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CD Review
The Passion of the
Christ
Songs (Inspired by the Film).
Various artists, © 2004 Wind-Up Records.
Review by Jo van Leerdam
This CD presents a wide range of songs from a variety of artists. It
isn’t every day you’ll find an album with songs ranging from rap to
country with everything in between, but it is not the musical style that
holds this album together. What gives this collection of songs unity is
the theme of human response to being confronted with the events of
Jesus’ suffering and death.
The majority of the album is quite thought provoking. It offers different perspectives on various elements of Jesus’ life and death, and how people respond to being confronted with the reality of what Jesus went through for our sake.
I See Love (ThirdDay/ Mercy Me/Steven Curtis Chapman) focuses on the love which motivated God’s plan of salvation through Christ, and the grace demonstrated therein.
It is no surprise that these artists, who in their other works sing so confidently of Christ as Lord and Saviour, portray Him likewise here. New Again (Brad Paisley/Sara Evans) suggests the things Jesus and his mother might have said to one another as He went to His death It explores the emotions that Mary might have felt, and expresses Christ’s assurance that his death was “not the end… He was making all things new again”. Reason I Live (Big Dismal) expresses the reliance we have on Christ, and the knowledge that only He gives true meaning to our lives. To Give Love (Dan Lavery) and Relearn Love (Scott Stapp from Creed) both convey an awareness of God’s motivating love and the effect it has on us, in that it motivates us to show love to others. Relearn Love takes that one step further, by inviting the world to bow before Christ and respond to Him by learning from Him what love really is. How Many Lashes (Kirk Franklin/Yolanda Adams) verbalizes the feelings of conviction of sin and remorse at being part of the cause of Christ’s punishment. This leads to confession and asking the LORD for forgiveness – the only right response to being confronted with His suffering on our behalf. This song also calls us to be real about our faith and give all of our lives to God, not just lip service when people are looking.
The problem with “human response” is that it isn’t always the response that God would have us make. There are songs on this album that I find very disappointing because they fail to embrace Christ as Saviour and Lord, even though they are a “response” to having witnessed an account of Christ’s Passion and crucifixion. The contributions of P.O.D., MxPx and Charlotte Church on this album fail to add any spiritual depth or even a recognisable response of humility or repentance. These songs may be the genuine responses of those artists to the film, and they may be a true reflection of the attitudes of many people that live alongside us in this world, but I cannot understand why they’re on a ‘Christian’ CD.
While this album is interesting and provides food for thought, I suspect that there won’t be many people out there for whom every song on this CD is appealing, either stylistically or because of the content/message of the songs. This album would probably be best appreciated by families where parents and older children will enjoy different contributions on the CD.
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