Film is like any art.  Art can be a frivolous exercise, unworthy of the attention of faithful Christians at any time but especially during Lent.  Art can also produce icons.   Every year on the First Sunday of Lent, we Orthodox proclaim that the veneration and observance of icons is an integral part of the Christian Faith. Icons are means of contemplation.   The viewing of  icons does not stop in Orthodox Churches during Lent.

Mel Gibson, his writers, cast and crew have created an icon of the Passion, using modern methods and materials. It is a legitimate a representation as icons made with acrylic paints.    I recommend it be viewed and considered.

Instead of a normal review, I will share my reaction while contemplating this particular icon.

God the Son was born to lift up each one of us; to heal us; to ransom us by paying the price for our failings; restore us by uniting His Divinity to our suffering and death.   His is the Glory.  His Love and Charity are boundless.

This icon lets us see the Passion through the eyes of those involved and consider our own lives.
What is my part in this?
I am a Disciple asleep in the Garden when I fail to help others because I would rather indulge my own sense of comfort.
I am a soldier of the Sanhedrin that arrested Jesus when I follow authority rather than use my discretion.
I am Caiaphas when I fail to act according to my faith while I am with non-believers because I do not want any trouble.
I am an elder who ineffectually protests against then mockery of a trial when I allow any injustice to grow to a point that mere protest is insufficient to stop it.
I am Peter when forget that my life is eternal and I allow fear for my life to influence my actions.
I am Pilate when  I fear secular authority, and thereby fail to acknowledge God's sovereignty alone..
I am Barabbas when I rejoice that I have escaped the just consequences of my actions.
I am Herod when I ask for Divine intervention and am disappointed and disheartened in the answer I receive.
I am the Devil mocking the relationship of Mother and Child when I think something tragic is funny (as does most modern humor).

My sins are in every blow Jesus received; in the Thorns; in the spit; the Cross; in the Nails; in the Lance.

I am among the righteous as well.

I am Mary, horrified at what has been done to my child and all children.
I am Mary Magdalene when I morn and confess Jesus Triumphant.
I am Pilate's wife providing cloth to take up Jesus blood, concerned for  the needs of others.
(Jewish tradition requires that any blood spilled be buried with person so that they be buried whole.  A cloth with  Jesus's Holy Blood, venerated in Constantinople, is now in Belgium.)
I am Simon of Cyrene, outraged at injustice.
I am John who remembers for those that were not there.

Yet Jesus even died for them.  They are human, bound in the cares of this world.  I, a sinner, am still responsible. The Innocent Son of God bore the Cross for me.   His Blood is upon me and my children.   I am am the reason Jesus accepted death.

God the Son, through Whom all things were made, took on our humanity. He was broken and killed, so we might know the hand of our Creator and be healed like Malchus whose severed ear was restored.   He took on our suffering  so suffering  would not remain not the burden of one human or one people alone.

By His Blood my sins are washed away.  Despite our sins, He calls us His friends.  He is willing to die for us and rise again so that we may be lifted up and arise renewed with Him.

His suffering and death were not for nation,  tribe, or economic ideology,  but for the regeneration of all humanity.  That is the gift of Christ's Passion.  Why do some consider Christ's suffering less worthy to depict than that of others?   It is because He is not about worldly authority or esteem but His Father's business which continues because of His love for us.

Some Orthodox Christians claim that they are less emotional about the Passion than the expression found in this film.  I do not feel that is an honest claim since I have seen congregations that pour tears or pour out of the church when the Passion Gospels are read.  It may be that those make claims that disagree with such evidence of emotion prefer a more idealized Passion: an erroneous view where Christ's humanity is either illusory,  incomplete or lost in His Divinity.   Conversely, this is not the depiction of the death of a mere man: A mere man does not lay down his life for a good man; Yet the Son of God laid down His life for us while were are still in our sins.  He also took it up again that we might rise with Him in the Age to Come.

The opportunity to contemplate in graphic reality what Christ suffered to accomplish complete union with us to heal and redeem us is a gift.  I feel I now have a better appreciation of the Eucharist.  I have always understood the meaning of "This IS my Body; This IS my Blood" as the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist.   Sadly, the sanitized versions of the Crucifixion of modern iconography did not provide me with anything more than a distant idealized view image of the Crucifixion.  That now has been corrected.   I am thankful.

+Maelruain, Cele De