Last night, John and I decided to recognize Easter and the Passover by making a Jewish-ish meal (Matzo Ball Soup, Potato Pancake things and of course Matzo bread) and watching The Passion of the Christ. I've never seen it. I remember avoiding seeing it in China because I wanted to see a good version (and when movies came out on DVD in China, roughly the same time if not earlier than their theatre release date in the United States, they were often crappy copies that were either a. filmed in theatre b. copies of preview films or c. copies of copies of copies of filmed in theatre preview films...i.e. not good...) and then when a good version came out I avoided it further. Then I moved to the states and continued to avoid it even when my aunt gave my family a copy. I think it's still sitting on the top of our TV stand wrapped in its original plastic. Something kept me from seeing it. I was afraid. Afraid it would be too hard to watch...or worse...afraid I would watch it and feel nothing at all. The story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the most important thing in my life. I'll say that again: The story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the most important thing in my life. It defines who I am, where I've come from and where I am going. My life is meaningless without Jesus...and I know a lot of people probably don't want to hear that or are embarrassed to even read that but it's the truth for me and nothing is more important than the truth. Jesus taught me that. So...as you can imagine, this movie was a big deal for me. John had suggested we watch it a few weeks ago and so after getting it from netflix, we decided to save it for this weekend for Easter. We watched it.
I was definitely not as emotional as I thought I might be...but I realized years growing up watching the Jesus Film probably prepared me more for this movie than I originally would have realized. But I did get emotional and had an overall sick feeling throughout the movie. It had an impact and was well done and I tip my hat to Mel Gibson for keeping it in Aramaic and not doing English. It gave it something extra. The gore was not more than I expected, nor was it more than there probably was when Jesus was actually crucified. Most importantly, I felt like I learned a little more about who Jesus was and my impressions of certain things He said sank in deeper while watching it; things I hadn't understood before made sense.
I won't say I liked the movie. I don't think many people would say they liked it or enjoyed it. It's not an easy thing to watch but it is powerful, necessary, and overdue...especially for me. It brought a lot of things into perspective, humbled me, and I hope this Easter marks a new change in my life. I hope it marks the same for you.
He is Risen.
Photo: Jim Caviezel Passion of the Christ found via The Guardian
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