Don Friesen
It's nice to see Jesus back in the public eye! The Gospel according to Mel Gibson has put Jesus back into Lent, and like Jesus' own journey to Jerusalem, The Gibson Gospel is fraught with conflict. Some have left theatres profoundly moved. Some have left theatres complaining that instead of handing out tissues, the film distributors should have handed out vomit bags.
I have not seen the film, though I received a DVD containing a number of promotional items, including extensive cuts — enough to convince me that the movie is just as violent as Gibson's Lethal Weapons 1, 2, 3 and 4, though not nearly as funny!
The Globe and Mail complained about the marketing accompanying Gibson's movie (Michael Valpy, "Behold the Marketing of the Christ," February 24, 2004), but get real! When has business ever passed up an opportunity to exploit anything in the public eye? Sure, the pewter crucifixion-nail pendants on attractive leather thongs are a bit much, and the crucifixion coffee mugs, bracelets, and key rings are tasteless, as are the Passion of the Christ lapel pins and licence plates and the Cross-of-Jesus playing cards — but — as any shameless huckster would tell you, any publicity is good publicity!
Gibson's movie has put Jesus on the lips of many people. When was the last time you heard Jay Leno talk about Jesus? Ebert and Roeper gave it a very positive review. The movie has excited many Christian groups who suddenly find themselves at the centre of public discourse instead of on the margins. The movie has created so much public interest that the International Bible Society has printed 175,000 copies of a special edition of the New Testament, with scenes from the movie. I could do without the pictures, but perhaps it's an improvement over those old Bibles with pictures of a blond, blue-eyed Jesus!
Jesus' Journey Led Through Suffering
The Gospel-according-to-Gibson contains a lot of blood and gore. Said one sympathetic movie-goer, "The brutality, humiliation, and gore is almost inconceivable...." Whether you want to subject yourself to that is your choice, but the brutality of Christ's crucifixion should hardly be news to those of us familiar with the biblical story of the Passion of Christ. The New Testament Gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified, and crucifixion is a violent and bloody means of execution. Jesus was one of thousands of people crucified by the Roman Empire, and Roman crucifixion was intended to be as brutal and painful as possible. Many victims actually died during the beating that preceded the crucifixion. And around the time of Jesus the Romans added a little ledge to the cross on which the buttocks could be rested, the purpose of which was to prolong the agony!
One can argue whether the violence in Gibson's movie is a glorification of violence or whether it makes the experience more realistic, but there is no doubt that Gibson's portrayal is shocking to those accustomed to a more sanitized crucifixion. This movie invades our religious comfort zone, and that can't be all bad.
Decades ago H. Richard Neibuhr summarized the creed of an easygoing (North) American Christianity this way: "A God without wrath brought (us) without sin into a kingdom without judgment though the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." (Cited by Kenneth L. Wooward, "Do You Recognize This Jesus?" The New York Times, February 25, 2004) It seems that Western Christians are desperate to know they are loved. I want to be loved, in the words of the old Protestant hymn, "just as I am" — no changes, please. But the love of God, as Dorothy Day put it, "is a harsh and dangerous love" that requires real transformation!
Our own Anabaptist tradition fought against a comfortable, cross-less Christianity by emphasizing a bitter Christ instead of the "sweet Jesus" of pietistic devotion. The cross, for Anabaptists, was the symbol of their own ostracism and persecution. Likewise the Lord's Supper was a symbol of radical obedience. Whereas the pietists talked of their "sweet Saviour," the Anabaptists preferred to speak of the "bitter Christ," and of the daily struggle of radical Christian discipleship. (Artur Mettler, "The Spirit of Prophecy: The Role of the People of God," The Plough: The Quarterly of the Bruderhof Communities, Volume II, No.2, Summer, 1954)
So I commend Mel Gibson for presenting a suffering Christ, and for restoring some of the Gospels' harsher edges. The Passion of Christ is not a pleasant story, even as told in the Gospels. An article in The New York Times stated, "Were we ...Bible readers, not just Bible owners, I don't think a film like Mr. Gibson's would cause much fuss. (Woodward, "Do You Recognize This Jesus?") Some see the movie as an offensive expression of the cruelty of humanity, if not the cruelty of God, but perhaps this more realistic cinematic version of Jesus' Passion will help drive home the scandal of the cross.
