Why you didn't 'get it' my friend, but hoping you still might
before it's too late,
I am not even an occasional moviegoer; they're overpriced and
almost never worth it. But I knew I had to make the trek to see
'this' one, and force myself to watch it nevertheless. I went
there to watch a friend I have known for a while now, a brother,
Who happened to be God made man, suffer the horrific tortures and
ultimately die due to them, being so much pinned like a gutted
pig to what was basically a tree by his fellow man.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus, the second Person of the
Trinity, was the instrument by which all those things were
created, ultimately. The wood of the cross, the thorns, the
nails, the spears, and the hands which drove them into His Body.
You do not, fair enough.
We further believe He obeyed His Father, the First Person of the
Trinity, to leave the Glory He shared with His Father in Heaven,
and allow Himself to become a human being, quite a step down in
nature for one such as He.
We believe He did so because it was necessary for the 'Ultimate
Sacrifice' to be made, for God Himself in actuality, to become
the innocent Lamb, to shed it's innocent blood to once and for
all expiate the sins of mankind. The entire Old Testament, not
just the Torah, is in part the story of how God demanded the
sacrifice of innocent blood upon the Mercy Seat in the Holy of
Holies to atone for the sins of the guilty, and unless that blood
be guiltless, that expiation of sins could not take place. You do
not, and that is fair enough too.
We believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of Mosaic
Law set out in the Torah, as well as the prophets who predicted
His arrival, and inevitable rejection by the people of Israel,
and his being 'cut off', or killed by them, just as they did to
the prophets before Him, after He had given them the opportunity
to accept Him for Who he claimed to be.
At whichever point in His life or ministry Jesus came to
understand which of the two aspects of the Messianic prophecies
predicting His coming, the suffering servant, or triumphant king
would actually be His fate, is debatable.
I myself believe that He finally realized His fate during His
Passion, beginning where the film starts, not surprisingly. For
me, it was one of the most 'moving' parts of the movie, watching
his heart and soul being tormented inside out, knowing what His
own loving Father was ultimately asking of Him in the end, and
His finally acquiescing to that Will. Jesus knew the Scriptures
well, such as Isaiah which held out the two paths, and might have
hoped to avoid the 'suffering servant' role. After all, just a
couple days before, He was greeted by thousands while riding on a
donkey entering Jerusalem, hailed as the 'Son of David' claiming
His own.
Now, less than 72 hours later, His own Father was telling Him
that that was not to be the outcome, after all. Not only that,
while telling Him this the Father began to pile on top of Jesus'
soul the total lifetime sins of each and every human being who
ever lived, and ever would. Mine, yours, everyone's. One human
life, given in exchange for all. But it would be for all those
humans to either accept that 'idea', or reject it.
You rejected it, so be it. That is your God-given free will, that
most terrible of gifts He has given us, should we use it
unwisely.
We have not. We accepted it the free gift, one quite undeserved
and quite unrepayable. But it was offered to us, and we chose,
unlike you and most, to say yes. When we did, the hour that we
first truly believed, God began to give us the first downpayment
of that 'promise', the instillment of the Holy Spirit, the Third
Person of the Trinity within our own souls, to act as
'comforter', 'instructor', and 'convictor'.
As 'convictor', the Holy Spirit shows us our sins, how much they
hurt Him, the Father, and especially how much they re-crucify the
Son, all over again, if we choose to continue to sin, and not do
His Will that He has put before us, those who would follow the
Lamb of God, His Son Jesus the Christ.
As Saint Paul, whom you dismiss as a fellow 'murderer' of Christ,
said, to paraphrase, 'Although I know the good I must do, I find
myself being unable to do it, and the bad that I know I must not
do, I cannot help myself but succumb to it'.
We are all only human beings, just as much as Jesus *actually*
became 2,000 years ago, no more, and no less in a very real
sense. He was just as susceptible to the temptations we all face
day in and day out, but whereas our Faith fails us, allowing us
to actually stumble to at least some of them, His was so strong
as to be able to avoid doing so.
But the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit know only too well what
it means to be human, as what Jesus endured, not only during His
Passion, but throughout His life, was equally shared by Them as
well. I'm sure They already had a fairly good idea what it meant
to be human already, but the fact of Jesus' life could only have
reinforced and bolstered that knowledge.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus was sent to die for us, just
so we who choose to take the gift offered to us, can one day
enter the Gates of Heaven, and be with Them, and all our brothers
and sisters throughout time who also believed, forevermore. You
choose to believe that you can somehow enter that Heavenly Realm
through some non-existing backdoor, and that is entirely your
right as well.
And, as we make our way through life, suffering the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune just as much as anybody else on this
mortal coil, we stumble along that path, continually. But we also
know that the Gift, the redemption of our souls, saving them from
eternal damnation, shall not be suddenly revoked because of that
tendency. To err is human, to forgive, Divine, after all.
We understand that we cannot understand God. We cannot understand
the depths of His Mercy for us, why He cares so much for wretches
such as we ALL are. We just understand that He does forgive us
when we do, and when we actually understand the entire process,
thanks to the Holy Spirit within us that first convicts us, then
comforts, then instructs, we grab the Hand extended to us from
above, and brush off the dirt and mud, and start anew, with fresh
robes, the beginning of a brand new day. The past not forgotten,
God forbid, but merely forgiven. What doesn't kill us can only
make us stronger, to use an old hackneyed but useful cliche.
God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die
that one time, so we, His adopted children, never would suffer
that 'second death' of Judgment, where we were destined to
arrive, deservedly, ultimately, had the Son not accepted His
Father's Will for Him.
