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Saturday, March 26, 2005
I went to see the movie "The Passion of the Christ" at the first showing, the day it opened. I wen that early partly for work-related things (I knew parents would want to know if it was a good movie to take their children to) and partly because I have a significant interest in how movies and television compare to the Bible accounts. I was particularly interested in how "The Passion" stacked up because it had gotten so much hype.
And that kind of falls in line with our study on Holy Week we've been doing. We've been trying to piece together the events of the Easter story into a semblance of timeline we can understand, and the same can be true of the events from the trials to the end of the Crucifixion...which is where we left off in the accounts, the trials of Christ and the denials by Peter. Pilate had just released Barabbas at the behest of the crowd after "washing his hands" of the decision (...right...)
First, the mockery in the Praetorium. This account is found in Matthew 27: 27--29, and Mark 15: 16--20.
There are soldiers there, stripped Him, put a crown of thorns on Him and mocked Him. After that, they led Him to the "formal" crucifixion in His own clothes. These thorns were long and went deep into His head, which I'm sure would cause significant blood loss.
In Matthew 27: 32, Mark 15: 21, Luke 23:26 and John 19:17 tell of Jesus having to carry His cross to the site of crucifixion. And, in fact, this scene is done very well in "The Passion." The streets would be crowded during the Passover time of year and this "parade" would be very humiliating...not to mention that Christ would be very tired and drained from the events of the last few hours. Simon, the Cyrene would now be called on to carry His cross for Him. And this scene was well done in the Passion as well...director Mel Gibson had Simon argue initially, which I think would've been a natural reaction since Simon wouldn't want to be associated with public humiliation or mistaken identity that he was guilty of something!
Luke 23: 27--31 shows us a discussion that took place between Jesus and some women who were weeping for Him. Interestingly enough, Jesus informed them not to weep for Him, but the people that needed pity would be those who suffered the consequences of rejection of Him as Messiah.
Matthew 27:33, Mark 15: 22--25, Luke 23:32--33; John 19: 17--18, show us that two others were crucified alongside Jesus at Golgotha at approximately 9AM on good Friday.
In fact, I used to go into a detailed description when I taught on the crucifixion and wathing "The Passion" changed my view on that. As I watched it visually portrayed in the movie, it dawned on me that I had been watching Christ be brutally beaten and tortured for about two hours...and it exhausted me emotionally...which I imagine would be the effect the director wanted, but I found it more spiritually beneficial to me to focus on the work instead of the brutality. I've come to the conclusion, at this point in my ministry, what you really need to know is that Roman soldiers were trained killers, making this a brutal event. And if you simply take the Biblical accounts and imagine what it would feel like to have those things happen to your body, you can get a rough idea of the horror that crucifixion was.
In Luke 23:34 we see Christ as God to forgive those who were a part of the event. Wow.
Matthew 27: 37, Mark 15: 26 and John 19:19-22 all show us what was going on back in the government seats with Pilate and the sign he put over Christ's cross, which read that Jesus was King of the Jews. It was meant mockingly, but taken literally.
In Mark 15: 24 & John 19: 23-24, we see the soldiers gambling for Jesus clothes. I've thought that if this were done in today's society, the "winners" of the clothes would probably sell them on Ebay...
Now, it's about noon. The cross is set in place and Jesus is simply hanging there.
In Matthew 27: 39--40, Mark 15: 29-30, Luke 23: 35, John 19: 24, all show the crowd mocking Him, wanting Him to get off the cross and prove He is who He said He was. The religious leaders as well as the Romans were invovled in this.
Could Jesus have done what the crowd challenged Him to do? Of course...but He was aware of what His mission was, and He put serving us ahead of "proof."
Then Matthew 27:44 & Luke 23: 39-44 we get the accounts of one of the theives being saved on his cross.
In John 19: 25--27, Jesus shows love for His mother.
In Matthew 27: 47--49, Mark 15:35-36 and John 19: 28-29, we see Jesus being misunderstood on the cross. He asked God why He had forsaken Him...and the crowd thought He was calling for Elijah (the Hebrew phrase for asking God started with Eli Eli, which is why the crowd could make this mistake). He now took a drink.
And finally, in Matthew 27:50; Luke 23: 46 and John 19:30, Jesus cries out in a loud voice,
"It
is
finished."
And then He gave up His spirit...He was in control of events, even the crucifixion and time of death...at roughly 3PM or so.
It was finished.
It is finished.
And it demands a response from all of history. It's more than a movie.
What's yours?
Brent 7:19 AM
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