Who Killed Jesus? We All Did.
By James T. Moore (03/14/07)
I've seen Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" several times. This article, however, is not about the movie, per se, but about some of the passion, pro and con, that the movie has ignited. And there has been plenty.
When it came out, The “Passion” was reviewed in the Tallahassee Democrat by five local spiritual leaders. Each saw the picture in a different light, which is to be expected.
Father Mike Tugwell, of St. Thomas More: “I thought as I walked to my car, this is going to take some time to process.”
The Rev. Candice McKibben of East Hill Baptist Church: “Because it exploits Jesus’ suffering to the near exclusion of his life and teachings, I give the movie an ‘Incomplete.’”
Dr. Joseph Brown, University Ministries International: “As a result of viewing ‘The Passion of the Christ’, some non-Christians may commit their lives to Christ.”
Rabbi W. Jack Romberg, Temple Israel: “I left with the realization that the theological gap between Christians and Jews was more yawning than I had imagined.”
The Rev Jerry Garrard, Celebration Baptist Church: “It’s a visual display of how Mel Gibson sees ‘The Passion of the Christ’. He does what every moviemaker does. He tries to get us to see it as HE sees it. Some will. Some won’t.”
But Kati Schardl, writing in the same paper, said something that I believe comes closer than anyone has in understanding what the “Passion” represents. Kati asks: “Why did Mel Gibson call his film The Passion of THE Christ, instead of simply, The Passion of Christ? Gibson knows the answer. In using THE Christ, he’s being theologically, as well as grammatically correct: the Christ is a title, not a proper name. And that small and seemingly insignificant difference makes ALL the difference. Why? Because it brings Jesus, the man, and ALL mankind together under one umbrella, The Christ, makes us all one in Spirit.
That basically explains what writer/philosopher Ernest Holmes meant when he said: “Christ means the Universal Idea of Sonship, of which each is a member. Each partakes of the Christ nature to the degree that the Christ is revealed through him, and to that degree he becomes the Christ.”
I used to think that kind of talk bordered on blasphemy; now I’m not so sure. We, all of us, as part of one human family, should step out of our skins long enough to stop blaming each other for Jesus’ death. Rather, we should all accept some of the blame and share it. If we did that, who can tell? Animosity, persecution, guilt, and blame might well cease to exist.
What may help us to do that is to realize that Jesus “died” several deaths before he was ever nailed to the cross. And each time he died, a different kind of human animal was to blame. But each denied it.
The Jews were to blame because they condemned Jesus to die, but their response is: Why blame us? We may have condemned him, but it wasn’t us who killed him.
But they’re wrong.
In early Biblical territories, Jews were the predominate culture, or race, if you will. If this were not so, much of what we read about those days would be in error. As Bible students know, the “Holy Land” was populated mostly by Semites. Jews are a Semitic people. Palestinians are also a Semitic people. But we do not blame the death of Jesus on Palestinians, or for that matter, on Greeks, Turks, Africans, or Indians.
The Romans were to blame because they did the actual killing of Jesus, but their response is: We are soldiers. Our orders were to crucify him and we were only following orders. So we’re not responsible for his death
But they’re also wrong
Those legions of Roman soldiers you’ve heard so much about, with their plumed helmets, sculptured armor, sharp spears, battle-axes, and long swords, were anything but passive fun-loving warriors, What’s more, the special Roman guards stationed at the palace, protecting the Roman Governor and his entourage, were the most vicious and cold-blooded of all. Crucifying people must have been an everyday duty for them.
What about the rest of us? We were the CAUSE of his death because he died for our sins, but our response is: Why blame me? I didn’t kill him. Why did Jesus die for my sins? What sins? I haven’t committed any that I know of?
But we too are wrong, and Jesus knew it.
When he said: “Ye who are without sin, cast the first stone,” he was condemning all of humanity, not just the crowd that stood before him. Not just the Jews, the Romans, or the Christians, but every human being on earth, including you and me.
Jesus, I believe, was referring to the “Original Sin”, which, as “spirits” made “flesh”, we are all guilty as charged on the day we are born. How can that be? Because It just is. Why is the Earth round? It just is. The Passion of the Christ, then, is what Gibson wanted us to see: the agony and suffering Jesus went through to redeem all of us from that Original Sin.
How anyone can escape that conclusion I leave for someone smarter than me to answer.
James T. Moore
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