What could He have been thinking?
When Jesus Christ drudged up the hill on the way to Golgotha and his cruxifixion, all of humanity must have been on His mind.
"The Passion of the Christ" is exactly as everyone who has seen the movie has said. It is an experience, not just a motion picture about the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ.
Actor Mel Gibson has beautifully directed and produced a movie which opened nationally five days ago. It should be seen by as much of mankind as possible, keeping in mind that due to the graphic expession of suffering and the scourging, it is rated R.
The actors portray their characters so well on the big screen. Although it is in Aramaic and Latin, the languages of that time and place, the subtitles in English are easy to read and follow and sometimes are not even necessary.
Along with several hundred others, I partook of the experience and watched the movie on the second night of its release. My heart still feels the love.
I could see myself in the shadow of the cross. I could see myself in those surrounding our Savior.
Like so many other of Christ's followers, I've been sleeping again, when I should have be watching and praying. The gospels of the Bible tell us Jesus asked his three most trusted friends, that inner circle of Peter, James and John, to watch and pray on His final night on earth, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet, they slept, unaware of what was ahead.
Just like Judas, many times we sell our Savior short and later want to take it all back all too late. Just like Judas, a disciple turned traitor who sold Jesus to His enemies for 30 pieces of silver - sometimes we think short term and our selfishness cheapens the life and death of our Lord.
Just like Peter, sometimes we as Christians act as if we don't know Him and later cry because we are shamed by our denial of the Living Christ.
Just like old Peter, sometimes we as Christians are anxious up front to defend our Lord and at times we leave our Christianity lagging behind us. We stay a
"safe" distance, watching our Lord work miracles in our lives and the lives of others.
Like Pontius Pilate, the governor of the land during Jesus' life on earth, sometimes we try to wash our hands of a sin, yet, we turn around and follow through with that very sin.
Pilate could find no fault with Jesus, the scripture says, and didn't want the blood of Jesus on his hands. He knew he was innocent. Yet, Pilate gave the order, after pressure from the crowd, to crucify Christ.
Like the Roman soldiers, we are all too willing to follow a mob, to go alone with the crowd. It's far too easy to get a crowd to follow wrong versus right. And it's far too easy to be part of an angry mob than be one of the faithful few.
And what about Mary, as she watched her anything but ordinary Son, the one she had nurtured through childhood. What must she have endured as she watched her beloved son become a living sacrifice. But He was, after all, born to die for everyone.
She was his mother. He was her firstborn son. But on that cross, he addressed her as "Woman" the Bible says. At that moment, Jesus became her Savior, too.
And what about Jesus? In all of His mercy and all of His grace. He really is King of all Kings and Lord of Lords. He earned that title, strapped to a cross, beaten and mocked, yet rising again after three days, as no other man has ever done, with a resurrected body.
When will we learn to mimic our Lord? When will we learn to walk in His footsteps and follow Him daily - to forgive the unspeakable - to bear the unconscionable - to speak with few words but in God's will to be silent when attacked, just like Jesus. When will we learn to take ridicule and unfairness, just like Him, and return it with love?
It's so easy for us to overlook Christ's agony, but the nearer we are to the cross and Jesus, the more we will understand the agony and the glory and the necessity of it all.
They were there at the cross, his mother Mary and John the Beloved Disciple. At the cross, the faces of Mary and John were probably, as the movie depicts, splattered with the precious blood of Jesus.
And yes, when we get near the cross, when we go to Jesus and that old rugged cross, the blood - His blood - will cover us. His blood sufficiently covers all our sins - all the sins of all mankind. Thus, like scripture says, Christ on the cross cried "It is finished."
Like Peter, when we really see Christ's Passion, which is translated from Aramaic "the burden He suffered," we realize our unworthiness as humans. It is humbling.
Like all who heard Him then, we have a free choice - to accept Jesus Christ as Savior or deny Him as Lord. Either we follow Him or we don't.
Like Pilate and the angry mob, we can be part of the problem or ask forgiveness of our sins and be like the thief on the cross next to Jesus, and one day share the paradise of Heaven with the Lord.
As I sat in the theater and watched the depiction of Christ being nailed to the cross, with every blow of the crude hammer, I felt my sin. I wasn't the only one. I could hear others weeping.
As I watched the portrayal of those scourging Jesus prior to His being put on the cross, their hands were covered in His blood. Are we no different?
Our sins must have pricked Jesus' heart more than the crown of thorns pricked his head.
The mockery of the crowd, we say, must have been terrible for Jesus to endure, but when we sin and ignore His truths in our lives, we mock Him, too.
As the movie drew to a close, it became clear to me the cross was a burden to Christ not just because of the weight of the wood, but because of the weight of our sins - the sins of all mankind.
I realized it wasn't the ruggedness of that old cross but the brokenness of His body that is life changing. Jesus said in Luke 22:19, "This is my body which is given for you."
Truly it is so.
The chains of His captors would never have held Jesus if He had not wanted to give His life. He literally could have called legions of angels and nothing would have ever been the same. All of humanity would be lost.
But our Jesus chose death for Him and life for us. Eternal life.
With every pound of the nails through Christ's hands and feet, with every drop of blood He shed, he said, "I love you. I forgive you." It was His gift, God's gift, to the world. It was atonement.
And just like the anonymous author of that old familiar hymn, I feel it. The absolute and unconditional love of God.
When thinking of Jesus' life, His death, His resurrection, of His sitting at the right hand of God, my heart is overwhelmed. Just because of His love.
And the words to the old song
come rushing over my mind:
"My Jesus, I love thee, I know
thou art mine.
For Thee all the follies of sin
I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my
Saviour art thou,
If ever I lov'd thee, my Jesus,
'tis now."
Lifestyles editor Darlene Hayes may be contacted by email at dhayes@ucmessenger. com
