These wounds are Christ’s Passion

Perhaps there need be anything more to add to the reviews being published in local dailies and magazines about the blockbuster movie, The Passion of the Christ. A story which has been told and retold from generation to generation should by this time be stale narrative. But hardly. A lot of Hollywood producers didn’t believe the film was commercially viable for they doubted that it would hit box-office. So producer, Mel Gibson, financed its production at a cost of US $20-million. Now it has made some US $400-million and more rewards are still foreseen. But Mel Gibson is not so much after those millions as sharing his own reflections of the intense suffering Christ endured for our salvation. He must have had that faith in his artistic vision. A devoutly religious artist with a sterling faith in the original creed of the Catholic faith, he felt committed to awakening in the hearts of people, especially the lukewarm and smug Christians who take Christ for granted, sentiments of faith, hope and love, if they are made to experience a realistic re-enactment of the sufferings of Jesus.

The Passion of the Christ is no ordinary movie. It is a result of deep contemplation of Jesus, offering the ultimate sacrifice for humankind. It is the immortal drama of passionate suffering of Jesus, proof of infinite loving without measure, a dying which even now gives us life, the reason why Jesus came to us – that we may have life more abundantly. For the role of Jesus, Gibson chose the right man in Jim Caviezel. He happens to share the same initial J.C. with Jesus and is 33 years old, the age of Jesus when He was crucified and died on the Cross. Mel Gibson started talking about the Gospels to Caviezel. "I wasn’t prepared for the brutality that was done on my body," Caviezel confessed. "The scourging, the carrying of the Cross, I didn’t know how I did it. It forced me to go to a place where I had to pray at the deepest level. I asked God for help. It would have been impossible to endure all of these – physical exhaustion and hardly any sleep, being on a Cross that was on the edge of a cliff a thousand feet above and extremely cold knots of wind going through me." Caviezel’s performance which was crucial to the film’s success was ignored by critics who thought the film controversial. They thought the message was anti-Semitic and violent. Yet the film could not have succeeded that well if Caviezel’s performance was less convincing. As one writer commented, Caviezel was a "compelling Jesus" . Caviezel said, "The point of the film was the true brutality of human beings. You were talking about me getting into Jesus’ shoes?" Caviezel’s eyes were expressively quiet and steady as he continued, "I’ll never be the same person after doing this film. Now I know more than I’ve ever known. I felt a connection while I was doing the part. I felt personally responsible trying to continue being a better man."

Why does the Church begin the commemoration of the last painful hours in Jesus life with shouts of "Hosanna" accompanying his entrance to Jerusalem? The same people who waved their palms in triumph would be the same people who would rally to demand His death shouting in derision, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him". Was there foreseen a mysterious triumph in the Cross of Christ? The Cross can put us in a spiritual crisis. It is at such a time when we need to re-examine our own faith and to meditate upon the nature of suffering, pain, forgiveness and redemption. The Passion of the Christ is so drenched with blood, gore and non-stop violence. While we contemplate the Passion, parents are advised not to let children watch so much physical violence. They would not understand and they can get the wrong signals. There indeed was the greatness of the sacrifice, as well as the horror of it. Children are not yet capable of understanding how these can merge. But for us who have gone through life with all its joy as well as sorrow, we must be able to see the abiding sense of the love of God in the tragic passion and death of Christ. We have to pray for light which would make us understand that ultimately this Passion is a story of faith, hope and love.

The greatest experience is to undergo the Passion. We attain to spiritual heights when by the strength of God we find the courage to endure pain; to be able to embody in our lives in the highest degree possible both the humanity and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In this supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, we should be able to lose ourselves. We can do so only when we are able to transcend suffering and pain which give us the opportunity to live all over again the Passion of the Christ. He would like to live. His life all over again in us. The wounds which we suffer become Christ’s Passion for the Redemption of the world.

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Luke 23:1-49.