The original version of the film opens with the display of the words of the prophet Isaiah, written 700 years before Christ: "He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; by His wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53)

By contrast, Netflix's version has erased this Scripture passage, substituting this opening with a 13-second display of a blank, black screen. Such a long, blank pause with no music is not only conspicuous, it is in bad form for a film. This suggests that those responsible for this version of the film were highly motivated to omit this Scripture from Isaiah, leading us to ask: What is its significance?

Christians note that words of Isaiah 53 regarding the "Suffering Servant" is the Old Testament passage that perhaps most clearly points to Jesus Christ as the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews. According to One for Israel, a Christian evangelism initiative, a first-century Jewish translation of this Scripture by Yonatan ben Uzziel (Targum Jonathan) opened this passage with the words "The Anointed Servant," thereby connecting the chapter to the Messiah, the Anointed One. 

Rabbi Yitzhak Abravanel (1437 – 1508), a Portuguese Jewish statesman, is also said to have admitted that "ben Uzziel's interpretation that it was about the coming Messiah was also the opinion of the Sages (of blessed memory) as can be seen in much of their commentary."

However, among Jews today, Isaiah 53 is not read in synagogues as part of the list of prophets' readings (haftaras). One for Israel attests that when Jews read Isaiah 52, "we stop in the middle of the chapter and the week after we jump straight to Isaiah 54."

While some Jews say this is because it has no parallels in the Torah, according to Hananel Mack, it is because, "Generally speaking, Jews excluded from the haftarot those verses on which Christians based the principles of their religious faith ... "

The common explanation of Isaiah 53 by Jews today is taken from the Jewish commentator Rashi (1040-1105), who claimed that the suffering servant is a metaphor for the people of Israel who suffered at the hands of the gentiles.

However, Christians argue that this is absurd, if only for the reason that this suffering servant is described as a "lamb" who "did not open his mouth." According to Jewish tradition, lambs of sacrifice used at Passover had to be "without blemish," a characteristic that cannot be applied to the Jewish people. One for Israel points out that Isaiah himself said regarding the people of Israel only six chapters later, "For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness."

Could the omission of Isaiah 53 from Netflix's version of The Passion of the Christ then stem from the fear that Jesus Christ will be seen by viewers as the clear fulfillment of this Jewish prophecy about the Messiah?... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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