After its phenomenal box-office performance in the West, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ opened this past week in the Philippines in time to deepen the pensive mood of Filipinos during Lent.
In many ways, our commemoration of the sacrifice of Christ, when compared with our Western counterparts, is more in line with Jesus Christ’s sentiment. The reader would recall how the Lord commanded his disciples to remember his sacrificial death more than any other event in all of his earthly life. Somehow, despite the telling and retelling of the same story year after year, there remains a mystical efficacy infused to it by divine design that keeps it from getting old.
Notwithstanding the inclusion of some pious though unfounded traditions, Mel Gibson’s version is reasonably faithful to the biblical text and is made more authentic by the impressive use of Aramaic and Latin so that English subtitles have to be supplied.
Other recent and movie-related developments are also interesting. For instance, on March 29, the Associated Press reported that Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Mehri, the head of Kuwait’s Shi’ite majority, recommended showing the movie in Kuwait in order to expose the atrocities of the Jews against Jesus Christ. Many other Muslim states like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates followed suit and are now showing The Passion of the Christ. Catalysts of this type and the mere fact that it was produced by Mel Gibson explain in part why the movie has reached the $400-million box office record.
In addition to the many warning calls about a potential resurgence of anti-Semitism, there is also a general public repulsion to the R-rated graphic depiction of gore and violence in the movie. By its PG-13 rating in the Philippines, it is hoped that parents will refrain from exposing their children to so much bloody scenes.
Perhaps indeed the standards of today’s movie industry have redefined the limits of human sensibilities so that people demand more violence in order to titillate the sense of thrill, even in a movie of a religious nature. One may ask whether it is necessary to make it so gruesome and graphic for the sake of realism. For this observer, at least, it seems improbable that the Romans or the Jews would have exhibited that much sadistic thirst for blood.
Some Bible believers, this writer included, also decry the very brief and only suggestive depiction of the resurrection. Of course the movie is specifically about the passion of the Christ and it is reported that producer Gibson has plans for a ,sequel that is focused on the resurrection. Yet despite all the objections and reservations, the intended message was conveyed. Jesus suffered an incomprehensible amount of physical pain and human injustice in order to pay the penalty for our sins. He paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.
So now instead of focusing on who is to blame for the death of Christ, it is more important for us to learn what the passion of the Christ achieved. If Jesus did not rise from the grave, His death and all of its intentions are meaningless indeed
At the cross, He asked the Father to forgive man’s injustices against Him. As the Risen Lord, He secured the forgiveness of all my sins. Now that Jesus is alive, God says, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more" (Hebrews 10:17).
Implied in Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness against those who crucified Him is God’s merciful attitude of giving sinners the benefit of the doubt: "They know not what they do." Were His detractors really ignorant of what they were doing? Were they not conscious and informed about what Jesus was offering to them?
Maybe they did not know the full consequences of their rejection of Him; but they did know His claim of being the God-sent deli-verer although they preferred another model of a Messiah. Maybe they did not know the role that they played in the hands of a sovereign Lord: God did intend to accomplish the salvation of mankind by the very cruelty that man was able to inflict on Christ. But the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers were cognizant of and own up to their wicked actions against a man condemned without a clear verdict.
If the dying Christ could call on the Father to forgive His detractors, then we can understand how the risen Lord can truly assure us of forgiveness of our sins. In the words of the apostle John, "If we confess our sins, he [Jesus] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Easter Sunday gives us the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.
At the cross, He promised paradise to the repentant thief. As the Risen Lord, He is now with the Father and is preparing a place for me even as he awaits my time to be with Him forever. For that very reason, we are enjoined thus: "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23). Even before His crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples to be secure despite His intended departure because He leaves to prepare a place for His people (John 14:1-3).
If that promise can be given to a repentant thief on the cross, then it follows that we can rely on that promise to hold true for us. We are as undeserving of that gift from God as that thief was. But it shows the magnitude of God’s grace extended to those who ask. Easter Sunday gave us the guarantee of eternal life in the presence of God.
