The Passion of the Christ

From the Series—God at the Box Office
March 2, 2004

This evotional continues our God @ the Box Office series. Last week’s evotional explored some of the spiritual themes in Bruce Almighty. This week we focus on The Passion.

Disclaimer

I don’t think any human script can capture the divine drama of the crucifixion. And I don’t think any human actor can capture the kaleidoscopic personality of the Son of God. I think every human attempt to portray or comprehend the crucifixion falls short of what really happened. But The Passion comes closer than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime.

Peter Kreeft says, “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a dull life or a dull truth. Dullness, not doubt, is the strongest enemy of faith.” The Passion is anything but dull.

I think our version of Christianity is too sanitized. I think our vision of Christ is too tame. Dorothy Sayers said, “To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.”

Lots of critics are decrying the fact that the movie is so violent and so graphic. But I don’t think you can make a historically accurate movie about the crucifixion and it not be rated R. We too easily forget that the cross was a tool of ancient torture.

Movie Memories

I had the opportunity to see the movie the day before it hit the box office and it was unlike any movie experience I’ve ever had. I think all of us have movie memories - we remember certain scenes from certain movies that impacted us in one way or another. I still remember walking out of Star Wars when I was seven years-old totally overwhelmed by what I had just seen. I remember the surge of adrenaline running through my veins during Braveheart. And it’s impossible to forget the ending to Schindler’s List. But The Passion impacted me like no other movie I’ve ever seen and I think the reason is this: I know the person the movie is about. Luke Skywalker was a fictional character. William Wallace lived hundreds of years ago. And I’ve never met any Schindler Jews. But I know Jesus. And seeing a movie about someone you know, someone you have a relationship with, makes is personal.

Radio commentator, Paul Harvey, said, “This was not simply a movie; it was an encounter. The Passion evoked more deep reflection, sorrow and emotional reaction within me than anything since my wedding, my ordination or the birth of my children. Frankly, I will never be the same.”

I think we need to know how to think about the crucifixion. We need to understand the historical context and theological significance of what happened. But we also need to know how to feel about the crucifixion. And I walked away from this movie with deeper feelings and a heightened appreciation for what Jesus did for me on the cross. I felt like I was an eyewitness to the crucifixion.

Thomas a’ Kempis said, “If you cannot contemplate high and heavenly things, take refuge in the Passion of Christ, and love to dwell within his Sacred Wounds. For if you devoutly seek the Wounds of Jesus and the precious marks of his Passion, you will find great strength in all troubles.”

The Alphabet of Grace

A few months ago I read Fredrick Buechner’s book The Alphabet of Grace. And I love the way he talks about the limitation of language. He said that poetry and history, all the wisdom of the sages and holiness of the saints, “all of this invisible comes down to us dressed out in their visible, alphabetic drab.” He said, “H and I and J, and K, L, M, N are the mold that our innermost thoughts must be pressed into finally if we are to share them.”

Heinrich Zimmer said, “The best things in life can’t be said.” The deepest feelings and highest thoughts are the toughest to put into words. I think I realize that more than most because every week I try to put into words what God is putting on my heart. And the deeper I feel about something or the more I’ve thought about something the harder it is to say!

We had our first Catacombs at Club Nation last week. We spent two hours worshipping God, but the highlight for me was what must have been five minutes of silence. Sometimes you’re so overwhelmed by God you can’t say anything! And in those moments silence becomes a powerful expression of worship! Words aren’t sufficient. Your silence is an acknowledgment that God is beyond words! He can’t be reduced to a combination of twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

Revelation 8:1 says, “Then there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour.” I’m not sure exactly why, but part of me wonders if it is “stunned silence” - almost like a collective catching of our breath after our first glimpse of heaven, our first face-to-face encounter with God. Think about the most awe-inspiring moments of your life, multiply them by infinity, and you get heaven. That first moment is going to be absolutely amazing. And I wonder if the silence is a cosmic recalibration.

What does all that have to do with the Passion?

A lot of people have asked me how I responded to the movie. I can only describe it as “stunned silence.” After the movie was over I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I didn’t want to listen to anybody talk. I just wanted to let what I saw sink in. In fact, on our car ride home, nobody said a word. It was twenty minutes of silence! Why? Because some things are too deep, too good, too true for words!

The Question

The most controversial question swirling around The Passion is this: who killed Jesus?

I think from a historical perspective it is pretty clear that there were multiple contributing parties. The Jewish leaders had Jesus arrested and incited the crowd against him. Pontius Pilate lacked the moral courage to release him. And the Roman guards nailed him to the cross. But I don’t think the Jews or the Romans are responsible.

One of the most fascinating things about this movie is that during the scene where Jesus is nailed to the cross, it is Mel Gibson’s hand holding the nail. I think it was his way of taking personal responsibility. In an interview with Diane Sawyer he said that he put Jesus on the cross. The truth is that all of us are partially responsible. Jesus went to the cross to pay the penalty for each and every sin that each and every one of us has committed.

Will Power

But I want to be very clear in this evotional: no one took Jesus’ life from him. In John 10, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it back up again.”

