The Passion of the Christ
by Christopher T. Brons
| I just cannot sit back any longer listening to
people discuss how The Passion of the Christ is going to stir
anti-Semitic feelings. The true problem of this movie has nothing to do with
anti-Semitism. In fact, you can simply look at other movies that have been
brought up by Mel Gibson himself to prove that point. That point has been
made so there is no need to bring it up any longer. The true problem with this movie can be summed up in one word: Jesus. Jesus scares people. There are people that do not want Jesus in anything. I think the question we need to be asking ourselves is why do people want Jesus out of the picture? Why is it that any other "character" in the world can be presented before us, but Jesus cannot? If this movie were simply telling about the birth of Jesus then you would be hearing something else for these people to complain about. It has nothing to do with any excuse that is out there--it simply has to do with the fact that it is Jesus. Remember The Last Temptation of Christ? Even that movie put Jesus in a negative light, but it still caused problems because Jesus was being spoken of. Bottom line is that as long as people are talking about Jesus then people will be asking questions about Jesus. Asking questions about Jesus will bring people to seeking Jesus. Seeking Jesus will cause people to find Jesus. That is the fear of the world. There is a fear of Jesus on both sides of the issue. One side fears Jesus being out there because if He is out there then people will actually begin to take responsibility for their actions instead of blaming anything else around them. The other side fears speaking up for Jesus because they are more concerned about what others may think of them than actually standing up for Someone. Breaking down these two issues shows that our own pride creates our fear of Jesus either being out there or speaking up for Him. I believe that is what the true controversy around this movie is all about. If Jesus is put before us then we have to take a look at ourselves and see something that we do not want to see. There is no other “character” in history that forces us to do this. That in itself should tell us that there is something more to this than what is being put before us. |