The life of Jesus on this world had a purpose as in Matthew 8:20 “and Jesus said unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds OF the air [have] nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay [his] head.” From this verse, the life of Jesus was full of suffering.
In all the movies about the sufferings of Jesus, that I have ever watched none of them captured my interest like the passion of Christ did. Unlike all the other movies about the life and the suffering of Christ, this movie makes an unforgettable presentation. The movie to some people is emotional but the best word that can fully describe this movie is ‘intense’, the movie is intense in all aspects from emotion, love to violence.
“Then was JESUS led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Matthew 4:1) this was to be the beginning of suffering of Jesus according to the movie. However, in the movie this takes place in the garden of Gethsemane.
On this scene, Satan appears and as it is in the bible Satan tempts Jesus but he emerges victorious. The only difference of this movie scene and the bible is that the role played by Satan is exaggerated in that Satan’s role is longer than it is usually in the bible.
This part is however important in the movie since it fulfils genesis 3; 15 prophesy that is “and I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”
From the point onward, the description of the movie is intense and dramatic whereby the dialogue is in Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew since these were the popular language spoken at that time.
Although the passion of Christ focus and covers only the last twelve hours of Jesus life, any viewer watching this movie is able to get a complete and a clear picture of the life of Christ through the constant flashback that takes place in the movie.
According to the Christians who have read the gospel, the flash back presents a familiar story about the passion of Christ that is his love for humanity that led him to die for our sins and to die that painful death on the cross.
Most scenes on this movie are emotional and if emotional people watch this movie, they are bound to shed tears. In this movie, Mel Gibson portrays the Romans as sadists, evil and cruel. At the last scenes, the blood characterizes the movie and literally, there is blood everywhere.
This seems to astonish even the cruelest religious leaders, who wanted execution of Jesus without any further delay. Mel Gibson though a Roman Catholic does a wonderful job of combining the gospel into one story through this movie.
In addition, the dialogue in this movie did not deviate much from the context according to the gospel. As one of the most powerful movie of our times, Mel Gibson’s movie passion of Christ provides the answer to the question as to why Jesus had to die on the cross.
The message in this movie corresponds to the love of Jesus that is in Matthew 26:36-28:11. The message in these chapters clearly shows that it is due for his love for humankind that he endured the painful and humiliating death on the cross.
The movie passion of Christ is a good tool of conveying the endless love of Jesus to the modern generation. However, there are major differences that stand out between movie and the bible version of the suffering or the last days of Christ.
At the beginning of the movie, Satan is present at the time Jesus is praying. On the same scene, Satan tempts Jesus by asking him if he believes whether one man can bear the burden that was before him. Satan goes on instructing a snake to bite Jesus but Jesus crushes it using a stone. This is in the movie but nowhere in the bible.
Making of payments using money is evident in this movie but not indicated in the bible. This is the other difference between the movie’s version and the bible’s version of the trial of Jesus.
In the movie, there is a brief scene where money changes hands, which is trying to implicate that people received payment in order to bear false witness against Jesus. This scene may be in reference to what is in the book of Matthew 26 that “the chief priest and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death.”
Also, in the movie but cannot be traced in the bible is the scene where the guards approached the place where Jesus and his disciples were. In this scene Jesus is quoted saying to his apostles that “ I don’t want them to see me this way,” on the same scene as Jesus is led away bound in chains he falls and as he stands he come face to face with Judas his betrayer this is only in the movie but not in the bible.
There is exaggeration of the role of Mary the mother of Jesus in the movie. This is evident from the many incidents that Mary appears to have been present during the torture and trial of Jesus that are contrary to the bible teachings.
One of these scenes is the scene where Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene stand among the soldiers during the trial of Jesus and this is only in the movie but not in the bible.
The differences indicated above stand out in the movie but other minor differences are of great significance in theology. These significances relate to the message that the movie convey to the viewer.
The movie shows clearly the love that Jesus had that led him to die on the cross for the sins of the world better than any other source. The message of the passion of Christ as well as his love for humankind is what the gospel preaches but not many people in today’s world are ready for this message.
Since the time the first church was established and the apostle were taking the gospel to the nations, the response to the gospel has not yielded much fruits. This movie is significant and anyone who watches it without doubt will be able to relate the love of Christ with the scenes in the movie and therefore realize the need of accepting salvation.
The acts of violence are rampant in this movie and this is a major difference between the bible and the movie version of the suffering of Christ. The viewers watching this movie especially for the first time will wonder about the level of violence that existed in those days.
This will create the impression that the society in the time of Jesus was a violent society. In addition, this brings about a division among the Jews and the Romans.
The exaggeration of the role played by Mary the mother of Jesus is also another major difference in the movie that will have an effect to the viewers. The movie borrows a lot from the Roman Catholic teachings, which elevate Mary the mother of Jesus to prominence. This will incline the viewers of the movie to catholic faith instead of getting the message of true salvation.