Today I went and saw Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ. To make the statement that it was quite a film is a horrible understatement, but never-the-less it is true.

As you are probably aware, this movie chronicles the story of Jesus’ last 12 hours of life on Earth. The thing that struck me the most about this film was how much hatred there was for him. There’s been a lot in the press about how people think it is anti-semetic and how it is going to stir up new hatred between Christians and Jews. I don’t understand that. What I saw was not something that I would blame on Jews. To me it was more about corruption and human nature.

The brutality of how Jesus died was unsettling. I don’t know enough about Christian theology to be able to tell how much of Mel Gibson’s film was Hollywood and how much is based on the theology of Christianity and the practices common during Roman times, but if what he portrayed in the film is anything close to the reality it is truly disturbing. He was beaten and tortured and when it seemed like they could do no more to make him suffer, they nail him to cross and leave him to die. I can’t even imagine being in his shoes. I can’t even imagine being in the shoes of one of his family or disciples either and having to watch that. I can’t even imagine humans being that cruel to one another.

There is more I want to say about this movie, but it will have to be in another entry.

–Pete