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Easter Meaning in The Passion of the Christ by Isaiah Flair Mel Gibson has directed a film about the last mortal days of Jesus Christ. The film, The Passion of the Christ, has drawn extreme attacks from Christophobic ‘scholars’ and social lobbyists. Mel Gibson is a devoutly pro-life, principled, good-hearted, brilliant, and visionary Christian. As an actor, and as a filmmaker, he is one of the most extraordinary artists of the last 100 years. His film, Braveheart, is quite possibly the greatest stand-alone warrior epic in film history. The Passion of the Christ, from all credible reports, is an even more powerful rendering of heroism, love, dedication, and faith against all odds. Mel Gibson never claimed to be faultless. In this film, it is Mel’s own hand that drives the nail into the palm of Jesus as the Crucifixion begins. The message of that moment is the message of the movie: everyone’s sins…of that time, of the past before it, and of the future we now travel into…are responsible for the suffering of Jesus. Yet, Mel Gibson is still being scourged and pilloried for having made this cinematic work of art, released to theaters February 25, 2004. Why? Because the beauty and the brutality of the film possess the power to strengthen Christianity in practice by showing the Passion of the Christ, the love of He who sacrificed His life in a very human crucifixion… …that whomsoever believes in Him, where their lives and works on Earth bear witness to the veracity of that belief, will not perish but will have ever-lasting life. This is the Grace of the Messiah. This is the Passion of the Christ. Why is it objectionable to the virulent detractors of the film? The answer is simple:
And the opponents of Christ fear a carpenter who was born in a stable, and lain in a manger, in the little town of Bethlehem around two thousand years ago. Those who oppose Him wantonly need to disempower Him, in image and word where they never could in fact. Thus, heretical films like The Last Temptation of Christ are lauded by leftists for presenting Jesus in a false light, while a beautiful film like The Passion of the Christ is desperately maligned by Marxists for simply giving the truth to a wide audience through the art of cinema. The truth is that eternity has an omniscient Architect, who built a universe of cause and effect, correlating in the sphere of human interactions with the timelessness of life-affirming moral absolutes. Within this deistic framework of existence, the primordial deep-nature of mankind is completely clear: we exist to protect, foster, love, and nurture each God-blessed spark of innocent human life. For we were Created to pro-create. To renew. This is why we cherish those who love us. It is why there will always be those in this world, like Mel Gibson, who will heartily brave the coldness of the Winter with immortal faith in the oncoming warmth of the Spring. It is why we tell the story of The Passion of the Christ: On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. Many felt that not even the donkey’s feet should touch the ground, while bearing the Son of God. So, they lay both their own cloths and many green palms on the ground before Him, in respect and honor. Four days later, on Maundy Thursday, He met with His twelve disciples for what later became known as the Last Supper. The twelve disciples were: Simon Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddaeus, Simon (the Cananean). Oh, and just one more: Judas Iscariot. During the Last Supper, Jesus broke bread, and poured wine, in a foreshadowing of Holy Communion. He asked the disciples to do this, all their lives, in remembrance of Him. Then he said one thing else. He told the disciples that, before much time had passed, one of them would betray Him. Of course, they all responded indignantly, and protested that such a thing could even be said. But one amongst their number, one member of the Nazarene’s most trusted inner circle, knew that the accusation was true, and who exactly it was directed at. For Judas had already made his decision, to sell out his Master, to sell the very mortal life of the Son of God to those who opposed Him. And so Judas left the Last Supper to fulfill his destiny. In the words of Matthew 26:14-15: “Then one of the 12, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, 'What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?' And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver.” While Judas made his fateful meeting, Jesus gathered the other disciples, only 11 now, and made His way to the Mount of Olives. Jesus said to Peter, “Before the sun next rises, you will deny even knowing Me. You will make this denial three times.” Of course, Peter protested, and the other disciples concurred that Peter was unerringly faithful, even perhaps the best amongst them. Together, Jesus and the disciples moved on to Gethsemane, and they stood on the hill there, waiting. Judas came walking up the hill. With him were priests and hired soldiers, armed with swords and clubs. A moment passed, as Judas looked at Jesus, whom he had called Master, and had sworn to follow forever. An ill wind blew across the hill, and Judas walked up to Jesus, and kissed him on the cheek. This was the signal for the priests to roughly grab Jesus, and bind him. And they did, in overwhelming numbers. Jesus was taken into town, to Caiaphus. Caiaphus asked Jesus a question: “Do you contend that you are the Son of God?” Jesus affirmed His identity. Caiaphus and the other priests charged Jesus with blasphemy, and declared that he should be put to death. Meanwhile, Peter stood outside. Three passersby walked up to him, one at a time, and each asked him: “Are you the Peter who followed Jesus?” Peter was afraid, and denied it. When he denied it for the third time, morning came. Caiaphus and the other priests brought Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea. Pilate asked the same question that Caiaphus had. He got the same answer. And Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion. And so three crosses were raised, and three men were crucified, Jesus in the center. His captors placed upon Him a crown of thorns. They covered Him with a scarlet robe, and above Him on the cross nailed a sign that said, “The King of the Jews”. Jesus died on the cross that very evening, with His mother Mary weeping before His feet. Because of this, the cross became the symbol of Christianity. This, the voluntary, willful sacrifice of the Son of God, is the Passion of the Christ. Jesus was taken from the cross by friends, covered by a clean white shroud, and laid to rest in a stone tomb. In front of the tomb was a placed a stone of great size, bigger than six men. It took twice that many to roll it in front of the entrance to the tomb, but they did, and considered it sealed for once and for all. Yet, in three days time by the old calendar, they came back. To their surprise, they beheld that the stone had been rolled away, and the tomb was empty. And then just one thing else happened. One thing else, where Christianity began, and hope was brought to all the world. In the words of John Chapter 20, verses 18-21: “Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things unto her. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled in fear, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you”. “And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.” “Then said Jesus to them again: Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” And that, in the words of the Messiah, is the Christian meaning of Easter. Isaiah Flair |
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