Friday to Sunday – Death to Life – Crucifixion to Resurrection

Today is Saturday, April 11, 2020 the Sabbath.  I sit here at my Laptop thinking, relaxing and writing down what comes to mind on this day.  Last night, I sat and watched for the second time, The Passion of Christ produced and directed by Mel Gibson.  Watching the Passion of Christ had the same impact on me as it did the first time, I saw the movie in the theater of Easter 2004 when it was released.  I will share some thoughts with you I collected while watching for the second time (I have the DVD).

1]  I was in tears when the movie opened with Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus was struggling knowing what was to come; he had to drink the cup of which was set before him.  Jesus was in great agony and his sweat was like great drops of blood (Luke 22:42-44; John 18:11).  I wrote a brief paper many years ago on the Garden of Gethsemane.  The Garden of Gethsemane lay at the foot of the Mount of Olives.  Gethsemane is Greek originating from Aramaic meaning, “Olive Press.”  What a powerful image; Jesus was under the weight of the press.  And so I cried.

2]  Judas Iscariot, a man blinded by his good intentions, his advocacy for the marginalized and his fight for the cause of justice.  As a Social Worker, I so well understood Judas.  Judas was not a bad or evil person; just lost but he was not hopeless; his hope was mis-directed.  Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him: Judas was considered a friend in whom Jesus trusted (Psalm 41:9; Matthew 26:47-50).  I recall in Sunday School when I was small boy one of our teachers sharing with us that Judas would not be in heaven but going to hell.  I sat there confused but remembered thinking; “Judas only betrayed Jesus because he wanted Jesus to fight.”  Judas had no intentions of having Jesus crucified.”  I thought that we were so quick to judge Judas.  Judas did repent; he gave back the money saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matthew 27:3-5).  Judas hung himself, seeing no hope and receiving no forgiveness.  I still wonder to this day, would Judas have known salvation had he asked, looked for it?  Peter denied Jesus three times and wept bitterly (Luke 22:54-62).  But early, in this same passage, Jesus tells Peter that he prayed for him.  Peter was forgiven because the writer of John’s Gospel tells us Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved him.

3]  The Sanhedrin, a group of Pharisees and Sadducees were threatened by the very existence of Jesus.  This group represented the leaders of Judaism, they had their own laws and Temple guards, separate from the Roman Government.  The Pharisees loved and gloated over their own recognition in public and having the people observe laws, rituals and traditions but they themselves did not adhere to them (Matthew 23).  Jesus said in quoting the Old Testament, “These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8).  The Pharisees loved power more than God and plotted to have Jesus killed because they were afraid that their position would be taken away by Roman rule, “expedient that one man die” (John 11:47-50).  I wonder, where we are as a church today? Are we like the Pharisees or are we like those who are the followers of Jesus?

4]  Satan, the devil was dressed in a black hooded robe with a face resembling somewhat of a snake.  He was seen in the Passion of Christ challenging Jesus and tempting others to act devilishly.  The message surrounding the Passion of Christ was not of man with a group of growing followers hated by a group of religious leaders feeling threatened and fearing they would lose everything.  The message was about the spiritual war fare behind the conflict.  Jesus came to save sinners, to offer himself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.  Satan did all he could to prevent Jesus from going to the cross.  “Not my will, but yours,” Jesus prayed that night in the Garden.

5]  Finally, the beating, the lashes and the thrashing of the leather whips with pieces of metal that tore into the flesh as Jesus he was scourged.  I cried, I so cried.  I remember the first time I cried watching the crucifixion of Jesus in the movie, The Greatest Story Ever Told.  I was 16 years old in my bedroom watching the movie by myself on a black and white TV.  The rest of family were downstairs in the living room.  I realized then what Jesus went through, what I know I could not physically; he went through it for me, just for me.  Watching the Passion of Christ the first time in the theater, I cried then.  The scene was so graphic that I could not even imagine going through what Jesus went through.  Everyone in that theater in 2004 walked out in tears.

6]  It is not too late to believe and confess that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh.  The thief who hung on the cross to Jesus’s right confessed that he deserved the punishment for his crime.  The thief asked that Jesus to remember him when Jesus entered his kingdom (Luke 23:39-43).  Jesus assured this thief that he would be with him in paradise.  It is never too late to find forgiveness, never too late to be free from the chains of sin, never too late to find salvation.  Watching the Passion of Christ brought me back to the cross; at the foot never forget what Jesus did for me so that I might be free. 

In closing, Jesus means so much me.  Yes, I am not perfect; I will never be perfect.  But thank God through Jesus Christ, I am an offender (sinner) saved by grace, His Grace.  Jesus sacrificed his life so that I, we might have life and have this life more abundantly.  I wrote a song years ago based on Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”  The Passion of Christ does not in the death of Jesus.  The final scene, the end of the movie was Jesus rising to leave the tomb; going from Friday to Sunday, from Death to Life, from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection.  Jesus is Alive!  He sits at the right hand of God the Father and He will come again!

Below is the song I wrote.  I recorded it last night (Friday) and dedicated it to my cousin, Lisa for her birthday posting the link on her Facebook virtual birthday party page.  Lisa is an essential worker, a Chaplin on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic at Oregon State Hospital; she is a living sacrifice and I love her dearly.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMDLKngFrYk




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