The clip, “Passion of Christ,” gives the story of torment and doubt by Jesus at Gethsemane. Many Christians usually find the passage provocative. The clip depicts a far more human Jesus than the superhuman Jesus seen throughout passages of the gospels. The preceding events before the prayer portrayed Jesus as more confident. He was never the kind of person to be disturbed by the actions and challenges that his enemies put towards him. He is even able to predict coming events, and his death is part of it. In this clip, Jesus appeared with his two disciples and proceeded to pray alone. His character changed and acted like any other person would act when the person knows his/her life is growing shorter. When an individual is ill to the point of death, he/she experiences sorrow, grief and wishes that the future (death) not to play out. In his prayer, Jesus says, “remove this trap they set for me.” The trap is death and seems Jesus is anxious due to his way of death.
The suffering that Jesus Christ depicted in the prayer did not entirely represent his human side. However, the pain was supernatural. It was unique suffering of the sinless son of God. He was the person who could measure up to the standards of righteousness that God required of His creation. The prayer did not expose Jesus Christ’s weak because at the end of it he comes out supernaturally stronger. Therefore, it can be a great injustice when people compare the suffering that Jesus went through to that of the human beings. Through his pain, he carried the entire burden that we could have gone through because of our sins. On the clip, the two disciples portray disbelief when they watch Jesus pray in agony. Their actions represent human weakness. When they see Jesus Christ (someone they had seen as powerful) suffering, the disciples were worried what they could do as humans. However, Jesus reminded them always to pray. It directly relates to our lives today, whenever we are faced with possible challenges and suffering, Jesus wants us to pray.
In the clip, the evil appears and asks Jesus “Do you believe that one man can bear the burden of sin?” Jesus Christ had never sinned before, so the “burden of sin” symbolized that of the people. Jesus’ anguish in the prayers was not ordinary as it represented the measure of the people’s sinfulness and the painful consequences that Jesus was to undergo. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” Therefore, Jesus had to die for the sins that human beings had committed. Thus, the measure of pain that Jesus Christ undergoes as he prays equals the suffering He has to endure, to bear God’s wrath towards the sins of the people of Calvary. In reality, the pain that Jesus went through during the moment represents the suffering that individuals will undergo in hell when they receive God’s wrath.
Similarly, the measure of pain that the filmmaker shows symbolizes the love that God shows sinners. Jesus had to die to let us live because we are the sinners. It is incredible how God loved His creation that even after their sins, he sent His son to bear the pain voluntarily. Also, the filmmaker’s portrayal of the disciples represents the reality of the misunderstanding that people have on the actions of Jesus. The disciples’ disbelief during the prayers depicted that they did not know what the Christ was doing. They expected that with his power, Jesus could overcome everything. Even today, a believer often asks God tough questions when faced with trials. Has God forsaken me? Why did God allow this to happen to me? It shows how we still misunderstand the will of God.
Towards the end of the clip, the filmmaker shows a snake that slithers towards Jesus. The snake symbolized temptations that the devil confronts us with during trying moments. The nature of the snake, low and sneaky, represents that of the devil, especially when making the first temptation to an innocent soul. It comes quietly in the shadows. The primary purpose of the devil is to wrap us under its wings to make it impossible to escape. The devil aims at clouding the moral sense as well as a person’s conscience. Jesus Christ shows us how to overcome temptation by crushing His tempter under his foot. The lesson is that when a believer is firm in faith. Allow the tempter to come close enough and smash it. However, in reality, people should not treat the snake as the tempter but anything that wants to deviate one’s faith and moral conscience.
In conclusion, the filmmaker aimed at showing that the suffering of Jesus Christ during the prayer was the measure of all pain. The filmmaker wanted people thinking of quitting their faith because they feel they have suffered enough to compare with Jesus’s suffering. Nobody had suffered to the level that Jesus did for our sins. The Lord is suffering out to challenge us, for we complain of suffering for sins that we have committed, but the Son of God suffered for sins of other people (us). However, he still came out strong, crushing the devil who tried to convince him that the burden of sin that we had committed was heavier for him to bear. Therefore, as believers, the only suffering we can undergo is appreciating that Jesus suffered for us and give thanks always for it.
