On the 11th March 2005 Mel Gibson’s film ‘The Passion of the Christ’ was released, which is almost exactly three years ago now. We talked a lot about it at the time, and we gave our various thoughts on it. There were many articles on it in the newspapers and we tried to give a fair assessment. The one quote that sticks in my mind from three years ago was from the Irish Times which said that the film was ‘Catholic piety run amok’. That’s not a criticism on the content, for me, it’s just a quote that has stayed with me. During a special viewing of the film before it was officially released, I was trying to find what I would say to you. And my assessment then was, if you’re a believer anyway, you don’t need to see the film. Because, for me, it remains one of the most graphic films I have ever seen. There were brilliant aspects to it; the depiction of certain characters were truly wonderful from Peter to Judas, Mary Magdalene, the revolting character of Barabbas all set against the character of Jesus himself. I don’t mean to go on about this too much, but I’ll not forget that the dialogue was in Aramaic, and so the film was subtitled. I thought it added great authenticity to the film.

So, the appetite for Biblical stories was proven with this enormous box office success. Some time later, Nigel Stafford-Clark of the BBC sensed an opportunity to breathe even ‘newer’ life in to the subject and the BBC conceived a new version of the Passion a year and a half ago. It is to be broadcast in a number of episodes over “Easter Week” the Newspaper said, but perhaps they mean Holy Week because the first episode is next Sunday, 16^th March which is Palm Sunday.

Stafford-Clark claims that earlier versions of the great story were all “very reverential...as if you were looking at it through a plate glass window, as if there was a distance between you and what was going on”. I thought that was very interesting.

For him the key was to create a drama that allows the audience to feel as if they were in the thick of the action, “It’s something that actually happened”, he said.

If you had viewed Mel Gibson’s film with no previous knowledge of the New Testament or any idea of what Christianity was about, then the film was simply a gruesome depiction of a vile execution set in Judea 2000 years ago. In this Times interview I was reading, Stafford-Clark explains that in terms of storytelling it never seemed to make a lot of sense. “Watching all these other versions, I didn’t understand what Palm Sunday was all about, for instance”, he says. Why did certain characters act in the way they did? Caiaphas, Pilate, Peter? None of this was ever explained in Mel Gibson’s film, and so what the BBC wants to do with the story is beginning to intrigue me.

As far as I can see, what they want to do more than anything is to get over the reality of what happened. Stafford-Clarke says near the end of the interview, “It’s not just a story that is told in churches. It really happened.” Isn’t that another interesting comment? (Although it seems to imply that what is told in churches is all fabrication anyway.)

I mention all this today because the fifth Sunday in Lent has been traditionally called Passion Sunday, or, as it is now, ‘Formerly known as Passion Sunday’!

Of course I will reserve judgement on such a venture, but it seems a genuine attempt by the BBC to portray that first Holy Week with a deep sensitivity and a real desire to get across to the viewing audience what really happened during that most incredible of weeks. (By the way the actor, James Nesbitt, plays Pontius Pilate).

I wonder, are we moving away from a time where Christianity and the person of Jesus is no longer a subject of ridicule and scepticism, but the genuine force for good that we all believe it to be. Perhaps that’s a little naïve and we’re jumping the gun a bit, but if this series of programmes gives people a renewed insight in to the extraordinary events of that week, without mocking or condemning it as nonsense, then that could only be a good thing.

The Old Testament lesson was Ezekiel’s depiction of the valley of Dry Bones where the sovereign Lord puts new like in to the valley of dry bones.

We need that. We need an injection of hope. “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live”. As Jesus himself says at the grave of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life”.

Do we really believe that? As we approach Holy Week, it’s a real opportunity to re-assess our take on what really happened on that most incredible of weeks. And with our own Diocesan Bishop, we can travel through ‘The Emotions of a Week’.

Whatever you choose to do during Holy Week, I hope it will be for you a genuine time of spiritual renewal and restoration.