March 6th, 2004
A Passionate Reaction
I saw The Passion of The Christ today. Wow. I’d recommend it to anyone. I think I was a little afraid of what I’d encounter after talking to my friend Mike, who saw a preview in Chicago last month. But the visual gore wasn’t anything out of step for Hollywood, and in fact I think you see as much on ER or CSI.
But it was why it was happening and who it was happening to that really gripped me.
Like many who’ve seen the film, I found the scourging to be the most difficult to watch. In my mind, I called out, “Recant! Tell them what they want to hear! Make it stop!”
But he wouldn’t. He allowed them to continue. A close-up on his anguished face…and then it hit me: he’s thinking of me. Right now. “Rich Barrett” is on his mind. He’s thinking of all the times I’m going to do things my way and live my life. And he’s paying for that. Choosing to pay for that. Impulsively, I put my face in my hands and sob. Judas’s guilt, Peter’s guilt, the Romans, the Sanhedrin, the mob…all their guilt is just a representation of my guilt.
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5,6 – 700B.C.)
Clearly, what was at work at that moment was supernatural, both in its evil and in the divine purpose of it all. How could Satan have known that his great victory would lead to his greatest defeat? How the father of lies and hatred must have cried in horror when the stone was rolled away and the shroud lay empty! It would have been appropriate at the end of the film to stand and cheer.
I didn’t leave the film cheering. But I didn’t leave sad, either. I left reflecting on my life and wondering if I could really be worthy of such love. Honestly, it doesn’t add up. That the one who knows me best would also love me most. I don’t get that. In addition, that he would love me enough to endure that kind of suffering and pain, and…separation. That he and the Father would endure the Trinity to be separated – how painful that must have been.
Simon of Cyrene, when selected to help Jesus with the cross, declared, “I am an innocent man forced to carry the cross of a condemned criminal.” But he seems to have a change of heart as he shares the cross with Christ. Might we also take up our cross and understand, like Simon, that we are the condemned, and Christ the innocent.
However, no moment in the film seemed so fitting for our time, as this from John 18, “Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’
“’What is truth?’ Pilate asked.”
Perhaps 30 million moviegoers are closer to knowing.
