In evaluating the movie, I will only hit the highlights, or, my analysis would be longer than the movie it-
self. The first frame is a black screen with a Scripture verse emblazoned upon it, the thesis statement for the
movie, taken from Isaiah 53:5; “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquit-
ies: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (emphasis added).
Isaiah 53 is a very crucial passage to the crucifixion of Christ and is one that I have difficulty reading, es-
pecially in public. Hardly a time goes by that it does not cause my throat to tighten, my voice to crack and
my eyes to burn and moisten. It is because I know what is behind the words, what the movie skillfully illus-
trates and which I hope I can adequately convey to you, my reader. The first scene opens in the garden, at
the edge of an olive grove, a place where the olives are crushed for their oil. What An appropriate place for
the anguished  and agonizing prayer of One condemned to die for the sin of the world, Gethsemane.
 

Gethsemane 

     As the first scene opens we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, pacing, agitated and restless as He
agonizes over the hours yet before Him. I have no problem with His wrestling and agonizing over the up-
coming events; the subsequent betrayal by Judas Iscariot for twenty pieces of silver (the price of a slave or
a gored ox), over Simon Peter’s denial that he even knew Jesus, three times before the crowing of the cock,
over the arrest, the scourging and the crucifixion, the climax of His ordeal. However, Jesus was resolute and
ready for what lie ahead. There were no surprises for Him as He had a part in the plan before there was a man
or woman on the earth or the earth was even framed and formed. Yet, we catch a sense of fear, worry and
trepidation in the contortions of the Christ of “The Passion”, literary interpretation notwithstanding. Jesus
was confident about what was coming and determined, His face firmly set toward Jerusalem to meet it head-
on. “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem,” (Luke 9:51). Jesus never displayed or felt fear or intimidation. Though He was troubled
in His human nature, He remained confident and stalwart toward His mission and His Father. He prayed,
“Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I
unto this hour” (John 12: 27). There was never a time He was not fully in charge. A fact He reminded Pilate of
and Pilate feared to have Him put to death. “Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest
thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou could-
est have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me
unto thee hath the greater sin. 12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him…” (John 19:10-12a).
Fear is born of distrust, uncertainty and a lack of security in God. He was undoubtedly agitated over a lot of 
various elements of the events before Him, but fear was not what He experienced. Someone who is One with
God (John 10:30) cannot be in doubt of God. He is the personification of the perfect love of God and “There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made
perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). The rest of the account, though, overall, is pretty true to fact.

