Last night we watched "The Passion of the Christ". When the movie was released in 2004 it received mixed reviews. Some applauded it for its realism, others panned the movie because of that same level of realism. "Moving. Powerful. Epic. Beautiful." wrote one reviewer. "Primitive and pornographic bloodbath" was how another critic described the film. I enjoyed the film, but can see why someone who does not accept the Gospels' account of Christ's last week on earth would be put off by the film.
While I enjoyed many things about the movie, the deepest impression the film made on me came near the end of the movie. When Jesus had been beaten, flogged, and forced to carry his cross to Golgotha, he is lying there beside the cross, exhausted,wracked with pain, nearer to life than death. We see him slowly, painfully start to drag his scarred, bleeding body on top of the cross, moving toward the final showdown with pain and suffering and death.
In John 10:18 Christ tells his disciples, "18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." In the Garden of Gethsemane he prays, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." Luke 22:42 Jesus had accepted God's plan for his life. He had resigned himself to the fact his last hours on earth were to be filled with pain and humiliation beyond imagination. But to think of that willingness being active, not a passive acceptance of God's plan was something I had not considered.
Jesus did not simply accept his fate, he moved toward it his entire ministry. He was not a leaf flowing along on the events of history. His march to that fateful meeting with the cross was the intentional, resolute plan of his life. Even as he lay bleeding out beside the cross, he crawled over sand and gravel to hasten the end of his life so that we would never have to bear the punishment for our sins.
Is my life marked by quiet acceptance of God's plan? Do I witness if the opportunity presents itself, or do I walk across the hall to that coworker's office and initiate a conversation? Are my offerings given only at the behest of a call from the pulpit for an Ecuador fund or do I set aside additional funds and seek out ministries to support? Are we passive "accepters" of God's plan or are we active initiators?
No matter how tired, broken, or overwhelmed we feel at times, let's continue to drag ourselves on the cross each day. Regardless of the pain and suffering we endure, we must continue to die to self daily. Yes, Christ suffered and died on the cross, but it was after that suffering and death that he was resurrected, restored, and victorious. Our victory will also come on the other side of death. Death to self. Death to our human nature. Death to sin.
*Critics' quotes from Rotten Tomatoes
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