Monday, March 01, 2004

My Thoughts on Mel Gibson's "The Passion"...

As promised, I am writing to share my after-thoughts on "The Passion..."
Please know that this is simply my perception of this movie and history as
it happened. While it is written from the angle of hoping you will share it
with those who are curious about Christianity, it may answer some of your
questions as well. Please feel free to share this as appropriate. If I can
answer any questions or provide any Bible verses to back up Christ's life,
please let me know. If I can be in prayer with you about anything or anyone
- please let me know. But also know, I am no scholar - I am simply a girl
who knows how to read the Bible and use a concordance - so, let's look into
this together...
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Some may ask "What is the significance of this story in the first place?"…
believe me, you don’t really want this preacher’s kid to preach! But here
is my feeble attempt at sharing the quick version. Jesus’ birth, life,
death and subsequent resurrection was foretold by prophets some hundreds of
years before His time. Did you hear that?! His entire life was foretold!
Meaning, God knew it and spoke it through the Prophets of the Day that Jesus
would be born to a virgin, that He would live a sinless life, and yet be
convicted to death! You see, had He been a sinner then His death would not
have been to cover our sins. But since He was sinless at His death, it
turns out that His death served as retainer for our sins. He had to be
sinless to fulfill prophecy. Yet, just like you and me, He dealt with
temptation every moment of His life. In the movie you see Satan following Him, haunting Him, enticing Him to go against God’s will… however, Jesus knew what was being asked of Him… He knew what task was before Him.

It’s true what they say... after seeing "The Passion…" everyone walking out
of the theatre was speechless. I certainly didn’t feel like talking to
anyone (sorry to those friends I ran into outside – the fact that I wasn’t
"Chatty Cathy" wasn’t directed towards you)... anything I could have said at
that moment just would not have been too intelligible.

Is it as gruesome as the media is portraying it? Yes! It’s more blood and
violence than I’ve ever seen on a movie screen before... or anywhere else
for that matter! But I have to admit – it was exactly how I’ve envisioned
that day happening. Maybe that makes my state of imagination a bit ominous
to you. But, I believe that the written history was portrayed very well
here. And I don’t think even one second of it should have been omitted.
Sure - I cried... I wept, I felt guilty, I sobbed, I felt unworthy and
inadequate of His love... but I also admired His courage. No one else in
history has ever done this!

Is it anti-semitic? No. If someone finds the need to point a finger at the
group of people who killed Jesus... then let them point at ME! He did this
for me! To say this movie was "anti-" anything… one would have to call it
"anti-humanity". Let’s face it – He died for all of us. Not one of us is
perfect!

Most of the times when sharing my personal movie reviews with friends I
refrain from talking about how it ends... but I think most of us already
know the ending to this movie! And this is the most amazing part of this
historical event, right here unfolding before my eyes... are you ready? As
the story goes, He dies on the cross, you see Him take His last breath. He
was wrapped up and buried in a tomb... all of this being overseen by guards.

Three days pass and then an earthquake hits and mysteriously the stone
rolls away from in front of His grave… and JUST AS IT WAS FORETOLD hundreds
of years before He even came to earth, He is not dead! He is alive and
well... He walks right out of that tomb! (What is left out of the movie is
that later that day He visually appears to His disciples... showing them the
piercings in His hands and feet! He talks to them about what they need to
do daily as His followers.)

Sobbing there in the theatre … I found myself wanting to clap and holler and
jump up and down! I wanted to throw a party! I wanted to turn to the
stranger sitting next to me and ask if she understood what was going on in
that moment! I have to admit - just to see it on screen, in living color...
helped me comprehend to an even deeper level what it meant!

No matter if this movie serves as a catalyst for faith in Jesus Christ... or
if it merely causes others to question why they believe what they believe,
let it be known... The Truth has been told! We are now given the choice to
do whatever we want with this information. But what exactly was Christ's
passion? It is two fold... He wants us to love others and He wants us to
make disciples of others. Definition of "disciple" - "One who receives
instruction from another; a scholar; a learner; especially, a follower who
has learned to believe in the truth of the doctrine of his teacher; an
adherent in doctrine."

Yes, go see this movie! If you’re comfortable, offer to go with friends or
family or complete strangers who are still undecided about seeing it...
Most of all, be open to what Jesus wants to do in and through your life...
As it is written, He knew the days of your life before you were even in your
mother’s womb...

Copyright

All images are © Lori Tisdale, 1990-2011 unless otherwise noted. Images are posted for your personal inspiration only and may not be copied/pasted into emails to share with anyone else, posted on other sites, copied for publications, contest submissions, or monetary gain. I'd have to track you down and who knows what would happen then?! Thank you for being considerate.