     And when Jesus prayed, “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not
my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42), He was not asking to be released from what lay ahead, but, estab-
lishing a resignation to the will of God the Father, a lesson for us who believe and follow Him. That this is
the case is evident in His own words, as He fortifies His resolve in prayer, three times, for the will of the
Father to be done; “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may
not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. 43 And he came and found them asleep again: for
their eyes were heavy. 44  And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the
same words” (Matthew 26:42-44). One could not even imagine the stress Jesus was under as He became the
embodiment of the sin of the world, for which, as the Lamb of God, He would pay the price of atonement, His
life. The pressure and emotional stress was so overwhelming that He sweated “great drops of blood” (Luke
22:44) from the pores in of the skin on His forehead, as the thin veins beneath the surface ruptured. This
phenomenon is a medically verifiable one, recorded in the Gospels but missing in the movie. I think the emo-
tional torment He suffered on our behalf would have been far more convincing if this biblical element would
have been included instead of the pacing in the garden. I don’t think we fully enough grasp the emotional
turmoil He experienced in those slow, never-ending twelve hours of agony. Some say, since Jesus was and
is equally man and God, He never would have truly experienced real suffering the way an ordinary man
would have. I take serious issue with that argument, because His suffering would have been far greater, hav-
ing the power to hold off death until the exact moment called for in His plan. Let me give you a very simple
illustration, using a length of rubber garden hose. Cut a section, any length you want, then try to bend it. It
doesn’t take much force or pressure to bend it any way you desire. That piece of rubber hose is man and the
extent he will hold up under pressure. Now, take another length of hose and insert a steel rod into it. This
represents the character of God being introduced into a human body. Apply the same pressure. Notice that
nothing has happened to the rubber hose. It remains untwisted or bent. Keep the pressure on it, then, inten-
sify it, then, again, then, again. The rubber hose, or human flesh which is dominated by the iron bar, or the
power of God must take many, many, many more times the pressure and stress than the regular piece of
rubber hose, or man. Jesus endured more in moments than you or I could in a dozen lifetimes. No wonder He
sweated blood! The depiction in the movie did rightly have Jesus admonish His disciples not to resist the
overwhelming crowd of Caiaphas’ guards and servants. Simon Peter, the most impetuous of the group,
whose method was to act first and think later, grabbed his fisherman’s knife and whacked off the ear of the
servant of the High priest, true to the biblical account. The attack of Peter was drawn out in slow motion,
obviously, to give us a sense of Peter’s outrage. Jesus had already chided Peter for suggesting that the
events of this horrific day should not come to fruition. He had already confronted him and denounced any
plan to spare Him from the forthcoming crucifixion. Once again, He beseeches Peter to put away his weapon,
reminding them that He could ask the Father to send all the help He could want from the angelic force of
heaven. “Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword. 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it
must be?” (Matthew 26:52-54). Which would make the more sensible defense; one Simon Peter, greatly out-
numbered, or, seventy-two thousand angelic warriors, armed and ready? But Jesus came “to seek and save
that which was lost” and nothing would deter Him from that. So, He hung as my sin on Calvary’s tree. Then,
in an act of compassion, mercy and power that only the Creator could have, Jesus took up the ear and held it
into place and healed the man. Even in the midst of such a pure demonstration of His power, His deity and
His heavenly origin, the temple guards arrest him and carry Him to face the High Priest, Caiaphas. The hatred
and contempt of the man for Jesus is palpable -- something you can almost see, feel and taste. All of this
was scriptural and quite well done. This is exactly the kind of treatment Jesus received in the presence of the
High Priest. I believe it was in the garden scenes that, in the ensuing melée, Jesus stomps the head of a
venomous serpent. Search the Gospel accounts of the New Testament all you want, you’ll not find any
mention of this. However, this was not a piece of fantasy on the part of Gibson or his writing staff. It was
actually, and I find it hard to believe I’m saying this, a stroke of genius. It isn’t filler or fantasy, it is allegory.
And it has it’s origin in the Old Testament, in Genesis 3:15, the first prophecy of the Bible, the first Messian-
ic prophecy and the place where God informed the devil, in the  form of a serpent, that he would be defeat-
ed. He would bruise the heal of Messiah, that is, wound Him, but, Messiah would crush the head of the
serpent, destroy his power and his life. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between
thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Next to Rev-
elation 3:10, where it is to be carried out, that is one of my favorite prophecies.

     The character of Judas Iscariot was adequately portrayed, as the betrayer, unrepentant and destroyed by
his own greed and detestableness. However, there is no mention in the biblical accounts of Judas running
through the streets, taunted and harangued by the children of the city, until he outdistances them and finds
himself alone in a barren place, as in the movie. Also, in the movie, as he looks around for some solitude and
peace for his beleaguered soul, he sees the corpus of a donkey which is in an advanced state of decay. The
rope tether and halter are still intact, which he extricates from the decayed animal and hangs himself with it.
The children and the donkey are purely imagination, on somebody’s part, perhaps, for the allegorical pur-
pose of showing the condition of Judas’ soul. The scenes above, though, they make great theater, are for-
eign to the pages of the New Testament. The Bible calls Judas “the son of perdition” (John 17:12) and “a
thief” (John12:6) and a conspirator with the devil to betray Jesus (John 13:27). After his death, he went “to
his own place” (Acts 1:25), the implication being, he went somewhere other than where the true disciples are
going, hell. These are biblical statements, given by the inspiration of God which would adequately convey
that message. But, I guess, in a movie, we should expect a little poetic license, whether it’s needed or not,
but, I’m too much of a purist to be totally comfortable with it. If the Bible is the revealed Word of the Living
God, it’s perfect as it is. Why trifle with it? Here’s what the inspired Word of God says concerning the death
of Judas; “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and
brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4  Saying, I have sinned in that I have
betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5 And he cast down the
pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 And the chief priests took the
silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7
 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in” (Matthew 27:3-7).
Peter says this in his sermon at Pentecost; “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled,
which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that
took Jesus. 17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. 18 Now this man pur-
chased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his
bowels gushed out. 19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called
in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood” (Acts 1:16-19). Personally, I think God is
a much better writer. I’m still waiting to see a truly biblical portrayal of any biblical event, especially, when it
comes to the life, the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.