A Witness

I saw a murder today. Right in front of me. A ghastly, cruel, bloody, inhuman, agonizing murder. Excruciating, in fact. And I saw it. On purpose.

I'm speaking of course of Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ". The crucifiction of Jesus Christ shown in the full cinematic power of Hollywood.

It's more than a movie, far more than "entertainment". It succeeds at all the criteria for a movie if that's what you're looking for. It's beautifully filmed and masterfully written, directed, and acted. It's a really a top-notch piece of cinema apart from the message and content.

But the message - "Profound" does not begin to describe it. Gibson's stated purpose was to confront the viewer with "the enormity of the sacrifice" of Jesus Christ's death on the cross. And confronted I am.

What can I say. I've been following the buildup to this movie for months now. I had advance tickets for today's showing. I knew what was going to happen. And I know the "backstory" so to speak. I'm a Christian man and I know the Bible stories. But Gibson really brought it alive. He brought meaning to the Gospels and told a familiar story in such a profound way that I found myself constantly thinking "Wow, I never thought of it that way".

For example, in the opening when Satan is tempting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane I was drawn in. I've read of course of Satan tempting Jesus, but to see the physical manifestation talking so close to him was to realize that the knew each other! That there was a relationship there prior to that moment. That Jesus had been in the direct presence of evil before and that it was a real thing for him to be tempted and mocked by Satan himself. Wow! I'd never fleshed that out in my mind that way. And it was like that for the whole movie in scene after scene.

And the violence. I've seen murders in movies before. How can you not with the bodycount in Hollywood movies anymore. But this was different. Profoundly different. I witnessed the deliberate,calculated, political decision to murder a living, innocent man in the most painful and degrading way possible. A murder carried out by flesh and blood people. Taking a man whole in body and spirit and killing him over several gruesome hours. It's beyond the capacity of the modern day man's mind to comprehend. Almost.

I was struck by:
- Satan first and foremost as constant evil fleshly presence during that awful day
- Jesus and his otherwordly focus on a heavenly agenda even as this horror was happening to his flesh
-the strength of the two Mary's
- the cowardice of the elders as they could not watch what they had brought about. They walked out on the scourging before it was done, and they left the crosses before it was done
- the cruelty of the Roman soldiers who were evidently so steeped in blood that this was just another day's work to find amusement in
- the foreknowledge Jesus had in what to "lay down your life" would mean for him
- the presence Jesus had to make contact with the people around him that showed faith (Simon, the woman with the water, etc.)

And much, much more.

It will take days and months of letting this movie soak in to fully understand it. Of course I'm glad I saw it. But I'm not done seeing it. There is so much there to review in my mind. And I'm sure it will not let go of me. Nor would I want it to.