A Kinder Gentler Crucifixion

I published this post a couple of years ago, I think, but, while editing, I lost it. By a long story, I found it but am having to republish it. So, while the dating is out of context, the thesis, I think, still remains current.

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Mel Gibson is set to release his new version of “The Passion of The Christ.” The skuttle-butt is, that it has deleted/edited the more graphic scenes to make the movie more accessible to the young or squeamish.

Now, I'm not about to accuse Brother Mel of going belly-up to the critics or coveting the almighty dollar. I sincerely will give him all the benefit of the doubt. I know that this movie has been criticized for its graphic violence and nauseating bloodshed. My very own ten year old daughter, by my choice, has yet to see what I would call the greatest feature film ever made.

Still, it’s so entirely hypocritical of the nay sayers who decried this movie because of its purposeful intensity. The very fact that they have such a problem with the blood and gore shows that they, because of their darkened hearts, missed the whole point of the affair.

Christ suffered one of the most violent, painful deaths ever devised by man. We can never fully realize what must’ve been the indescribable agony of one so unfortunate. In our society, many judges are inclined to think that a needle prick is “cruel and unusual punishment” for a multiple murderer. Our revulsion at the depiction of what was surely only a fraction of the suffering that a criminal convicted to death by crucifixion must’ve endured is understandable, but to have an inkling of it’s value, requires closer scrutiny than most are willing to invest. Not to mention, the added suffering of our loving Savior, who not only was abandoned by his closest friends, but also by His Heavenly Father.

I’ll never forget how jovial we were before entering the theater and how somber we were upon our exit. I remember smiling wryly, as I saw the blithe faces of those who were waiting their turn and thinking, “Just wait. You’ll be changed soon enough.”

Brother Mel, I think, gave us only a passing glance at the passion that Jesus suffered for us poor sinners. I fear a sanitized version of the film may only weaken it’s impact and undermine the disturbing quality that made this not just a film, but an experience. I know that I was certainly disturbed by my viewing of The Passion. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.