Scandal, Passion and Power

March 1, 2004

Up to now, I have done a pretty good job staying out of the rhetoric about Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of The Christ". No, I have not seen it, yet. Like many of you, I've heard many reviews, and even viewed out-takes of the movie on a DVD the producers sent to me. I endorsed our congregations' efforts to organize a group viewing next Sunday afternoon, while, at the same time, suggested that some people may not want to see it, because of the advertised graphic violence.

Etiquette dictates politics and religion are "off limits" at social gatherings. Saturday night, a robust discussion started at a dinner gathering for Anita's office staff at our home in Spring Valley. My wonderful wife did an outstanding job, as usual, in preparing our home and the meal, but this was not going to be a "Martha Stewart" evening. Two very different viewpoints emerged at the dinner table where I was seated, and I sank down in my chair, hoping the conversation would change to something less controversial, such as the economy, the presidential election, or even the war in Iraq. Why couldn't someone just say, "How 'bout them Dawgs?" and I could have regaled them with tales of my beloved Mississippi State Bulldogs' phenomenal basketball season at least through deserts. But, alas, one of our guests said, "Bill, you are a minister, what do you think about 'The Passion'"? I was out-ed! No more silence on the matter. It was, and is, time to speak up.

'The Passion' confronts us once again with the crucifixion of Jesus. The responses today are exactly the same as they were 2000 years ago. Some will weep; others with scoff; some will barter for what they can gain; some will argue the significance of it all; some will try to ignore it; some will place blame; and, thank God, some people's lives will be changed forever.

What amazes me about 'The Passion' is how it makes us all uncomfortable. For the worldly, it makes one uncomfortable that, after 2000 years, Jesus still has such an impact, such power over our lives. Some undoubtedly wished Gibson's whole enterprise would flop. It didn't. It's a blockbuster, in movie terms. For Christians, we are uncomfortable about the violence, the historical accuracy, or the theological implications of what has been called the fifth gospelŠthe "Gospel According to Mel Gibson".

I am disturbed that my fundamentalist friends are behaving like liberals (by ignoring their longtime tirades against media violence), and my liberal friends are behaving like fundamentalists (by insisting Gibson's portrayal isn't "literally accurate"). We look like the Pharisees and Sadducees, hated enemies, changing positions in an attempt to deal with Jesus, the Christ.

My late mother-in-law, Kathryn Shearin, an avowed Roman Catholic, told me she was offended that in our United Methodist sanctuary, the cross was empty. I tried to explain we worship a resurrected Jesus, so our cross is empty. But she made a point that Mel Gibson also understands. Gibson doesn't want us to be confronted by a sanitized cross, a golden icon to hang around our necks. He wants to remind us of the lashes, the thorns, the nails, the blood, the sacrifice, the inexplicable love. We have a difficult time ignoring that.

The Apostle Paul referred to "the scandal of the cross". All Mel Gibson has done is to remind us the cross is still scandalous. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." And that is the point of the movieŠJesus is not on trial, we are! Thank you, Mr. Gibson, for reminding us.