I am showing The Passion of the Christ (yes, the whole thing) this Friday night at our Good Friday service. If you were to come, you would enter a dark room lit by candles. You would enter in silence and sit meditatively - expectantly. The night will start with a brief explanation of the series of events of the passion week, so everyone knows how Good Friday fits in to the broader progression. You would then be led through worship music and scripture meditation to consider the cross. You would then hear a brief message on the purpose and value of substitutionary atonement followed by communion, silence, and then a showing of the movie.
I know - old news - the movie has been around for over 5 years now. I know churches have been showing clips of it every Easter since. So, here is my confession. I didn't watch the movie when it came out - or when it was recut and re-released the next year...or when it came to DVD. In fact, I didn't watch it until this week.
Why?
Lot's of reasons, I suppose.
I was turned off by the hyper-spiritual buzz blitz ("The most significant thing to hit the world since Jesus!" ... "What?! You haven't seen it? You Spirit-quenching Jesus-hater!"). I tend to preemptively dislike anything that the Christian Media Conglomerates pick up and insist is essential for Christian growth and happiness (ie, it makes them money). I confess up front that there is likely a good dose of pride wrapped up in that disgust, but I am also sure it is also influenced in some degree by simple common sense and good taste. And I also confess that my wide net of preemptive disgust will occasionally throw the baby out with the bathwater. I don't know if you remember the incredibly effective media blitz Mel's people orchestrated for this movie - but it was so effective and the buzz got so intense that it ensured I would not watch the movie for years after it came out.
In addition to the media hype and in-Christian-sanity surrounding the release of the movie, I chose not to see it for personal reasons as well. When the movie was released in 2004, I had just finished teaching at our church through a series in Philippians 2 where I studied and taught about the crucifixion in depth. You would think that would have whetted my appetite to see the movie - but it actually acted exactly the opposite. I already knew more than I wanted - the last thing I wanted at that point was to actually SEE it. I am pretty sure that, were I present at a real, physical crucifixion, I would have averted my eyes for the most part and covered the eyes of my children.
Beyond the hype, there were some minor theological issues. I didn't like the intense focus on the physical sufferings of Jesus - to the complete exclusion of the spiritual reality that made the cross so important (substitutionary atonement / 2 Corinthians 5:21). The flogging of Jesus and the crucifixion are summarized in only a few verses in each of the gospels - the writers clearly didn't feel like they needed to give a lot of gory details. Beyond that, he suffered the same painful, humiliating death as hundreds (thousands?) of others men did before and after him.
What made his death unique was not that it was by crucifixion. It was unique because he died not for his own sin but for ours as our substitute before the wrath of a holy God. He not only suffered the pain and humiliation of flogging and crucifixion, he also suffered an inexplicable and incomprehensible spiritual pain as God, his father, destroyed sin him, the Son of his Delight.
(The cameo appearance of a mythical saint didn't help me like it any better, either.)
So, considering all of this - why would I show it at my service?
Good question. First of all, it dawned on me that many of our college students were in middle school when this movie came out. They may remember the hype, but they have likely not seen it unless they came from a religious home...so that makes it missionally valuable in reaching the unchurched. We live media-drenched society in which everyone knows that "Jesus died on a cross" and that "Jesus died for sinners." It is a comfortable and ignorable phrase. And the cross, once a symbol of shame and suffering, has become fashionable bling that has no meaning.
Using media, the language of our generation, to communicate the genuine shock value of the suffering of crucifixion can, I believe, be effective in getting people to start asking the right questions.
So what was my reaction when I watched the film? I was emotionally moved in a healthy way as I considered what Jesus willingly suffered for me. Strangely, the part that hit me the hardest came very early on when Peter betrayed Jesus. His confusion, anger, and disappointment in himself were palpable to me. I could relate with him in that moment and I was moved to tears.
Why am I sharing any of this? Who knows - because I needed to write something to get my ADD brain to settle down and focus, I guess. I can now focus to work on the four messages I am giving over the next four days. I do hope and pray, though, that the living savior - who was, who was not, and is now alive again - will use our feeble efforts to continue drawing many more to himself.
I know - old news - the movie has been around for over 5 years now. I know churches have been showing clips of it every Easter since. So, here is my confession. I didn't watch the movie when it came out - or when it was recut and re-released the next year...or when it came to DVD. In fact, I didn't watch it until this week.
Why?
Lot's of reasons, I suppose.
I was turned off by the hyper-spiritual buzz blitz ("The most significant thing to hit the world since Jesus!" ... "What?! You haven't seen it? You Spirit-quenching Jesus-hater!"). I tend to preemptively dislike anything that the Christian Media Conglomerates pick up and insist is essential for Christian growth and happiness (ie, it makes them money). I confess up front that there is likely a good dose of pride wrapped up in that disgust, but I am also sure it is also influenced in some degree by simple common sense and good taste. And I also confess that my wide net of preemptive disgust will occasionally throw the baby out with the bathwater. I don't know if you remember the incredibly effective media blitz Mel's people orchestrated for this movie - but it was so effective and the buzz got so intense that it ensured I would not watch the movie for years after it came out.
In addition to the media hype and in-Christian-sanity surrounding the release of the movie, I chose not to see it for personal reasons as well. When the movie was released in 2004, I had just finished teaching at our church through a series in Philippians 2 where I studied and taught about the crucifixion in depth. You would think that would have whetted my appetite to see the movie - but it actually acted exactly the opposite. I already knew more than I wanted - the last thing I wanted at that point was to actually SEE it. I am pretty sure that, were I present at a real, physical crucifixion, I would have averted my eyes for the most part and covered the eyes of my children.
Beyond the hype, there were some minor theological issues. I didn't like the intense focus on the physical sufferings of Jesus - to the complete exclusion of the spiritual reality that made the cross so important (substitutionary atonement / 2 Corinthians 5:21). The flogging of Jesus and the crucifixion are summarized in only a few verses in each of the gospels - the writers clearly didn't feel like they needed to give a lot of gory details. Beyond that, he suffered the same painful, humiliating death as hundreds (thousands?) of others men did before and after him.
What made his death unique was not that it was by crucifixion. It was unique because he died not for his own sin but for ours as our substitute before the wrath of a holy God. He not only suffered the pain and humiliation of flogging and crucifixion, he also suffered an inexplicable and incomprehensible spiritual pain as God, his father, destroyed sin him, the Son of his Delight.
(The cameo appearance of a mythical saint didn't help me like it any better, either.)
So, considering all of this - why would I show it at my service?
Good question. First of all, it dawned on me that many of our college students were in middle school when this movie came out. They may remember the hype, but they have likely not seen it unless they came from a religious home...so that makes it missionally valuable in reaching the unchurched. We live media-drenched society in which everyone knows that "Jesus died on a cross" and that "Jesus died for sinners." It is a comfortable and ignorable phrase. And the cross, once a symbol of shame and suffering, has become fashionable bling that has no meaning.
Using media, the language of our generation, to communicate the genuine shock value of the suffering of crucifixion can, I believe, be effective in getting people to start asking the right questions.
So what was my reaction when I watched the film? I was emotionally moved in a healthy way as I considered what Jesus willingly suffered for me. Strangely, the part that hit me the hardest came very early on when Peter betrayed Jesus. His confusion, anger, and disappointment in himself were palpable to me. I could relate with him in that moment and I was moved to tears.
Why am I sharing any of this? Who knows - because I needed to write something to get my ADD brain to settle down and focus, I guess. I can now focus to work on the four messages I am giving over the next four days. I do hope and pray, though, that the living savior - who was, who was not, and is now alive again - will use our feeble efforts to continue drawing many more to himself.
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