The Passion You Can’t See in “The Passion”
March 4, 2004
By Rev.
Todd Crofford
Sr. Pastor
Laurel Wesleyan Church
I too was one of the millions who experienced “the Passion of the Christ”
opening weekend. While this movie is no popcorn, soda, M & M’s joyride of an
experience, I consider it a “must see” whether you yet believe in Jesus or not.
Yes, the violence against Jesus was brutal, but to be expected from professional
Roman executioners serving in the contentious part of the Roman Kingdom that was
Judea. After watching the punches, the kicks, the blows, the lashes, the thorns,
and the nails, you can hear pronounced sobbing across the theatre.
What Jesus suffered in his body for us is powerfully displayed. Yet as I have
had time to review the movie in my mind, the opening scene points toward a grief
even this movie cannot effectively portray.
The gospels tell us that the night his suffering began, Jesus went to the Garden
of Gethsemane in great anguish over what was ahead of him. It is there that he
became resolute in his spirit to go all the way to the cross. The plan: to carry
all of mankind’s sin upon himself and have it nailed once and for all to the
cross.
Gibson got it right in the opening dialogue in the garden, when the figure of
Satan doesn’t question whether or not Jesus can handle being whipped or nailed
to the cross. Satan questions whether Jesus can bear having the fullness of sin
placed upon him.
Since we have always been sinners, we cannot comprehend what it must have been
like for Jesus to be perfectly holy and now receive the vilest of sins upon
himself. Since we have always had to deal with separation from God, we cannot
fathom what perfect unity with God severed by transgression must have felt like.
Going to the film magnifies your appreciation for all Christ suffered in his
body, and yet he suffered even more in his righteous spirit.
The love of our savior is so deep he was willing to shoulder all of this for you
and me. One of the greatest verses in the Bible says that Jesus, “for the joy
set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame.” (Hebrews 12:2)
How awe-inspiring to find that the depths of what Jesus is most passionate about
is redeeming us. Our salvation was to him the joy that made it all worth it.
Everything inside of me just wants to love him back. We do this by accepting the
gift he freely offered to every man, woman, and child. All anyone needs to do is
ask. That is what’s so amazing about grace and what makes me so passionate about
his passion.
The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of Site One
Networks, Inc, the congregation of
the Laurel Wesleyan Church or the Wesleyan Church International. You may respond
to the author directly by E-mailing laurelwesleyan@siteone.net
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