Establishing redemptive meaning

The temptation scene also serves to establish the meaning, purpose, and goal, of everything that follows. Ironically, just as the temptations in the wilderness implicitly bear witness to Christ’s divinity ("If you are the Son of God…"), so here it’s the tempter’s insinuations that indicate the nature of Jesus’ mission: "Do you think you can bear the weight of the world’s sins? They aren’t worth this. The burden is too great. No man can bear it."

These establishing lines, delivered in the opening scene, provide key context for the rest of the film. First, Jesus means to take upon himself the weight or burden of our sins. Second, this will prove to be a hideous ordeal. Third, he accepts this ordeal out of love for us — that is, he rejects the tempter’s suggestion that mankind is "not worth this"; to him, manifestly, we are. This is the context in which every subsequent blow, every laceration, every fall of the hammer must be seen.

Another early scene recalls the scandalous and offensive aspects of Jesus’ public ministry, providing necessary context for his persecution by the Jewish leaders. In the nighttime trial before the Sanhedrin or Jewish council, witnesses come forward to testify against him, essentially offering a synopsis of all that was controversial in Jesus’ preaching and life: his claims to be able to forgive sins; his baffling words about rebuilding the temple after three days; the accusation that he performed exorcisms by diabolical means; his shocking teaching about the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood; and of course his claim to be both the Messiah and the Son of God, leading the high priest Caiaphas to accuse him of blasphemy.

"Enmity between you and the woman"

The significance of Genesis 3:15 for The Passion of the Christ doesn’t end with the opening scene. It can also be seen, less strikingly but more pervasively, in the film’s approach to Mary the Mother of Jesus.

In traditional Christian exegesis, "the woman" and her "seed" have been interpreted as ultimately referring to Mary and Jesus; and the "enmity" established by God between the woman and the serpent has been understood to signify a total opposition of wills. Mary’s "enmity" with Satan, Catholic dogma teaches, is uncompromised by any stain of sin, and is rooted in God’s grace to her in her Immaculate Conception.

This complete opposition of Mary and Satan is evoked in an imaginative and poetic way in The Passion of the Christ in a number of scenes. One such moment occurs as Jesus carries his cross through the midst of the crowd, with Mary anxiously following him on one side and the tempter on the other side, mirroring and thus opposing her. Another takes place during the scourging at the pillar, as Satan manifests himself in a vision that amounts to a hideous parody of images of the Madonna and child.