Jesus: The Passion of the Christ

Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" has afforded one of the most controversial, one might say anti-Semitic, depictions of the Israeli leadership of Jesus' nation and age. But this may come, simply, from the overwhelming focus of the film upon the dying savior, rather than Jesus the teacher as depicted, for example, in the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew who gives "The Sermon on the Mount" to his followers. The Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew, often called the 'most Jewish Jesus' because of the birth and genealogy narrative that begins the gospel, stressing Jesus' ties to the royal Jewish house of David, and not the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Luke, makes the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew stand in particular contrast to the Jesus of "The Passion of the Christ."

Yet the Jesus of Mel Gibson's film is profoundly different than the Jesus of all of the gospels, and is not drawn from any specific gospel narrative -- instead Gibson creates his own gospel of image alone, simply by eliminating so much of Jesus' teaching. Jesus emerges as a dying sacrificial lamb, put upon by various sides in a tribal conflict of Romans vs. Jewish leaders, rather than a teacher of a profound ideology that changed the world. The martyring of Jesus is a significant part of his legacy, true, but it is not the only aspect of Jesus' legacy of significance that is highlighted in the gospel narratives. The bloody nature of the death of Jesus also shifts the emphasis from Jesus' mind to Jesus' body. Even in the gospels, although the suffering of Jesus is highlighted when the passion is discussed, the bloody and horrific nature is less at the forefront, than the Roman soldier's cruelty and taunting of Jesus as king of the Jews, unlike in the film, where the torture of Christ, rather than his worldly humiliation commands the viewer's visual attention. This may be an unfortunate aspect of any film that focuses on the passion of Jesus alone, because film is a visual rather than a verbal medium, and any depiction of great suffering will engage the viewer's eye more than the viewer's mind

Works Cited

The Passion of the Christ." Directed by Mel Gibson. 2004.