On August 23, in the year 1305 A.D., William Wallace was executed by King Edward I of England. Wallace’s life gained fame after Mel Gibson dramatized it in the movie Braveheart (1995). Whether or not Braveheart is an entirely accurate depiction of William Wallace’s life and death, what I find of particular interest is the manner in which Gibson chose to portray Wallace as he faced execution.
During his execution, Wallace remains stoic. He does not seek a way out of the torture he is about to face. His emotions stay in check and, though he endures agonizing pain, he can still muster the presence of mind to cry out heroically, “freedom!”
As the crowds of onlookers watch the gory scene unfold of William Wallace being quartered, his closest friends watch him from the crowd. They mouth their support and encourage him in spirit to resist submitting to King Edward’s demands. Mel Gibson’s William Wallace has all the stuff of legend—a freedom fighter who faces death with remarkable courage and a stoic resolve.
As a Christian, however, my mind is drawn to Christ’s death. While the death of Wallace portrays him as a legendary stoic, the four Gospels present Jesus’ death quite differently. In so doing, they show us that Christ was no mere legend but a genuine man who faced death on the cross with grim, if resolute, expectation.
In the garden, anguish overcomes Jesus of Nazareth as he approaches his death. Luke records that before Jesus’s execution, he cries out to His Father, “Father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done” (Lk. 22:42). Luke continues to describe the emotional turmoil that Jesus experienced as he prepared for his death. So deep was his agony that “his sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Lk. 22:44)
In his final hours on the cross, Jesus cries out a complaint of being forsaken: “Eli Eli lema sabachthani?” (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) (Mt. 27:46). In Gibson’s legendary portrayal of Wallace, he cries out a message of freedom in the midst of his execution.
Whereas Gibson’s Wallace has friends who support him while Jesus’ friends abandon him, Hamish, Wallace’s childhood friend, and Stephen, Wallace’s Irish ally, stand with Wallace, offering their support to him in his greatest hour of need. There is nothing like that kind of moral support in the record of Jesus’ greatest hour of need.
Embarrassingly, Jesus’ friends do not support him. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, before his execution, he admits to his companions, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death: remain here and watch with me” (Mt. 26:38). After he confessed his great sorrow and his desire for their support, he finds his companions fast asleep. (Mt. 26:40). After waking them from their sleep, he requests their support a second time and yet again, despite the great sorrow of their leader, and his repeated requests, they embarrassingly doze off (Mt. 26:42).
This sequence of events happens three times. Three times Jesus has to ask his friends for their support and three times he finds them fast asleep in his greatest hour of need until at the end, after his betrayal and arrest, “all the disciples left him and fled” (Mt. 26:56).
Why do I recount all of this? Simply to demonstrate that there is nothing in the gospel records of Jesus to even suggest that what the disciples were putting down on parchment was the stuff of legend.
Mel Gibson’s William Wallace has all the marks of a legend: A man stoic in the face of death; a man who calmly approaches the gallows; a man who heroically cries out “Freedom”; a man whose friends stand by his side and offer their moral support.
But Jesus of Nazareth is too real—too human—to be the stuff of legend. He is overcome with emotion. His cry from the cross is the cry of a forsaken man. His friends offer no moral support but abandon him in his hour of need.
The William Wallace found in Braveheart is the stuff of legend and it shows. Jesus Christ, revealed in the gospels, is the stuff of history and it shows.