Four times Jesus says, “I lay down my life.” There is a world of difference between laying down your life and having it taken from you.

Jesus said, “I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it back up again.” The word translated “authority” in English is the Greek word exousia. It means will power or power of choice. Jesus made a choice to go to the cross.

Let me make an important distinction between two types of power in the New Testament. There is dunamis which denotes physical power - it is the ability to do something. And there is exousia which is will power - or the ability to not do something.

I’m impressed with Jesus’ dunamis. He could make the blind see and deaf hear. He could heal the sick and raise the dead. He could walk on water and stop a hurricane in its tracks. I’m impressed with his physical power - what he can do. But I’m even more impressed with his will power - what he could do but chose not to.

One of the hardest things for me to watch during the movie was the taunting and mocking of Jesus by the religious leaders and the Roman guards and the bystanders. I kept having this thought, “How could they be so cruel?” Jesus was suffering incredible pain. And they keep hitting him and hurling insults at him. And there was part of me that thought it might be blown out of proportion. Then I went back and read the gospel accounts.

Matthew says they spit in his face and took a staff and hit him on the head over and over again. Mark says the soldiers mocked him by falling on their knees in mock worship. Luke says they blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” John says they twisted a crown of thorns on his head and put a purple robe on him and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” over and over again. It was merciless. After watching the movie I realized that I had underestimated the level of inhumanity.

As I sat there watching the movie I wanted to defend him. But the amazing thing is that Jesus didn’t even defend himself. He could have resisted arrest. He said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

Think about the implications of that statement: Jesus could have aborted his redemptive mission with one call for angelic backup. Jesus could have hit “the call button.” And the Father would have sent twelve legions of angels. A legion was the largest unit in the Roman military consisting of 6,000 soldiers. Jesus was saying, “I have 72,000 angels at my immediate disposal.” He could have resisted arrest, but he didn’t abort the mission. He exercised incredible will power - the ability to not do what you can do!

Speechless

Here’s another angle on the incredible will power that Jesus exercised. Jesus could have miraculously powered himself out of this situation. I also think he could have talked himself out of this situation.

Here is my theory. The religious leaders were always trying to trap him in his words, but Jesus was the master of verbal maneuvers. He never lost an argument. He could have so easily opened his mouth and defended himself and gotten himself out of this situation. But he exercises amazing will power and remains silent even as he is taunted and mocked and questioned and falsely accused.

Bruce Barton said, “There are times when nothing a man can say is nearly so powerful as saying nothing. To argue brings him down to the level of those with whom he argues; silence convicts them of their folly; they wish they had not spoken so quickly.”

Isaiah 53:7 prophesied that Jesus would remain silent. “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

The gospel accounts say that Jesus “remained silent” over and over again. Matthew 27:14 says, “Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge - to the great amazement of the governor.” His silence speaks volumes!

Let me be honest. I wanted Jesus to say something, to defend himself. I wouldn’t have written the story this way if it was up to me. I don’t think any of us would have. Max Lucado says, “We would have scripted the moment differently. Ask us how God should redeem his world, and we will show you! White horses, flashing swords. Evil flat on its back. God on his throne. But God on a cross? A split-lipped, puffy-eyed, blood-masked God on a Cross?”

Selfless

One more thought.

There is a very natural physiological response when you experience pain - you block out everything else and focus on the pain. It’s all you can think about. In fact, the more pain the more you focus on it. You can’t think about anything else. You become self-absorbed.

And it’s not just true physically. It’s also true emotionally and relationally and spiritually. You become emotionally and relationally and spiritually self-absorbed.

What does that have to do with the crucifixion?

I think Jesus is enduring unbelievable physical pain - the scourging, the crown of thorns, the nails piercing his hands and feet, and the crucifixion itself. But we forget that he’s also experiencing the emotional and relational pain of betrayal by one of his disciples and denial by another. And he’s experiencing the spiritual pain of loneliness. I think the low point on the cross was when Jesus cried out from the depth of his soul, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”

To say Jesus was in pain is a vast understatement. And the natural physiological response would have been self-absorption. But here is what amazes me about Jesus. In the midst of the pain, Jesus is thinking about everybody else.

He’s not thinking about himself. He’s thinking about a member of the mob whose ear was cut off. Instead of resisting arrest he heals the man’s ear.

He’s not thinking of himself. He’s thinking about the thief on the cross. From a medical perspective, every breath on the cross resulted in excruciating pain shooting throughout the entire body. Jesus could have saved his breath, but he carries on a dialogue with the thief on the cross. He says, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

He’s not thinking about himself. He’s thinking about his mother. Jesus says to John, “Here is your mother.” In other words, look out for her! And Scripture says that John took her into his home and she lived with him.

He’s not thinking about himself. He’s thinking about the guards who nailed him to the cross. He says, “Father, forgive them for them know not what they do.”

And He’s not thinking about himself. He’s thinking about you and me!

Hebrews 12:1 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father.”

What was the joy set before him? I think it was every person who would be redeemed by his sacrifice on the cross.

I am His joy! You are His joy! He was thinking of us!