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Monday, April 17, 2006
Editorial: I, witness
PERHAPS the most perplexing detail about Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” is not the use of the Aramaic language or the movie’s jarring penchant for portraying traditional villains as sympathetic souls (witness the brooding, tortured Pontius Pilate).
The conundrum comes at the end. In a light-suffused chamber, the viewer notes the death shrouds discarded on the slab where the body must have lain.
The next shot shows the familiar beatific profile, now made unfamiliar by the total absence of the dried gore, contusions and gashes left during the scourging, carrying of the cross to Golgotha, and crucifixion.
As militant music rises to a crescendo, the Christ, naked but unmarked, marches towards the light. The viewer catches a glimpse of a punctured hand.
That glimpse of space, where flesh should have been, is discomfiting.
What should the viewer believe? Gibson has coached the viewer for nearly three hours to rely on his retelling of the earthy and earthly life of the man who called Himself the Messiah.
Although caught in the thrall of Gibson’s excruciating physicality-with his trademark lack of compassion for finer feelings or weaker stomachs-the viewer is unraveled by the anachronistic circle of emptiness trapped within that crucified hand.
What should the viewer bear witness to: the material manifestations of faith or the emptiness of the tomb?
Paradox
According to the New International Version of The Holy Bible, there are at least six accounts (the four gospels, Acts and Corinthians) that relate Resurrection appearances.
The earliest takes place early Sunday morning at the empty tomb outside Jerusalem.
The last occurs 40 days after the Resurrection, during the Christ’s Ascension at the Mount of Olives.
Most striking is not the person (Mary Magdalene, Peter or James), persons (disciples or two travelers on the road to Emmaus) or crowd (500 people) for whom the revelations take place.
It is the individual’s way of witnessing the risen Christ.
According to Matthew, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were “afraid yet filled with joy” when they met Jesus.
When the 21st Local World Youth Day (LWYD) was held in Cebu City last April 9, over 7,000 parish youth leaders from over 10 dioceses from Central and Eastern Visayas responded to the call.
In continuing the local version of the WYD, a brainchild initiated by the late Pope John Paul II to reach out to the youth, the Catholic Church answers this generation’s need to find their spiritual moorings.
The highlight of the LWYD’s Palm Sunday vigil was the proclamation of Blessed Pedro Calungsod as the youth’s patron and model.
In Sun.Star Cebu’s feature by Rene H. Martel, LWYD organizer Fr. Arthur Navales explained that the Visayan martyr’s life, more than his dying, exemplified that, “Martyrdom... simply means dying to one’s self, turning against selfishness, materialism and egoistic acts.”
Naysayers
The Resurrection drew other reactions more scandalous than blind faith.
According to gospel writers, the chief priests and elders were scared by the “conspiracy” to perpetuate the myth that the false Messiah will rise from the dead.
Matthew writes that the priests bribed the guards to deny they were blinded by an angel that rolled back the stone blocking Jesus’ tomb. The soldiers’ lie that the disciples stole the body of the Christ is a version “widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.”
But “lack of faith” afflicted even those mourning and gnashing their teeth over Jesus’ death. Mark writes that Jesus rebuked his 11 disciples for their “stubborn refusal to believe” witnesses of His resurrection.
According to John, it was the disciple Thomas that voiced out the universal pettiness of doubt, speculation and prevarication: “unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were... I will not believe it.”
What manner of witness shall you be?
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 17, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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