Jesus' Journey Led through Temptations
As a congregation of those who follow Jesus' Scriptural journey to the Cross, I invite you start this devotional journey where it actually begins — not with the Passion, but with the temptations of Jesus. The story of the temptations is also not a pleasant story. We already heard the story, so I won't bother repeating it. The first temptation was an economic one. Wave your magic wand and cure hunger. If you don't, you'll have to rely on people's compassion to feed the hungry, and compassion requires a responsive heart, and if not a responsive heart, then persuasion. And before that, you have to bake the bread — you have to grind wheat into flour; make dough; knead it; wait for it to rise; pound it down again and wait for it to rise again! You have know people who are hungry, and you have to find a way of distributing it fairly, and so on. (indebted to Don Hoffman)
It wasn't that feeding people wasn't of interest to Jesus. On occasion Jesus fed great crowds of people (Luke 9), and he pronounced a blessing upon those who feed the hungry and give a cup of water to those who are thirsty. (Matthew 25) It wasn't that the economic version of God's kingdom was of dis-interest to him, but his reply to this temptation points to a deeper need. Just as the famished Bedouin who, finding treasure in the desert, cried, "Alas, it is only diamonds," so we, in moments when we see clearly our own spiritual poverty, cry, while in the pangs of this deeper hunger, "Alas, it is only bread." The tale of the Grand Inquisitor, Dostoevsky's dark satire on a church that yielded to this temptation, reveals the spiritual bankruptcy of this messianic path.
Well, how about the second temptation? Become World Ruler in less than a minute! There were many hill-tops in the Judaean desert that offered immense views of the Jordan valley and the mountains beyond, beyond which lay the Near-Eastern kingdoms of the world. With a view such as that, and with the Old Testament promise that one day all nations will honour Israel and worship Israel's God, why would Jesus treat this temptation so disdainfully?
Jesus' reply to this temptation indicates that if world dominion is to be, it is not to be established on the crumbly foundation of a divided loyalty, for to give in to this shortcut to glory would necessitate a slight change in whom you worship. God will draw all people to Himself, with or without political assistance. It may take longer, for winning people's hearts though love and grace necessitates waiting for their response, and some of us are stubborn, but this is the path Jesus took.
Well then, how about the third temptation? How about going from a religious nobody to a world-famous leader of faith in one easy, hundred-foot, Evel Knievel-type jump off the pinnacle of the temple? The royalties from the Evel Knievel-type memorabilia and merchandise alone could set up a nice pension for Jesus' disciples! What's wrong with a few sensational photo-ops?
The devil knew his Bible. He quoted Psalm 91 — a temple psalm that promised immunity from danger. If Jesus jumped, his leap of faith could simultaneously prove both his own trust and God's saving power! It might be just the thing to startle a shallow generation out of indifference into amazed belief! And at a fraction of the cost of a block-buster movie!
Instead Jesus did it the slow, patient, and loving way: walking all over Palestine, slowly gathering followers — some of them not too bright — slowly teaching them about a kingdom that does not depend on the persuasion of money, power, or entertainment! A kingdom that does not depend on signs and wonders and fireworks! A kingdom that does not rely on gimmickry. A kingdom reliant upon God, and built with relationships infused with the love of God.
The Temptation to Accept a Partial Gospel
One could go on at some length about the nuances of Jesus' temptations, but basically they reveal three types of kingdoms that Jesus refused. There were elements to all three temptations that were attractive to Jesus; I think he was genuinely tempted to rule the economic, political and religious realms of this world, but he turned them down. That wasn't his mission. That wasn't his purpose. Jesus revealed great constancy of purpose by not allowing any of these temptations to draw him away from his mission.
