All things new—‘‘The Passion"

They were worried that it wouldn’t sell, but $117.5 million in five days? A lot of people have already experienced "The Passion."

I was one. I say "experienced" because it was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It reinforced the very reason that I felt called into full-time ministry. It evoked deep reflection and emotion, an experience perhaps even more powerful than my original encounter with the good Lord.

One scene in the film, but not in the Bible, was nevertheless emotionally powerful, a scene to which any parent can relate. Beaten raw with lashes, Jesus fell under the weight of the cross. His mother, Mary, ran to him (and as she did, she flashed back to a memory of Jesus as a child). Falling in the dirt road outside their home just as she reached to protect Him from the fall, she was now reaching to touch His wounded adult face. Jesus looked at her with intensely probing and passionately loving eyes and said, "Behold I make all things new."

These, of course, are words from the mouth of the resurrected Christ found in the last book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation. The film that had been so difficult to see became confusingly beautiful.

On the way out of the movie, a new friend told me that in his mind the movie was about "man’s inhumanity to man."

If it were simply about man’s inhumanity to man, why would our calendars all date from his birth? Why wouldn’t we call it "Terrible Friday" instead of "Good Friday"? Why would an enactment of the cruelest form of death ever conceived––the death of a holy and innocent man––be a turning point in human history? Why would it be an event to be remembered and celebrated around the world in a sacrament called "holy communion"?

I think, as do so many believers around the world, that the most significant event in the history of the world was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ outside Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. Jesus’ death wasn’t heroic—he was executed as a common criminal. Rather than unique, crucifixion was a standard Roman method of execution for non-Romans.

Dating back to the dawn of human history, this event is so significant because it’s a story that begins as a tragedy. A loving but lonely God had created human beings who could enjoy the blessings of creation and respond in fellowship to His love. However, they turned their backs on their creator and our sin resulted from our freedom. God designed a perfect world. That’s what he wanted—human beings in a perfect garden called Eden.

For man to have freedom of choice, there had to be the choice of sin. The consequence was obvious because an absolute and holy God couldn’t continue to fellowship with sin. God cannot condone willful disobedience any more than a good parent condones willful defiance on the part of a child. God was a perfect judge and, unlike many judges we’ve seen in action of late, he had to punish sin. A judge who doesn’t uphold the law, who doesn’t hand out a punishment commensurate with the offense, is not only a corrupt judge but is as guilty as the lawbreaker. The mayor of San Francisco, for whatever reason refusing to uphold state law, will be held responsible for his refusal to uphold the state Constitution.

The Bible says that when man does what’s right in his own eyes, the end result is mass confusion and chaos. God wouldn’t overlook sin and say, "Oh forget about it! Those were not the Ten Commandments, but the Ten Suggestions." Sin demands punishment. Therefore, man was condemned by his own act and destined to death and eternal separation from God. However, God never stopped loving man and yearning for the fellowship that once existed. He sent prophet after prophet to urge man to repent and return to God.

God, in His love and mercy, did more than just speak to the people through his prophets. He provided a permanent solution, not just a temporary fix for the punishment to be handed out. He provided a way for a person’s sins to be forgiven and a way to return to the original plan of eternal fellowship between God and man. In Old Testament times, God provided that a lamb’s blood could substitute for the blood of a sinner so the people of early times brought a lamb to sacrifice for their sins—a perfect lamb completely without blemish. The sacrificial lamb was, however, only a temporary fix.

God promised his chosen people that at a time in the future He would provide a perfect sacrifice. God, in His love and mercy, promised a messiah who would be that perfect sacrifice Himself. The messiah would come and live in a human body and then give Himself as a perfect human sacrifice because of God’s grace and love for an undeserving human race.

To satisfy a desperate need for fellowship with His creation, God would have His only perfect Son lay down His life. He would suffer, be tortured, butchered, his bloodshed, his body beaten beyond recognition, and executed in the cruelest and most humiliating method of death ever designed—a cross. Isaiah 53: "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed."

Isaiah 53:4: "Surely our griefs He himself bore and our sorrows He carried; yet, we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted." His own Son who would die for the sins of man willingly did all this. The prophet Isaiah prophesied about a child to be born. Instead of a lamb sacrifice, this would be the "lamb of God" who would bear our sins in his body on a tree.

This doesn’t mean that Jesus died a martyr, the victim of evil men and unfortunate circumstances. True, He was crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But Satan, prince of liars, would like to focus the blame on one group of people to divide those who have the same roots, those still looking for the Messiah, as well as those who believe they have found Him. Peter’s message in Acts 2:22, "People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him. V23: but "You followed God’s prearranged plan. . ."

Were the Jews responsible for the death of Jesus? Peter says not at all. "You were following God’s prearranged plan with the help of lawless gentiles" (that’s Mel Gibson, you, and me). "You (all) nailed Him to the cross and murdered Him." All of us had a part of that death on a cross. But it was all part of His incredible, amazing plan. We were part of God’s plan to "Restore fellowship with Him." Even the prince of this world, Satan himself, couldn’t figure it out. It was grace for a purpose.

  We Protestants have crosses where we worship and we wear them around our necks, but they’re sanitized. We don’t like to have a cross with a body on it, either in our sanctuaries, on our necks or on the dashboards of our cars.We prefer an empty cross, symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus from the dead rather than His death. We, thus, come into the dangerous place of skipping over His death.

When we skip over His death, we fail to "experience the passion."

Jon Wilson lives in Calabasas and is the senior pastor of Canoga Park Presbyterian church in Canoga Park at 22103 van Owen. Hear him speak at the church on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. or contact him at jonwclergy@aol.com. Call the church office for details at (818) 883-3510.