Casa Jonsson

Here’s a musical offering for the season of Lent:  my rendition of “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from Gluck’s 1762 opera, Orfeo ed Euridice. It was recorded in an Ash Wednesday service, on the same day Mel Gibson’s Lent-themed movie opened. Kindly try to ignore the fact that I’m about an eighth of a tone flat through most of it.

I waited till last Monday to go see the film. (When I went this summer to see The Matrix Reloaded, it was with a group of friends among an opening-night crowd of expectant Wachowski fans. For an experience such as I expected from The Passion of the Christ, I opted to go alone to a deserted suburban theater where I wouldn’t have to talk to anybody afterward.) All in all, I have a very positive opinion of Gibson’s work here. It portrays Jesus as he was and is: theanthropos, the God-man.

At least one critic has suggested that the violence is indicative of psychological problems in the director. The subtext of such remarks is doubt as to the value per se of contemplating and reminding the world of this gory event. But as I pointed out earlier, every other question is peripheral to the purpose for Christ’s death. Students of the Bible will see that a bloody trail leads through the Old Testament and culminates in the New at the cross.

Regardless of the fact that the betrayal and crucifixion of the Son of God amounted to the most heinous sin in human history, the question of whether Rome or Israel is to blame misses the point. Octavius Winslow sums it up nicely: “Who crucified Christ? Not the Jews for jealousy, not Pilate for fear, not Judas for money; but the Father for love.”

Jonathan Barlow has a more interesting analysis than I could have written. Beware, however, if you’re planning to see the film: his remarks are full of spoilers.

Overall, this is just a movie. I didn’t cry, and it didn’t change my life, but it was worthy to be viewed and to be taken seriously. It made better biblical-theological and symbolic connections than probably 90% of the sermons preached in churches across America each Sunday, and in this way, it was educational and edifying. The key danger of the violence is that people will walk away thinking “poor Jesus.” But remember that lots of people have died grisly deaths worse than Jesus’ death. The difference with Jesus, in Christian theology, is that Jesus is sinless and deserves worship as God himself, and yet bore the sins of the world. Momentary earthly sufferings are horrible, but it was Jesus’ righting the cosmic problem wherein the world needed to be reconciled to God, given its rebellion, that is the most important aspect of the crucifixion and death of Jesus.