A lot of people will pass on reading a book and simply wait for the movie version. Watching Lord of the Rings allows people to enter the world of Middle Earth without having to put up with all the detail and history Tolkien placed in that world. Sometimes it’s just easier to watch the movie than read the book.
I don’t think that’s the case with The Passion of the Christ.
I readily admit that I was one of the many people who saw The Passion in theaters. I was moved by the depiction of Jesus’ sacrifice and the brutality that he endured to reconcile humanity and the rest of the world back to God. The Passion is a beautifully directed film with exquisite cinematography, yet I’ve only seen it once.
As far as The Passion of the Christ is concerned, I’d much rather read the book than watch the movie.
Even though I think The Passion is a great, spiritually inspiring film, I don’t have a strong desire to watch it again. It’s violent and bloody and rather unsettling. I know that’s a big part of the film’s power, but it’s not really something to which I’d like to subject myself. If I’m going to watch someone get brutally beaten, I’d much rather find a Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon.
The Passion of the Christ is filled with powerful images but they’re not nearly as powerful as God’s word and the story of humanity’s redemption. When it comes to God’s story, we should always prefer the book over the movie; whether the movie is The Passion of the Christ or Rack, Shack, and Benny.
The Passion of the Christ was an influential movie for a lot of people but it can never replace the influence of God’s word. The Bible is filled with so many great stories and it would be shame to miss out on any of them because we’re waiting for the movie.
That being said, as we approach Holy Week, I may want to watch The Passion of the Christ again to give my own passion for Christ a little jumpstart.
How did you respond to The Passion of the Christ?
I agree that it was a very powerful movie; but I was disappointed that The Resurrection was shown only in passing. This unfortunately unbalanced depiction of The Gospel turns the story into a “downer”. Life can be depressing enough without watching downers, even if they are technically and artistically very good movies that share an important message.
CONGRATULATIONS! Read article on theater Senador Pompeu, Brazil, The Passion of the Christ! And learn about some of our religious culture. Access in:
http://valdecyalves.blogspot.com/2011/04/arte-paixao-tradicao-cultura-e-fe.html
As an ex-Roman Catholic, I’ll say that you have to understand that the movie was mostly made by Catholics, for Catholics. For a Catholic, the suffering of Christ isn’t something that happened once a thousand years ago and is now over. They believe that it happens every single time the priest turns the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. They are also supposed to emulate His passion through penance in order to lessen their purgatory sentence. You don’t hear a lot about salvation/redemption/resurrection in a Catholic church, and they leave his bloody corpse mounted on the wall for everyone to see.
Different traditions do tend to focus on different things. Even rereading this post, my Baptist tradition of focusing on God’s word is squarely at the forefront.