Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Sunday 21st March 2004

Preached by Rev Paul Hewitt


I have no doubt that in hundreds of churches throughout this land on this Sunday morning, there will be hundreds of sermons about the same topic.

Last Monday I, along with a motley crew of churchmen and women, saw Mel Gibson’s film ‘The Passion of the Christ’. Having viewed it, you might understand that it would be almost impossible not to talk about it.

I’m sure you have read many articles in our newspapers since that viewing. Brian, being our Church of Ireland Press Officer has armed me with a number of reviews and comments. And even individuals have given me cutouts.

It’s quite hard to know where to begin.
I think most of what Alf McCreary has to say in the Belfast Telegraph pretty well sums up my feelings, and I’m sure you have read something of his opinion.

As a film maker, Mel Gibson has done a superb job. And although there are scenes in it which appear strange and unbiblical, it is, nevertheless true to the Passion narratives in all four gospels, purposefully weaving all four gospels into the one depiction. There are scenes which, however, you feel, are there just to embellish the gore and the awfulness of it all

I think it is the most gruesome and graphic display of human brutality that I’ve ever seen on screen. As the scenes of the scourging were taking place, you just wanted them to stop. And you’re tempted to use the word ‘gratuitous’, but I don’t think it’s the right word. It’s unbearable to watch it. If you have ever tried to imagine the pain and the suffering of the Passion, then it’s right in front of you, and you don’t have to ‘imagine’ it anymore. This is, after all, our Lord. Someone we love and know which makes it all the more personal.

I don’t doubt its reality. As the Pope said after a private viewing, I’ve been told, ‘It is as it was’. And there are some who see this as an opportunity for evangelism, out-reach and everything else. Which makes me want to ask, what was Mel Gibson’s motivation in making this film? I don’t think he saw it that way. Billy Graham said, ‘It is worth a thousand sermons’ There are churches who are hiring out cinemas to show the film, and indeed we have already been encouraged by the Think Again office to bring our people to see it.

Well, I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to stop anyone seeing the film (I don’t have that right anyway), but, on the other hand, I’m not going to say to you that ‘you have to see it’. It’s your choice. But as a Parish Priest, while watching that film, I wanted to know what I was going to say to my flock, my parish. And I hope this makes sense to you, but this is my conclusion, which I came to just after the viewing;
if you are a believer, you don’t have to see it!

We know that the Passion of Christ was grotesque. That it was vile, and horrible to the very extreme. To know that is perhaps enough. And to those who suggest that this film is a life-changing experience (which indeed it may be for some) it may be so because they have not before taken on board the reality of the Passion.

People are very divided about this film. Some very opposed, and some very much for it. In the past, generally speaking, some (Protestant) denominations tended not to concentrate on the physicality of the Passion. Our crosses, when we have them, are empty crosses. He is not there. He has risen! That is the emphasis. The crucifix features a great deal in the Roman Catholic Church, a cross where Christ still hangs, and a Church which perhaps more than any other, has come to terms with the sheer humanity of Christ. That although he was fully God, he was also fully man. You do know that we have a depiction of the crucifixion scene in our stained glass windows, up here on the north side of the Sanctuary. That’s very unusual for a Protestant Church. Perhaps it is that concentration on the physicality of the Passion over the years by some churches that led the religious affairs correspondent for the Irish Times to say about the film, ‘it is fundamentalist Catholic piety run amok’.

Every now and then throughout the film, there are some poignant flash backs to Jesus’ moments as a child, as a carpenter, as a teacher. Tender moments which some how gave relief to what had been on screen moments before. They were profoundly moving, not least the time Mary witnesses Jesus falling with the cross, and she is reminded of a time that Jesus fell (as he must have done) as a small child, and she took him in her arms as any mother would do.

In fact the depiction of many of the characters I thought was wonderful. Like Peter, and his utter shame at his denial of Jesus. Judas, and the torment he went through after realising what he had done, throwing the 30 pieces of silver at the High Priest and hanging himself on a tree. Pilate, and his dilemma at finding no fault with this man. And even Barabbas, disgusting as he was in the film, and as he must have been in real life. And then there was Mary, and indeed Mary Magdalene, who both featured quite prominently and quite correctly. In fact when I saw Mary’s pain in the movie, I thought of those very verses that we had this morning on this Mothering Sunday from Luke 2, ‘And a sword will pierce your own soul too’. Her very soul had been pierced with a sword. And her agony was plain to see.

Not altogether a pleasant topic to be speaking about on a Sunday when we have the Baptism of Charles Christopher, and the distribution of those wonderful posies to all our ladies, but I could hardly avoid it. I know I have rambled, but it’s been difficult to put down in writing just how one feels about it all.

Just two other things to say about the film before I try to start to conclude: The entire dialogue is in Aramaic, which works brilliantly, and the subtitles are not intrusive at all. Also I didn’t find it anti-Semitic. If it was, I don’t believe it was purposeful. It was simply telling the story.

So, where have we got to?

In my various conversations with people since viewing ‘The Passion’, I have heard many interesting comments, not least from our Confirmation Class and also our new Open Home Open Bible. There, I was reminded of when Thomas would not believe unless he put his fingers where the nails had been and his hand into Jesus’ side. When they finally met a week later, Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God”. The doubter actually exclaimed the greatest statement of faith ever spoken. And Jesus replied, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”

If you are a believer anyway, you do not have to see this film. For blessed are you who have not seen, and yet have believed.