Book of Luke and Mel Gibson’s the Passion of the Christ Movie

This paper will discuss the differences I found between the book of Luke, and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ movie. It has been said that Gibson went to great lengths to portray the film according to the gospels. For the most part, I agree that it is Biblically accurate, however; there were several instances where Gibson took creative liberty when depicting his version of the story, and these will be discussed in this paper.

The devil has constant reoccurring appearances in Gibson’s version. The devil is a main character that is shown from when Jesus is praying on the Mount of Olives, again in Jesus’ trial, to Jesus’ beating, until his crucifixion; whereas in the Bible Satan has more of a metaphorical role. For example in Luke 22:3-5, when Satan enters Judas referred to as Iscariot to control him in betraying Jesus. Then again in Luke 22:31 where Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, to see who will remain faithful. The book of Luke portrays the angel on the Mount of Olives as one of strength and does not mention the devil at all, while Gibson gives the devil a speaking role asking “Who is your father? Who are you? No one man can carry this burden of sin, I tell you.” In the Bible demons, and the Devil are well aware of who Jesus is.

The beating of Jesus scene was a bit over the top and was hard for me to watch. The book of Luke simply states that Jesus was scourged. Gibson used this for a long drawn out dramatic scene where Jesus was beaten mercilessly, and whipped till the flesh was removed from his body. Gibson portrayed the soldiers as barbarians who counted the number of lashes before they would move on to another round with a worse weapon. It was perverse scene, that didn’t have to last as long as it did.

Gibson added a scene that is not found in the Bible when Jesus is thrown off the bridge in shackles, while demons watched from below. The trial scene has an exchange of money implying that the