Meditations on the Purpose of the Advent
December 21, 2008
Without going into long details, I recently had the privilege of interacting over e-mail with the editor of a magazine for movie screenwriters. I thought I would share a question he had along with the answer I plan to give. I hope the meditations on the gruesomeness of Christ’s death fill out our experience of the Savior this Advent season.
His question:
Speaking of storytelling - without getting too deep - did you feel all the violence was necessary to tell the story for The Passion of the Christ? Seemed a bit over the top to me…
My response:
You really tossed me a bone with the question about the Passion movie. I don’t know if I can avoid “getting too deep,” but here’s a shot. First, I’ve only seen the movie once, probably for the very reason you’re bringing up-not exactly a “relax at the end of a long day” film. Second, I’m no movie expert, and all that I know about violence in film is that I prefer movies like Hotel Rwanda or Life is Beautiful which can insinuate the violence taking place instead of bludgeoning you with it.
All of that being said, the reason I would argue that The Passion was appropriately gory is because it was, from what I understand, a historically accurate representation of an event that the American church has largely sanitized and domesticated. It is easy for us to read that Pilate “scourged Jesus” (Mark 15:15) and be content with visualizing a few Roman soldiers slapping Jesus around a little. But even at that, one could question why Gibson didn’t go the route that Greengrass did on Hotel Rwanda and mute the violence without compromising the suspense. I think the answer lies in the Biblical quotation Gibson put at the beginning of the film: ”He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; by His wounds we are healed” (an abbreviated version of Isaiah 53:5).
For me as a believer in Christ, the sufferings of Jesus carry a particular interest because I deserve that brutality. My sin merit that treatment. So the violence depicted in the film is unique from all other acts of violence in that it accomplished something for me, namely my own forgiveness of sins. Perhaps the violence could have been toned down a bit, though Gibson claims he still did not reach full historical accuracy, knowing that it would make the movie unbearable. But to mute the brutality too much would be to downplay the seriousness of my own rebellion against God which put Christ in that situation, and ultimately to downplay the justice of God. I’m not saying that God is a sadist in the ranks of a Roman soldier, but he is just, and his wrath on human sin was on display in the sufferings of Christ. This is what makes these sufferings ultimately beautiful and redemptive. They demonstrate-most explicitly-the ugliness of human sin and the depths of the love of God. The Apostle Paul would later capture this by saying, ”God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
===========
Pray with me that God would bring kingdom fruit from this e-mail. As we celebrate Christ’s coming into the world this Advent, let us do it with a view to the purpose of his coming: Jesus’ death and resurrection that defeated sin and began God’s new creation.
Celebrating with you,
Pastor Chris