Passion and Popcorn

Invitation to popcorn or passion?

Like many of you, I imagine, I have been to see Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.”  The thing I found most curious about going to see “The Passion of the Christ” was the couple that was ahead of me in the concession line.  They bought a large popcorn with extra butter and two large Cokes (perhaps diet). I thought to myself that they must be going to see “50 First Dates” or some other romantic comedy that was out. Part of me wished I were, too.

For myself, I had some apprehension about going to see “The Passion of the Christ,” a knot in the pit of my stomach, because I had some idea of what was coming.  My son Andrew and his girlfriend had left in the middle because they found the violence too upsetting.

So all I bought in the concession line was a bottled water (I promise).  I was a lot more worried about the need for revival than the need for refreshment. Something also seemed not quite right to me about wiping the butter off my fingers as Pilate washed his hands of the whole affair.

I followed the couple with the large popcorn into the theater past the person collecting tickets. They turned the same way I did. They walked down the hall.  And they entered the theater for the same showing of “The Passion” as I was going to.  At first I thought they had made a mistake.

They hadn’t.  Indeed, they were in good company.  People all over the theater had popcorn and candy and soft drinks.  I think I even smelled a hot dog. Most of the popcorn was consumed before the movie actually began.  Thankfully. Not all. Between concentrating on the Aramaic dialogue and reading subtitles, I could hear an occasional crunch-crunch-crunch. Every once in a while, there was the slurping sound of a straw reaching the bottom of a cup.

“The Passion of the Christ” is the most popular R-rated movie of all time. People are flocking to see it.  Some people are flocking to see it, as I did mostly, for religious reasons. Some people are flocking to see it, as I did partially, out of curiosity because of the intense publicity about the movie and Mel Gibson’s pre-Vatican II faith that is behind it.  I wonder about people who would choose a movie with that extent of violence who aren’t motivated by religion.  Perhaps I worry about them more if they are.

But with all the people flocking to see “The Passion of the Christ,” and especially with all the ones who buy large popcorns on the way in, clearly some of the people who are going to see it are doing so because they are seeking neither faith nor answers nor even gratuitous violence, but because they are seeking entertainment.  For many who see the movie, I suspect, the passion of Christ has no meaning except as Mel Gibson’s movie.  For many, the passion of Christ is simply entertainment.

The sad reality, I think we must admit, is that seeing the passion of Christ as entertainment is not the dividing line between the Christians and the non-Christians.  This is the South, after all, or at least the near South. This is the Bible belt. Church attendance is a cultural expectation here. Let me tell you.  There were too many popcorn buyers going into the theater showing “The Passion” for them all to have been non-Christians.  There were some card carrying Christians standing in the concession line, and they weren’t all buying bottled water.

We might think that attending a crucifixion for the purpose of entertainment, as many who no doubt attended the actual event did, is barbaric, less than civilized, and certainly less than Christian.  It is not terribly different from buying a movie ticket to see it done from the comfort of stadium seating with a bag of popcorn.  The Paschal Mystery, though, invites us deeper into the mystery of the passion than its entertainment value.  We are invited into participation in it.

The question for us that “The Passion of the Christ” raises is whether the passion of Christ is a spectator sport or not.  Is the passion of Christ something that mostly entertains us?  There are plenty of us to sit on the sidelines and enjoy the show.  Indeed, some of the best Christians have had front row seats.

That is all well and good, but the question is whether we’re willing to get out of the stands and onto the field.  The only question about “The Passion of the Christ” that really matters is whether we see it as an invitation to popcorn or passion?

Agape,