At the cross, He endorsed His earthly mother to John. As the Risen Lord, He included me in God’s family on earth–the church, united not by blood but by the Holy Spirit. Blood relations were important to Jesus Christ. Out of love and of a sense of duty, He asked the apostle John to take care of Mary His earthly mother.
But the blood of Jesus shed on the cross replaces the power of blood relations to unite people. Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and by that same Spirit present in every believer, the Body of Christ is formed, that spiritual family of God known as the church is united to one another.
Apart from the glorious resurrection and ascension of Christ to the Father, the Holy Spirit could not have come. Easter Sunday made possible the establishment of the church, the spiritual family of God on earth.
At the cross, Jesus was forsaken by God as the sin-bearing sacrifice. As the Risen Lord, He reconciled me to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). The one who was temporarily forsaken by the Father has become the permanent reconciler of sinners to God.
Perhaps the most enigmatic of Jesus’ declaration on the cross is His cry, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Those of us who uphold the mystery of the trinity are confronted with yet another difficulty we can not fathom.
In his meditation on the Savior’s query, Martin Luther was reported to have spent several days of seclusion in prayer and fasting. After a considerable time, he emerged with the statement, "God forsaking God? Who can understand that?" The forsaken Christ on the cross became the re-conciler of mankind to God.
When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he added the note of the personal responsibility of every Christian. Since Christ has provided the means of reconciling people to God, we are encouraged to announce it and to call on people to be restored to a fulfilled life by being reconciled to God. Easter Sunday removed what stood in the way of our acceptance with God.
At the cross, He suffered physical thirst. As the Risen Lord, He offers the spring of living water–the Holy Spirit–to everyone who believes so that I will never thirst.
Even while He was still living and teaching in the temple of his day, Jesus talked about living water or an endless supply of spiritual refreshing and sustenance. "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38).
What Jesus meant, as John explained it, is the coming of the Holy Spirit. With Him, there will be no shortage of the knowledge of God because "the Holy Spirit also testifies… I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds" (Hebrews 10:15-16). Easter Sunday catalyzed the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers forever.
At the cross, He finished the required shedding of blood as punishment for sin which only He could do. As the Risen Lord, He commissioned me for His unfinished business to make disciples until He returns to earth again.
His parting words to His apostles after His resurrection and before His ascension to heaven is what people call the Great Commission. Based on His finished work, He authorized people to announce the good news of sins forgiven and eternal life assured. Those who believe become His disciples committed to continue the unfinished task of proclaiming the benefits of the death of Christ. "Go and make disciples of all people groups…teach them to observe whatever I have commanded you…I am with you always" (Matthew 28:18-20). Easter Sunday finished a phase of God’s redemptive plan even as it began an unfinished task of calling people to accept God’s offer eternal life.
At the cross, He died and committed His spirit to the Father as they buried His body in the tomb. As the Risen Lord, He has conquered death and lives forever to save me completely. Unequivocally, the Bible declares, "Because Jesus lives forever…He is able to save completely…because He always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:24-25).
Biblical Christianity, in contrast with some traditional Christian counterparts, presents the work of Christ as a once-for-all event, a transaction that need not be repeated. After His glorious birth, the manger is now empty. After His sacrificial death, the cross is now empty. After His glorious resurrection, the garden tomb is now empty. Easter Sunday sealed all the benefits mankind may derive from Friday’s cross words.
At the cross, God’s verdict of condemnation and the consequent punishment for man’s sin were inflicted upon Christ as our substitute. Having completed the work of redemption, God is ready to lift the condemnation of repentant sinners who place their faith and hope on the sacrifice of Christ that culminated in His triumphant resurrection. There is no more condemnation for those who believe in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1).
The final words of Christ on the cross and the ultimate achievement of His resurrection overturned man’s conviction and lifted man’s condemnation. All that God requires for anyone to enjoy these benefits is faith in Jesus Christ who died and rose again.
A blessed Resurrection Sunday to all!
The author is senior pastor of Greenhills Christian Fellowship and president of the Conservative Baptist Association of the Philippines.