February 27, 2004

          In preparing to see the movie by Mel Gibson, The Passion of the Christ, this past Wednesday night, a lot of things ran through my mind in anticipation.  It has been quite impossible to not be bombarded with all sorts of feedback about the movie.  Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ; Chuck Colson, founder and director of Prison Fellowship Ministries; James Dobson, founder and president of Focus On the Family; and Billy Graham all reportedly have given enormous positive reviews of the film.   Even Pope John Paul II is rumored to have made some very strong statements about its faithfulness to the Biblical account.

On the other hand, there have been some who have said that the movie isn’t biblically reliable.  Some have said that it is anti-Semitic.  Someone even said that Mel Gibson (and I quote) is a “wacko”.  It did seem a bit ironic though that these negative reflections were coming from folks who had not even yet seen the film whereas the positive things said were from people who had actually seen it.

Still, I found myself wondering what I would think of it.  I wondered, for instance, if it would be historically and biblically accurate.  I wondered if it would be free from anti-Semitism.  I wondered if it would truly capture, in the midst of all its graphic content, the real essence of Jesus’ mission.

It did all these things and more.  I believe that the movie IS accurate and faithful to the Scriptures.  It seems to me also that the movie does NOT point a finger at one particular group of people but clearly acknowledges that EVERYONE had a part in it, Jew and non-Jew alike.  And finally, I believe that the movie didn’t just capture the essence of Jesus’ mission… it painted it on the canvas of the theater movie screen in such emotionally vivid colors that Michelangelo would have been impressed.

The movie took my breath completely away.  From the opening scene where Jesus was pouring Himself out in prayer to His torturous struggle along the Via Dolorosa, I felt as though I was actually there and that I was an eye-witness to His sufferings.  When His mother, Mary, saw in her wounded and suffering Son the image of her little one that she once could comfort when He had taken a tumble, my own heart felt that it too was breaking.  And the ringing of the hammers as they struck the cruel nails through His precious flesh into the coarse wood of the cross echoed loudly also in my own mind.

He truly suffered much.  Not only that… He suffered for me.  And if there is a point that my heart yearns for you to grasp though you may feel unloved and unimportant, it is simply that He did this for you, too.  He endured those indignations and put up with those obnoxious insults, false accusations and coarse laughter for you and for me.  He allowed Himself to be beaten and scourged, mocked and nailed to the cross for you and for me.  Do you see how loved you really are by the heart of God?  Can you see even now that you have a place to belong in the family of God?  Can you believe that you are so special to Him that He would pay such a terrible price?  Maybe not:  it’s not an easy thing to believe.  We don’t know anyone else who has ever loved like that.  Nevertheless, that’s exactly how important you are to God.

I hope that you won’t be one of those who are NOT profoundly affected by the movie.  During a scene in which the Roman governor, Pilate, is talking with his wife, he asks her if she knows truth when she hears it.  This fictional discussion is sparked by his interrogation of Jesus just a little while earlier where Jesus said to him, “‘…for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.’”  A troubled Pilate then asks, “What is truth?” (John 18:37).  Pilate’s wife replies that she does know it when she hears it.  He asks her to tell him how she knows it’s truth and she answers with, “If you will not hear the truth, no one can explain it to you.”

Not everyone wants more of God in their life.  Some want Him to stay a safe distance away.  Some like their lives just the way they are and don’t want anyone to “mess it up.”  Some don’t want to really “hear” from God or are afraid to hear from God.  In either case, just like Pilate’s wife said in the movie, “If you WILL NOT hear the truth, no one can explain it to you.”

I hope and pray that our community may never be characterized by a refusal to hear the Truth personally.  Jesus, with His disciples the night He was betrayed, said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6-7).  You can’t just know ABOUT truth… you have be willing to hear the Truth personally and be changed by that Truth.

Are you hungry for more of God?  Then take a close look at Jesus Christ.  Read for yourself the story of Jesus in the Gospels.  See the movie.  Find a church where you can learn what God has to say through His Word about His love for you.

(Thom Mollohan has ministered in southern Ohio the past eight years and is currently the pastor of Pathway Community Church.   He and his wife are the parents of three children.   He may be reached by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com).