FUELLED INITIALLY BY the sales of tickets to Roman Catholic and evangelical groups, The Passion of the Christ is now attracting a much broader audience. "It's [now] a large cross-section of America," said Rob Swartz of Newmarket Films, distributor of the film, in mid-March. "It's not just church groups going at this point." The motion picture is now expected to continue in many theaters until Easter, April 11.
In the first three weeks, The Passion grossed $264 million in the U.S. prior to opening in theaters throughout Europe. Mel Gibson directed and produced his movie for $30 million. Episcopalians weighed in with their opinions after seeing The Passion. Here are some of their reactions:
"A film about the crucifixion these days should find some way to portray the Temple authorities, not primarily in their Jewishness, but in their entrenched self-interest. In such a portrayal, a modern audience might find a way towards empathy and so into an awareness of personal responsibility. Similarly, the Roman soldiers shown as sadists are merely repulsive; we do not see ourselves as being like them at all. Yet as people who are simply doing their jobs, perhaps even with disinterest, then they might hook us. We might identify with them as we go about our lives doing rather little to ease the world's pain."
-- Bishop Martin G. Townsend, assistant bishop in the Diocese of Newark.
"[The] movie illuminates a medieval, not biblical, interpretation that it is the blood of Christ that saves humankind. Not Jesus' life, not his healings or his wisdom, not his teaching or his compassion, not his passion for justice, but rather his death on the cross is what saves humankind; and moreover, his death on the cross as willed by his Father God, who requires him to suffer this excruciating death as payment for the sins of the world. … Mr. Gibson has been clear, not only in the film, but in interviews, that this particular understanding of Christianity is what saved him. And who am I to doubt a brother's salvation story?"
-- The Rev. Carter Heyward, professor of theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., and a resident of Brevard, N.C.
"I was struck by the fact that Jesus knew what lay ahead and yet he continued to allow himself to be led toward his destiny. The realization that I came to was that I also needed to allow myself to be led to wherever our Creator wants me to go."
-- Bob Klein, unemployed executive from Church of the Messiah, Gwynedd, Pa.
"Gibson's focus on the violence done and the pain and suffering endured – the gory detail is not found in the accounts of the gospel writers – suggests that, for God to be 'satisfied,' Jesus had to suffer enough. More pain, more gain. Neither suffering nor a God who is exacts it is the point of God's Good News. Love is."
-- The Rev. Bill Lewellis, communications minister in the Diocese of Bethlehem.
"Over the years, Jesus has become to many of us a sissy, goody-goody OK guy. All of a sudden, it reminded me and it became a reality that the Lamb of God was sacrificed on the cross for my sins. It was a powerful message but difficult to digest. It reminded me of the suffering of Christ, and the suffering goes around us every day. On the cross of Christ, the naked face of ultimate aggression, violence, hatred, jealousy, injustice, greed and evil forces is exposed. These are evil forces which crush our common humanity today in Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Kashmir. Christ even today suffers with the people dying all over the world because of starvation, oppression, illness, despair, violence and war."
-- The Rev. Canon Patrick P. Augustine, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in La Crosse, Wis.
"The movie has this over-the-top kind of warrior image of Christ. When Jesus stomps on the snake in the Garden of Gethsemane, I turned to my friend, and I said, 'Well you can tell it's not the Prince of Peace.' And my Jesus is the Prince of Peace."
-- Michele Morgan of Minneapolis, master of divinity student at General Theological Seminary.
"The way the film has value is where it addresses church leadership. First, it addresses leadership in general … in the way that Caiphas is portrayed. Pretty much whatever Caiphas wants is what the people do. There is something of real value that our church can learn about leadership and effective leadership -- that leaders set a tone that people respond to. … Effective leaders are very important, especially at a time when there is a real diverse opinion about the direction in which the church should move and what the gospel message says to all of us.
-- Kevin Goodman of Louisiana, former television producer, master of divinity student at General Theological Seminary.
"Were we a nation of Bible readers, not just Bible owners, I don't think a film like Mr. Gibson's would cause much fuss. While I do not think The Passion of the Christ is anti-Semitic, I do think it presents Christians with a 'teaching moment.' But the lessons have more to do with forgotten Christian basics than with who killed Jesus."
-- Kenneth L. Woodward, contributing editor at Newsweek.
