When the Homily is about Immunology

The Passion

Yes, I finally watched it last night. I have nothing but praise and admiration for Gibson for making this film...truly I thank him for it.

First I was surprised at how little moved I was by the violence...perhaps I had heard so much about it that I expected worse than I saw? Or, more likely, I have seen video and pictures of REAL violence and thus can be more disengaged from violence I know to be fake? (Not sure) I am also still amazed that most evangelicals seem to have embraced this film given that there were so many extra-biblical themes/scenes/lines in it. In my evangelical time and universe I would have had to work hard to get past all of that "traditions of men" stuff. Funny, though, much of those same extra-biblical portions were my favorite parts of the film

E.G.

Jesus falling on the Via Delorosa and Mary rushing to Him - cinematically accompanied by a flashback to when Jesus was a child and had fallen: "Behold Mother...I make all things new." Wow...powerful!

St. Veronica venerating an Icon. YES!

But, (you knew there had to be a "but", right?) it was a decidedly western view of the work of Christ. You see while it seems to me that Mel (and the West?) got so much right - in the film at least - he got two things very wrong: the devil and the devil's timing.

Having Satan tempt Christ to AVOID the cross seems utterly contrary to the Orthodox understanding of the events. What I gather from my feeble patristic readings and from paying as much attention as I am able to during the Holy Week services is that Satan wanted to kill Him, to destroy Him, to hold Him forever in death and hell. And the moment in the film when Satan screams in apparent agony would not actually happen when Jesus dies (lest we see that as a moment of celebration), but rather on Great and Holy Saturday when death, hades, and/or the devil realize that his/their plan wasn't going to work. And so while that scene of Jesus crushing the serpents head was fantastic, it was not in the right place. He should have stepped out of the tomb and there crushed the snakes head.

The difference may appear subtle, but it really isn't. In my simple mind, the distinction tells us more clearly (AYE, MUCH MORE CLEARLY) who/what is the enemy and Who is the Ally. Interesting that while I knew I would wrestle overall with the western emphasis on substitutionary atonement in the film, I did not expect that that wrestling would be completely "personified" in the mischaracterization of Satan.