“We live in a sanitized world in North America. Our prisons are kept out of sight, our punishments are humane”
I have seen the Passion of the Christ now, and I understand. I have seen the blood and the pain. Interestingly, I was reading an article yesterday wherein the author said that he appreciated the understated torture, that in fact the real thing would have been worse. I cannot imagine anything worse.
So now we approach Resurrection weekend. I am refreshed by the movie, I am humbled by what Jesus went through for me, and I feel like God loves me. Don't get me wrong. I knew all this before. But watching it just brings it into sharper focus. I understand better now how the people to whom Peter spoke on Pentecost were "pierced to the heart" because they knew what Crucifixion meant. They understood because they had seen it happen, sometimes on a regular basis.
But today we have forgotten. We live in a sanitized world in North America. Our prisons are kept out of sight, our punishments are humane and gentle in comparison with other times and places. We don't see punishment publicly and we don't think about it, if possible. But the Gospel wasn't needed in a nice neat world; it was needed in a world that was crawling with sin and sickness.
Jesus said that He didn't come to save the righteous, but the sinner; He came to heal the sick, to comfort the people who had been ripped apart in tragedy. He didn't come to a nice neat world. He came to this one.
The Passion of the Christ is a gruesome movie that depicts a violent series of acts in all its gory, blood-coloured, flesh-ripped reality. A blood-coated Jesus is pounded into insensibility and yet keeps on pushing Himself to Golgotha. Why?
Resurrection weekend is getting closer. Chocolate bunnies and eggs are appearing in greater numbers everyday. Pastel-coloured straw baskets spread across the land as our countries rejoice in the approaching Spring. Why?
Jesus let Himself be tortured and killed because if He didn't do it, you and I would have to go through it. We are the ones who have sinned against God. We lie, we cheat we steal, we crush one another for our greater glory! And because we do this, even once in our lives, we deserve to be cast out of the presence of the Living God. That means that we are cast into Hell for all eternity where, frankly, we deserve to go. But Jesus loves us. So He takes the bullet for us.
Chocolate bunnies, toys, pastel-coloured items all appear, because we don't want to deal with what Resurrection weekend (Easter) really means. We tell ourselves that it means Spring, it means renewal, it means new life here on Earth. But what it really means is this: Jesus died on a cross so that you and I don't have to; God sent His Son to take our place because He loves us. No other reason. There isn't a Cosmic Contract that said God had to do it, there is no Eternal Warranty that forces God to redeem us. He does it purely because He loves us, with the same tender love that we see in a parent cradling a child who is hurt.
Jesus has destroyed the power of sin to keep us away from God. He has shattered Satan's hold on us and set us free. All we need to do is accept it. All we need to do is submit to Jesus and be Free!
I mentioned Pentecost earlier. It's the first time that Peter tells the Gospel to anyone. Appropriately God's Chosen People are the first to hear it. He tells them that they have crucified God's Messiah and they are pierced to the heart. They ask what can be done about this and Peter's reply to them is his reply to us asking the same question. "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, for all whom our Lord God will call."
This is how we honour God and answer His call. We come to Him with our heavy burdens that are too much for us to carry. He will set us free.
My buddy Geoff lives in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada. Images used to create graphics were provided by "The Passion of the Christ official site.