|
|
|
|
|
==================================================
Although there has been serious permanent damage, and however bad it looks, we would not count Mel Gibson out, not now, not yet. We would not do that because he has something that his enemies may not know: Christ, the saints, and the Blessed Mother. No doubt he is going to them in his private moments, and if he overcomes the current crisis, it will be another example of how God can send grace that transcends any tragedy. It may well happen here. We pray it does. A tragedy it is.
This is not to excuse what the actor-director has done. Getting drunk in the wee hours of Friday, speeding recklessly down Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and hurling hateful anti-Semitic epithets at the police who rightly apprehended him was -- in his own words -- "despicable," "insane," "out of control," "belligerent," "horrific," "vicious," and "shameful."
And it was. The reports are not pretty. Besides using extremely vulgar and arrogant language, and directly insulting a female officer, he endangered anyone else driving on that road (87 in a 45) and was photographed earlier at a party with a beautiful woman on each arm.
Yes, tell it like it is: One report says he insulted the mother of an officer in a very profane manner.
But it is a time to pray for Mel, to accept his apology, and to hope that he is sincere when he says that he will now try to discern a road to recovery.
Jesus forgave. It is now up to Jews and the others he besmirched to discern if they will do the same. No one can blame them for outrage. But we must be careful that Gibson -- however much he brought on himself, and however much he has also embarrassed Christianity -- is not made into a Christian whipping boy.
There are only too many who are gleeful because Mel is an actor who dared to finance a major film on the Crucifixion of Christ.
There is no question that Mel needs to address his alcoholic issues and also no doubt that he needs to root out his anger. Those are obvious challenges. We are all flawed, and Gibson himself once described himself as "deeply flawed."
Why is this this so important?
We live in a culture obsessed with celebrity and Mel made the most famous Christian movie in decades -- in fact, one of the top ten money-makers ever, of any kind, up there with Star Wars.
That was The Passion of the Christ, and while we expressed reservations with the movie, and especially the overwrought blood, we supported the movie, in our own little way. How refreshing it was to see a glamorous actor take time for Jesus.
But we have our suggestions.
One is that Mel take a quick look back and see how there has been sort of a strange spiral since all the money came tumbling his way. The Passion of the Christ brought in $300 to $400 million. While there is no doubt that Mel owns that money legally, what he must discern is how much he owns morally.
It was a story that was not based on an idea, not on a novel, not on an original screenplay, but on a real account in Scripture. It is a movie that gained tremendous support through pre-viewings at churches. It is a movie that Mel promoted relentlessly through Christian and Catholic media.
Since the movie, Mel has reportedly bought a second home in ultra-expensive Malibu (for more than $18 million), an island in the Pacific (for more than $20 million, flying in a bowling alley), and has an estate in Connecticut, along with who-knows-how-many minor residences.
In the wake of it was the temptation: to give it much of it up, as Jesus advised the rich man, or at least distribute much of it.
While Gibson has donated to several good causes (and perhaps more of which we are unaware), the one million to a Mexican cause and hundreds of thousands for the victims of Hurricane Stan does not yet measure up to the $300 to $400 million that the movie, based on Christ, brought to him.
The Passion of the Christ was not a work of fiction; it was not from someone's brilliant imagination. It was based on the Bible and the Blood of Christ and has to be viewed in that context.
Much of the detail came from a book based on the mysticism of Anne Catherine Emmerich, who had visions of the Crucifixion, and while the publisher, TAN Publishing, of Illinois, does not have a copyright on the book, and while this legally allows anyone to use it, the morality of doing so with no major compensation is another matter. It would do Mel good to reward TAN for publishing the book, and help this terrific orthodox Catholic publisher that is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Mel greatly benefited from Roman Catholics, even though he and his father belong and in fact have built churches that are not affiliated with Rome and as such are schismatic. Indeed, the priest he used for Mass during filming of the movie is well known for his criticism of Rome and is no longer affiliated with a Roman bishop. Mel's father belongs to an extreme wing of traditionalists who go so far as to think of the Pope as the anti-christ (or at least a false pontiff).
It is now an open question whether Mel subscribes to the same views, in the wake of remarks that seem to align him with his father's anti-Semitism. During promotion of the movie, Mel company promoted positive comments attributed to John Paul II at the same time that Gibson made at least one remark indicative of deep antagonism to the Vatican.
Mel, an apology to Roman Catholics along with the many Pentecostal churches that supported your movie without knowing how deeply antagonistic the extreme traditionalists are against them also is perhaps another spiritual necessity.
That is another esoteric factor behind the current dynamic and one is also led to wonder what has rubbed off from the director's upcoming movie, Apocalypto -- which has been plagued by delays caused by storms and which is now set for release on the Catholic feast day of December 8.
No one is quote sure what all Apocalypto involves, but there are hints of more blood again (this tike in the way of Mayan blood sacrifice) and portrayals or allusions to ancient Indian mysticism.
We'd stay clear of that.
All of us sin. All are flawed. Mel Gibson should atone, and make right with a number of factions, but he should not be a whipping boy. There are indications that he is a very intelligent man with a good heart who struggles with demons, as do we all, especially familial ones. We don't doubt that he is sincere about wanting to be a good Christian. And we pray that he succeeds in a way that confounds those who want to see him destroyed.
"The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life," Gibson said in a statement. "Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith."
We will take him at his word and pray for him.
We also pray that our nation gets off its obsession with actors and begins to contemplate what acting and movies and entertainment are all about. We are idolizing people -- they even called them "Hollywood idols," once upon a time -- and that is the richest lesson: the need to shed the idolization of mere humans whom we build into "celebrities" due to our lack of focus on angels, saints, and God.
