Yesterday evening, I glanced through the menu of cable T.V. channels searching for any movies about Jesus Christ. I found one. It was a mini-series called "Jesus" on TBN. Since I have the video of this series, I didn't record it.
I don't know about you, but it seems to me that with each passing year, there are less and less movie presentations on T.V. of portraying Jesus' life, death, and resurrection during the holy days.
I can recall seeing dozens of Jesus movies and Bible epics on T.V. at Easter time during my teen years. Everything from "Ben Hur" to the "Ten Commandments" to "King of Kings" was broadcast between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. On Good Friday, there were usually several different movies shown commemorating Christ's crucifixion.
What has happened?
Why do the networks refuse to show these important films anymore?
Late this morning, I watched Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." This was the fourth time I had viewed the movie, but the first time that I watched it alone. Each time I see it, the message of the cross hits me like a ton of bricks.
It is a movie that I cannot get through without crying. The grief felt by me for my sin which Jesus died for is often to much to bear. I find myself wanting to fast-forward through the scourging and crucifixion scenes - but I do not allow myself to do that.
The term "passion" originally meant "suffering." Today, it is often used as a romantic term related to sexual attraction or activity. But the "passion" of Jesus Christ was the suffering he endured for all of mankind's sins on the cross.
In the beginning of the movie, we find Jesus in the Garden praying to the Father. We also see Satan (appearing in the form of an androgenous being) trying to convince Jesus that taking on the sins of the world is too much for one person to bear. It can't be done.
Isn't that just like Satan? Claiming that the God-Man Jesus can't do the work that God the Father sent him to do. Satan tries the same thing with believers. Recall how he asked to sift Simon Peter "like wheat."
What a great scene it was in the movie to see Satan in his pit screaming and tearing his hair off because Jesus accomplished the goal of redemption for mankind. All of that suffering brought glory to the Father and salvation for all those who believe in Jesus. What a moment!
One of the most touching scenes was when Jesus' mother Mary reached him when he had fallen down while carrying the cross. There was a flashback in the movie to a time in Jesus' childhood where he had fallen and Mary ran to pick him up and to cuddle him and ease the pain. In this instance, there was nothing that she could do but briefly touch his face, look into his eyes, and hear her son say, "Mother, I make all things new."
What a powerful, powerful moment. This time, Jesus was SAVING HER -and all of us from the ravages of sin, evil and death!
As we remember your death at the cross, Jesus, let me say THANK YOU MY LORD AND SAVIOR! There is no greater love than for a man to lay his life down for his friends. Jesus did that. And, he rose again on the third day. He willingly went to the cross, and had the power to take up his life again. The horrible suffering and sorrow of that day turned to rejoicing on that first Resurrection Sunday - just as Jesus had previously told us it would:
John 16:20-22
Jhn 16:20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
Jhn 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
Jhn 16:22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
Previous posts:
The Christ of the Passion
"When our depravity meets His divinity, it's a great collision."
Good Friday
The Power of Christ's Cross
The brutality of Jesus' crucifixion was captured in the film, "The Passion of the Christ." Why was Jesus tortured, maimed, spit upon, beard torn, whipped beyond recognition, stabbed in the side, nailed to a cross, humiliated unto death? Because that is exactly what evil does. God allowed those forces of evil to do what they did in order to send us a message so strong that we couldn't possibly miss it.
The enemy of our souls has the goal of devouring us in our sin. He prowls around like a roaring lion, bringing along with him evil, sin and death. That very thing was conquered by Christ at the cross. Because he was the "sinless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," he accomplished what no ordinary man could ever do. He kept the Law while on earth, then paid the penalty for our sin so that we would not suffer an eternity without him! He was bodily resurrected to life on that first Easter morning approximately 2,000 years ago, and that event changed the world forever.
Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
At Calvary's cross, we stand at the crossroads to heaven and hell.