Remembering The Passion

I remember when this movie came out, everyone that I knew saw it.  My church brought groups of people to the theater to watch Jesus be whipped, ripped apart, and hung up to die in some of the most gruesome imagery from a non-horror movie.

I’m not sure how other people felt by this, but at the time, it didn’t move me, except to the point of feeling sick.  Not because this was “Jesus” being beaten, but because it was horrific in general, and I was disappointed in how “human” they made Jesus.  How they left out the parts of His life where His God-side broke out.  Like in John 18:6 when the people come to take Jesus to the courts. “So when He said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” Or, when He is resurrected, I thought they did it very minimal, and it could have been awesome.

What a witness this movie could have been, I thought to myself.  Another missed opportunity.

I’m leading my small group in a study of John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life and this past week was all about “boasting only in the cross”.  Galatians 6:14 says, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

When I read that for the first time, the book was saying how “surprising” or “shocking” that sounds to most people, and I didn’t feel either of those things.  For me, I remembered The Passion.  Or, more accurately, how I felt about it.

The fact of the matter is that Jesus did not have to resurrect for Him to fulfill His purpose.  I realize that a lot of people think that is the focal point, but Jesus fulfilled His purpose by dying on the cross.  He was sent to be the fulfillment of the law for everyone. The part about Him being awesome on Earth is an extra.  Above and beyond.

Now, Jesus’ humanity in The Passion, whether intentional or not, now makes sense.  I shouldn’t have to see God’s awesome power in physical form all the time.  The AWESOMENESS of God’s sending Jesus was that He made Him human, so that He could be beaten, torn and hung on a cross for me, for you, for everyone.  EVEN IF THEY DON’T KNOW IT.

And that is awesome.