NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - You've seen the movie, now wear the outfit?

An online costume merchant said Friday that Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ," has spurred sales of Jesus wigs and beards -- even more than is usual for the Easter season.

BuyCostumes.com said sales of its Jesus costumes have jumped 87 percent this year over sales of the same products a year ago.

"Since the release of the 'The Passion of the Christ' last month, we've already run through our inventory of Biblical costumes. We thought we had enough to last through this year but we've had to reorder more inventory," said Diana Krohn, spokeswoman for BuyCostumes.com.

BuyCostumes.com's biblical costumes: Mary (adult, $65.99); Jesus in white robe (adult, $30.99); Joseph/Moses (adult, $58.00)

According to Krohn, the fastest-selling costumes so far have been the adult Jesus "white robe" and "brown robe" ensembles, the Jesus "thorn crown," and the Jesus "wig and beard."

"Typically we get some demand for Biblical costumes around Easter, when traditionally people get into character for passion plays or for Church activities," said Krohn. "But this kind of demand is unusual, especially because Easter is thought of more as a religious holiday and not a costume holiday like Halloween."

Milwaukee-based BuyCostumes.com, a closely held company, claims to have the largest selection of costumes on the Internet, and about 25 percent of the online costume market.

The company declined to specify how many Jesus costumes have been sold or the revenue they generate.

But according to the National Costumers Association, sales of all costumes from online and brick-and-mortar retail channels last year totaled about $1.5 billion.

Assuming online costume sales are about 5 percent of total retail costume sales -- the same proportion of online sales to all retail sales in the United States -- then Internet costume sales totaled about $75 million last year.

That would make BuyCostumes.com's 25 percent of the market loosely worth about $19 million.

Whether the Jesus costumes are blasphemous or celebratory depends on where you wear these accessories, according to religious organizations.

Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, said that while she appreciates the fact that Gibson's blockbuster movie has "brought religion back into popular culture," she would be concerned if this newfound enthusiasm is "misused."

Jesus in brown robe costume (adult; $41.00)

"We don't have a problem with biblical costumes, depending on how they're used," said Gibbs. "On Good Friday [April 9], thousands of Christians re-enact different stages of Christ's passion. In some communities, it's a custom to resemble the popular image of Christ. Wearing the costume in this context is fine."

What isn't, she says, is wearing it in a way that's disrespectful. "It's inappropriate and insulting to wear this costume or any other Biblical costume to a drinking party," said Gibbs.

Bill Johnson, president of the American Decency Association, agreed.

"Making Jesus look dorky or stupid would be offensive," said Johnson. "Otherwise, I think there's a need for such costumes."

"And obviously, they can be good for the costume business as well," he quipped.

BuyCostumes.com's Krohn said the company has not received any complaints about its Biblical offerings.

So what's Gibbs' verdict on BuyCostumes.com's Jesus costume. "The beard doesn't look very good," she said. "I think Jesus can look much better than that."