Even so, I believe that even without the Father asking, that
Jesus would have walked into His suicide mission willingly
nonetheless, and endure what He knew He had to on our behalf
alone, for those those the Father had given into His Hand, those
written in the Book of Life, and even all those not written
therein, that He'd do it each time for each of those lives, and
that He actually does go through it again as He watches us from
above, as we torture Him with our neverending, deliberate
sinning. He forgives us, all of us, for what we have done, and
are still doing to Him.
And that is a Love that transcends all reason, no matter how much
of a "keen intellect" one may possess while pondering such
matters. The human brain by itself is incapable of grasping that
particular depth of emotion, of 'knowledge'. It requires a heart
and a soul, possessed by the Holy Ghost itself to even begin to
'understand', albeit even then in the most feeblest of attempts.
It is a Love Personified in the Divine, and vice versa.
That is why we forced ourselves to watch such graphic and
horrific images on a screen, Michael. We already knew the story,
we already knew the outcome, we already knew the horrors because
the Holy Spirit already 'showed' us within our souls before we
stepped onto the theatre's steps. We just merely needed to be
reminded of it, in all its flesh-ripping goriness, nail-pounding,
blood-dripping realism, knowing that it was our friend, our
brother, our Lord who suffered those things on our behalf (ALL of
us...), because of that awesome, indescribable Love. A Love that
promised Life eternal to those would believe in it.
Whereas a lot of people saw only brutality, torture, thorns,
nails, chains, spears, gore, death, hatred, racism, and came out
of the theatre muttering to themselves wondering what the damned
'point' was, there were others, daubing the tears and snot from
our eyes and nose, saying to ourselves 'mea culpa, Lord, mea
culpa, Jesus, I am *so* sorry for what *I* put you through...'
We had no lingering hatred of Jews, or (Italianized) Romans, or
false Christians, atheists or anybody else for that matter to
begin with, and surely didn't have even the glimmerings of the
beginnings of such a pathos when we walked out.
Mel Gibson understood as much when he insisted that his own hands
be the ones filmed driving in the nails during the Crucifixion
scene. Yet you condemn him, and slander his motives, whether it
be some pre-existing anti-semitism, vainglory, or greed. We well
understand the root reason behind such hateful accusations, that
being primarily fear, of not being found 'worthy' to be in the
same category as ourselves, that you are somehow condemned
forever by Him, and by us as well.
As none of us are able to somehow supernaturally make you *see*
what we see, who admit to never have seen in the first place, we
equally are unable to do the same for those among us who merely
claim to be our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith, yet
never were. Jesus warned us of both false christs and false
christians both, and we should not be held liable for the vicious
and vile things that they have thought, said and done in His Name
throughout history. And that goes whether they were beggars or
Popes.
If you are going to judge us, and Christianity itself, judge us
by those who actually *do* follow the teachings of Jesus Christ,
and not by those who just say we do, who merely go through the
motions. The New Testament is absolutely replete with warnings
against those types, and for the rest of us to beware of them in
our midst, not least of which were from the lips of Jesus
Himself.
More than anything else the Man hated hypocrisy, especially from
those who say they see, and understand, and deign to judge others
by their own standards and not God's. And if He railed against
the Pharisees in His day for doing so, knowing that He was
committing suicide for it, what do you think He has in store for
those who claim to know Him, love Him, and follow Him to others,
yet do the opposite by their very words and actions?
As a self-admitted hypocrite of the worst kind described above, I
apologize for my words and actions that were not befitting one
who claims to follow Him. I am a pig of a human being, absolutely
the worst scum of the earth.
And yet, He forgives me, and reaches down while still in the dust
and muck of my own making, once again, sets me on my feet. He
gives me a brand new robe, and says for the 40 millionth time,
'Okay, let's try again, from the top', and we put that old rugged
Cross upon our backs, and trudge on towards Golgotha, Calvary,
together.
Fade to black, and bring up the movie credits. Yet it's the
neverending story of a Christian, every day.
Despite the uncontrollable, violent shaking of my hands trying to
light a cigarette shortly afterwards seeing the movie, and the
fact that I got less than an hour's sleep that night, trying to
force those images out of my mind as I lay restless in bed, I
also felt the unmistakable presence of the 'Comforter', as I
stared blankly into the ceiling, wondering why I could not sleep.
It was He, Himself, the Big Guy portrayed on the screen, in
Person, telling me He was with me while I watched it. He was with
me before, and He is with me as I write these words to you. And
unless I leave Him, He has NO intention of leaving me, ever. And
He is making that same vow to you, absolutely NO LESS. He is no
respecter of individuals, nobody is somehow 'more' important than
others to Him; we are all totally equal in His and His Father's
Eyes. His arms are always wide open, to even the most despicable
people we can conceive of; sometimes it seems even more so
because of it. But that too is only relative perception.
Sometimes you have to be lying flat out on your back to be able
to *see* it at the right angle.
If I could, I would buy you and I a ticket to that movie, and
force myself to sit through it again, myself only hearing the
sounds. I wouldn't be watching it, looking at the cellulose film
strip. I would have my eyes closed, praying for you to *see*, for
you to finally 'get it'. If you still want to debate the rest of
it, what the false Christians did to whom, the various population
sizes of certain faiths, that's fine. Let me know.
Jesus recognized Saint Paul for what he 'actually' was, on the
road to Damascus. I'll give you the benefit of the same ultimate
doubt, for His sake. Although it be frightfully fleeting, where
there is still life, there is still hope.
Dan Millar
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