus on his death and suffering over and apart from his life and resurrection. I think there is a tension between the two but I believe it doesn't hurt to reflect on the different aspects from time to time.

In the end, I believe the message of his life, the cross, and the empty tomb speaks louder than any of our finite and humble opinions or depictions of such events. And ultimately, whether or not people agree or disagree with the movie doesn't matter because the reality of God's love and Christ's passion for us all is evident in his life, death, and resurrection.

Father, thank you for the life of Jesus that we may experience a portrait of life with You! And, thank you for the cross and for Christ's sacrifice in which our sins are forever atoned for. May we each take up our cross and die daily. And God, thank you most of all for the empty tomb by which we may have life with You both now and forevermore!

May God be praised in all the earth!