One could also go on at some length about the various temptations that face us, but let me just identify two general temptations that face us as we begin our Lenten journey to Jesus. One of the temptations Christians face is the temptation of a partial gospel. Many people have criticized Mel Gibson, saying that his movie is about only one part of the Gospel story. It is limited to a very thin slice of Jesus' life, namely the last twelve hours of Jesus' life. While that isn't really a fair criticism — the movie is called The Passion of Christ — our culture is increasingly biblically illiterate, and many who see the movie may inevitably feel that Christianity is about a guy who gets beaten and who bleeds for twelve hours! Some critics have expressed it even more harshly — "Holding this up as somehow emblematic of something central to our belief — this preoccupation with ...blood sacrifice — is just absolutely primitive." (A priest cited by Michael Valpy, "Behold the Marketing of the Christ," Globe and Mail, February 24, 2004)
If a crowned Christ without a cross does not represent the full gospel, then a view of Christ that stresses only violence and suffering is also not the full story. The Passion of Jesus should not be lifted out of the context of his life and ministry. Jesus' atonement separated from Jesus' teaching is a rip-off. If only Jesus' suffering is important, then why would all four gospels bother telling the rest of the Jesus story?
I think Jesus' own temptations can be seen as a temptation to embody a partial gospel. The kingdom of God as Jesus preached and lived it certainly has economic implications. It certainly has political implications. And it is not without its ability to make a dramatic impact. According to the Book of Acts, it is a gospel that amazes! (Acts 2:7; 2:12; 3:10; 3:11; 4:13; 8:13; 9:21; 10:45; 12:16; 13:12; 13:41) But the gospel message of the Gospels is more than any one of these partial gospels — it is a whole gospel for the whole person!
The Journey to Jesus Is a Personal One
The second general temptation we face on our Lenten journey to Jesus is the temptation to dodge the personal aspects of this journey. Luke tells us that Jesus was led into the wilderness — there to be tempted — by the Spirit (Luke 4:1) None of us are eager to spend time in a wilderness, particularly a spiritual wilderness. The temptation is to get out of the wilderness as fast as possible. The temptation is to take the path of least resistance.
The problem of evil is a vexing one, and it is not solved by identifying some of us as evil and others not so. Alexander Solzenitzen wrote, "Wouldn't it be wonderful, to take all the evil people and put them over there, then we wouldn't have to deal with them. And all of us good people would stay right here." One of the most sinister temptations is to personify evil in someone else. Capturing Saddam Hussein did not put an end to evil. Finding Osama bin Laden and eliminating him will not put an end to evil; it won't even put an end to terrorism! Evil is much more complicated than that, and so is terrorism, for that matter. The problem, Solzenitzen said, is that the line separating good and evil cuts right through the human heart.
A London newspaper once sought the help of its subscribers in addressing the problem of evil, inviting readers to send in their responses to the question, "What is wrong with the world today?" One response, particularly brief, read, "I am." It was sent in by G.K. Chesterton, who came to the same conclusion as Solzenitzen. What is wrong with the world today? I am.
There is a temptation to deny our dark side, but the journey to Jesus includes some serious reflection about those things that might compromise us. Each one of us faces crisis questions at some stage in our life journey. At some point or another each one of us struggles with a question of compromise. We wrestle with moral and ethical dilemmas. Perhaps our job requires us to do something unethical. Perhaps our honesty would show up the dishonesty of co-workers, and we are tempted to remain silent in order to keep the peace.
Our journey through life may lead through what one of our hymn-writers calls a "dark maze" ("My Faith Looks up to Thee," Hymnal, A Worship Book, #565), but we have the assurance that Jesus walks it with us. The journey to the Passion of Jesus is a personal one, but we travel it with Jesus as our companion.
All quotations of Scripture, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version.