An inner look at The Passion of the Christ (part 5 of 5)

This is a continuation of a series that dives into the meaning behind the scenes in the film. The Passion of the Christ. This is part 5 of 5.

Mary's Amen

For Catholics, Mary's participation in the Passion is significant. She wasn't just someone who witnessed it: she also took part in it. From the story of the Annunciation, she conformed to the plan of God and accepted to be the mother of the Messiah through her "do unto me according to your word." (Luke 1:38) And here, in Calvary beside the dying Christ, her disposition has not changed.

The problem for a very visual medium such as film is to show what is going on inside of her. Maia Morgenstern, who plays Mary, used movement to express this internal attitude. As Christ was being lifted up on the cross, we see her dig her hands into the ground and then stand up (in union with him) clutching gravel and dirt on both hands. It was a visceral way of showing that she was "clutching at straws."

When the soldiers finally align the cross so it falls into the hole in the ground, the fate of Christ is sealed. There is nothing more but to wait for him to die. It is at this point the camera focuses on her hands that relax and releases the earth and grit to the ground. It was a visual way articulating her surrender. It was her "amen" to God's will.

So even if this is not reflecting Scripture, it is reflecting what Catholics know of Mary's heart – a total surrender to God.

Mary, our Mother

Several times in the film some characters say something that isn't recorded in the Gospels, but is added to prompt and explain what Christ says. One of these is when Mary says: "flesh of my, flesh, bone of my bone, heart of my heart..."

There is some theological background to this. We have to remember that Christ had no biological father that contributed to his DNA. So, technically speaking, Christ's entire genetic makeup came from Mary. So when she says this line she is quite accurate in a very literal sense for Christ's flesh is her flesh, his bone is her bone, and his heart is her heart.

And since her son, the one she loves most as a mother, is going to die, she has nothing to live for and asks to die with him: "My son, let me die with you."

This prompts Jesus to let her know that her mission isn't complete yet. He gives her to St. John when he says: "Woman, behold your son; [son] behold your mother." While this can be personal, Catholics see John representing the Church (after all he is an apostle and Christ said he would build his Church on the apostles – who were in hiding, except for John). Later on, the apostles would understand the Church is the mystical body of Christ, which is one and inseparable from Christ. Thus, in this scene – where Christ addresses her as "woman" reminiscent of Eve who is the mother of all the living – Mary becomes the mother of all those who live in Christ. This scene expresses what the catechism teaches us: Christ and his church make up the “whole Christ” (CCC §795), thus Mary is the mother of the whole Christ – Christ and his Church.

The Day of Atonement

The book of Fr. Bartunek does not mention this, but it is worth bringing it up because it aligns with the film by connecting the Old Testament sacrifices as a foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrifice. In the Old Testament, the High Priest would do two things on the Day of Atonement. The first is to take a goat and cast all of the sins of the faithful on it, lead it out of the gate of Jerusalem where it would die. This was done so that the death of the victim – the goat – would pay for the sins of the people. We can, of course, see Christ as the scapegoat who takes upon himself the sins of all when he dies on Calvary outside the gates of Jerusalem.

The second thing the High Priest would do is sacrifice a bull, sprinkle the blood on the people, and also inside the Holy of Holies, he would sprinkle the same blood on the Ark of the Covenant. It is symbolic of a unity between God and man. It is said that God’s presence resided on top of the Ark, referred to as the “mercy seat”, for it is there that God dispenses his mercy and forgives the people’s sins. The blood brings both God and man together: they are one again – which is what atonement means (better to see it when it is spelled as at-one-ment.)

This is particularly interesting because the Ark of the Covenant is a foreshadowing of Mary. The Ark contained the manna (the bread from heaven), the ten commandments (the word of God), and the rod of Aaron (the high priest). When Jesus was in Mary’s womb, in her was the bread from heaven (John 6), the Word of God (John 1), and the high priest who would represent us all in his sacrifice.

So in the scene when Cassius, later known as St. Longinus, thrusts a spear into the side of Christ, his blood is sprinkled on Mary on this perfected Day of Atonement where God and man truly become one again through Christ's sacrifice. The film caught this scene and might not have even intended its scriptural implications.

The Pieta

Christian art has a proliferation of the scene when Mary holds the lifeless body of Christ after it has been taken down from the cross. It is called the Pieta, most notably the sculpture of Michelangelo that can be found in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Most Pietas will depict Mary looking at her son while holding him, but not in the film. When we see Christ's lifeless body in front of Mary, we see her looking straight at us with one hand opened towards us. It is a gesture of reminding us that it is for us that this suffering has been made. With her opened hand, it is as if she is saying, "see, this was done for you."