INTRODUCTION

In the months and weeks leading up to Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2004, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ drew more media attention than any movie in recent years. His film became the catalyst for more media controversy than any other Hollywood film about Christ in recent history. If this film would have been produced by some well-known person from the traditional Christian world, it would have almost gone unnoticed. But the fact that this docu-drama was produced and directed by one of the most famous actors in Hollywood immediately set it apart from a long line of other movies about the life of Christ.

The very fact that Gibson sought to be historically accurate in his graphic portrayal of the horrors of scourging and crucifixion caused him to be attacked and vilified from every perspective. He quickly became a lightning rod for the liberal media moguls, leftist TV anchors, anti-defamation leagues and anti-Christian journalists. By suggesting – no, dogmatically asserting – that the Gospel accounts are accurate history and totally trustworthy, Gibson postured himself in a very politically incorrect position. And to go even further by unambiguously proclaiming that he passionately believes that Jesus was who He claimed to be only increased the gravity of his heresy in their eyes! In Tinsel Town a feeding frenzy started that continued for months.

But for Gibson, this movie was more than just an objective piece of media art. He was very clear about the fact that he was passionately involved spiritually and emotionally in the production of this movie. And he certainly “put his money where his mouth and heart was” by investing some 30 million dollars of his own money in the production costs. So he made no claims about being objective, unbiased or dispassionate in the production of his movie about the last hours of Christ’s earthly ministry.

By his repeated testimony, Gibson had gone through a great crisis in his own life about a dozen years prior to producing this film. Though he had reached the very pinnacle of success from any and every standard in Hollywood by starring in a series of very successful movies, he still went through existential despair. He had lost all meaning, purpose and satisfaction in life. As a result he was on a fast track toward a premature death by a very self-destructive lifestyle. But then he turned back to the Christ that he had known about from his Catholic upbringing. As a result of that time of study and meditation about Christ – especially His passion, Gibson’s life was radically changed. As he has repeatedly said since then: “Christ’s wounds healed my wounds! So I had to tell this story by producing this movie!” From that moment on, he was passionate about ‘The Passion of the Christ!’

I was privileged to go to an early previewing of the movie for clergy and religious leaders in my area before its public release. I found it to be a very graphic and riveting account of the last 12 hours of Christ leading up to His crucifixion. Without a doubt, it was the most accurate and most powerful presentations of the passion of Christ that had been produced to date in Hollywood. This movie rings true for anyone who has been a serious student of the Bible, of the Holy Land, of Roman history, of the Jewish Culture, of the horrific means of capital punishment known as crucifixion! It rightly has an “R” rating – but the “R” is for reality!

Even though The Passion of the Christ was a dramatization drawn from the Four Gospels, there was not a lot of direct Scriptural quotation in the movie. The verbal message was relatively brief because the visual message was so powerful and poignant. When speaking did take place, there was a simple eloquence about it. And the entire script was in the original languages spoken in that day – Hebrew and Aramaic by the Jews, and Latin by the Romans. So the brief translations through subtitles were the only source for the quotation or paraphrase of Scripture.

As already noted, Gibson’s movie had a relatively narrow focus – the last 12 hours of Christ leading up to His crucifixion. The events of this time period have historically been known as the passion of Christ – thus the title of the movie. But this relatively narrow focus can be both a strength and weakness – depending upon the Biblical knowledge a person took into the movie. If they viewed the movie through the context of a broad perspective of the Bible, they would come away with a greater understanding of the passion of Christ. But if they had little or no knowledge about the Bible in general and the life of Christ in particular, they would come away with an incomplete understanding of Christ. They will understand something of the passion of His death but not the passion of His life – either before or after His crucifixion.

But there are other movies like the Jesus Film that are a great compliment to The Passion of the Christ.  That’s because they present a more comprehensive portrayal of Christ from the Gospels. They take you from His birth to His death almost verse-by-verse. But in between those two great events, they also cover His teachings… His miracles… His passion… His resurrection…His Commission… His ascension… His coming through the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

It is my desire then, to do the very same thing through this in-depth study of The Passionate Christ. I want to help you view and evaluate the passion of His entire life within the wider context of the Bible – both Old and New Testaments. And whereas Mel Gibson based his movie almost exclusively on the Four Gospels, I will greatly amplify that perspective through the rest of the New Testament writings – especially the Book of Acts, the Epistles and Hebrews.

Therefore, I want to share with you many of the verses that were being replayed in my mind as I first watched this movie. I hope these Scripture passages and commentary will help you view and reflect upon ‘The Passion of the Christ’  through more holistic Biblical lenses. It is my prayer that these verses and passages will help you have a greater passion for the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, who is revealed in the Inscripturated Word, the Bible.

Mel Gibson’s movie filled the mind and heart of the audience with many visual scenes of Christ’s passion. I want to saturate your mind and heart with the myriads of Biblical passages that a viewer needs to clearly associate this movie with. After prayerfully reading these many passages, I pray that you will never be able to see a cross representing the death of Christ in the same way. From this time on, I hope that every silver, gold or brass cross you see on an altar or communion table – will be blood stained in your spiritual eyes! May the graphic visual scenes of Gibson’s movie, coupled with these many Scriptures (*), cause you to live your life with a new passion for the Lord Jesus because of His great passion for you as demonstrated by the cross!

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(*) Throughout this study I will be using the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible unless otherwise stated. Also, I will be capitalizing all pronouns referring to God or Christ. This is done for two reasons. First of all, it shows respect for the members of the Godhead. And secondly, it helps to distinguish them from other human beings.

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