Are you apprehensive about seeing Mel Gibson’s new movie, The Passion of the Christ? Many people, it seems, are bursting with curiosity and the fact that thousands of advance tickets have been bought by church groups attests to the fervor with which people are anticipating the movie.

Seeing this film is being regarded by some as almost a confession of faith. However, a number of people have confided to me that they don’t want to see the movie.

They all seem to feel vaguely guilty and not sure if their discomfort makes them less than Christian. After all, this is supposed to be a monumental, Christian, cinematic experience. How can one purport to be a true Christian and not be willing to embrace The Passion of the Christ?

Let me admit from the outset that I don’t intend to view the movie on the big screen. This decision has nothing to do with any of the controversy surrounding the film although anything that smacks of anti-Semitism, even if unintended, seems like a colossal mistake, given the state of the world right now.

The prospect of extreme violence is my major concern. Others reluctant to see the film voiced similar reservations. Is it weakness to be unable to witness the hideous suffering of Jesus depicted on the silver screen?

Should we force ourselves and others (particularly children) to endure the reenactment of the horror of human evil directed toward the blameless Son of God? Do we all need to be scared straight to know the depth of God’s love for us?

Horrifically brutal

Mel Gibson has a long history of ultra-violent movies. There is clearly something in the notion of a sacrificial man, battling against unacknowledged evil and sustaining terrible injury in the effort that appeals to him.

Perhaps all his previous roles were only a foreshadowing of the sacrificial Christian message but most all of them were exceedingly bloody and egregiously violent. The cartoon-like entertainment of some of his previous films possibly rendered the violence somewhat unreal and therefore acceptable but those movies had a profane subject matter. The sacrifice of Jesus is sacred.

In reality, the terrible torture of death by crucifixion was horrifically brutal. Mel Gibson wanted audiences to react viscerally to the story and so initially he wasn’t even going to include subtitles. The movie-going public may indeed react more viscerally than spiritually to the larger than life super-saturation of the senses that this kind of violence will induce.

For some of us, even the reading of the Passion on Good Friday is extremely difficult and viewing it on the big screen would be much akin to watching a family member being executed. What would it add to the faith of those who feel this way? It’s also unclear how it will enhance the faith of those who don’t already have a sense of God’s unconditional love.

To see just how rabidly evil men can be isn’t edifying in itself. Without the transforming power of the Resurrection the story is nothing more than another bloody, human mistake. As St. Paul wrote, “If Christ has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.” (1 Cor 15: 14).

The face of Christ crucified

An intense emotional reaction doesn’t necessarily translate into a sustained desire to change one’s life but a willed act of love has the power to transform everything we ever do. Some folks may not be able to subject themselves to a gruesome visual portrayal of Christ’s suffering but they may be acutely aware of the suffering of Jesus in the poor and the sick.

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was personally moved by Jesus’ words from the cross, “I thirst.” She felt compelled to satisfy that thirst by serving “Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor.” The blameless affliction of children with AIDS is also the face of Christ crucified. The pain of victims of racial prejudice or religious hatred torment Jesus as surely as a crown of thorns and the desolation of Jesus’ betrayal can still be seen in the faces of starving children in a world of unparalleled abundance.

Understanding the depth of a love so great that nothing can stop it is ultimately beyond us but we are able to be a part of it anyway. We can try to see Christ in others and act with love no matter what. Even a person who can’t face Mel Gibson’s cinematic offering may be able to do that.