Crazy love.....

I sit here late this evening and nothing is on television.  I am done working for the day therefore I sit, sipping my tea and flipping the channels.  Without hesitation, I stop on TBN to watch "The Passion of the Christ".  Mel Gibson directed and co-wrote The Passion and it was released in 2004.  It was so graphic that it resulted in an "R" rating.

The Passion depicts Christ's last 12 hours on earth.  Mel Gibson was standing at a window, contemplating jumping out of it.  He thought it would be easier than going on.  It was then that he was reminded of the Gospels and he stepped from the window and hit his knees crying out - "Help".  It was then that he knew he must make this movie.

I know there is controversy with this movie saying the violence is too much or that the blood and gore took away from the message.  I disagree.  I think this movie is anointed from start to finish.  I have watched it many times and cry each time I watch it.  Not just a tear or two but almost a weeping.  Too much violence?  The 'cat of nine tails' they used to scourge Jesus with was a strap of leather with 9 bands fingering from it and on the end of each of those 9 bands was shards of glass and rock.  When it would make contact with the body, it gripped the flesh and ripped it away.  Scripture says that he was beaten so severely that he was no longer even recognized as a human (Isaiah 52:14-15).  So was the movie brutal? Yes!  Then again, so was Christ's flogging and crucifixion.

But this blog is to not debate on what critics have or have not said - what do they know anyway (haha)?

As I watch the movie, my heart goes towards Mary, Jesus' mother.  I think we tend to forget that Jesus had an earthly mother.  She gave 33 years of HER life into raising him.  She gave birth to him, nursed him, watching him grow, fed him, played with him and taught him.  They had a special bond that only a mother and son can have.

She watched him dragged from the garden, persecuted and then beaten brutally.  As a mother of a son, I could not imagine her thoughts at that moment.  The movie was so beautifully done as the camera focused on not only Jesus but also the emotions his mother was going through.

After he was beaten and taken away, Mary lowered herself to the ground and began to mop up the blood with her cloth.  As a mother, I can understand this.  She was "busying" herself as to not deal with what she just saw and what the inevitable outcome was going to be.  She didn't know what else to do.....so she began to clean up her son's blood.

I think we forget that Jesus was a human man.  He felt the same emotions we did, felt pain and sorrow.  He didn't just magically take the beating and had no pain (although he 'could' have if that had been the will of his Father).  He felt every beating.  He felt every nail.  He. Felt. Everything.  He did it all for us.  Wow.  Mind blown.

As he continues down the road, bearing his cross, he falls.  This particular moment makes my heart break.  Mary watches as her son falls and has a flashback to when he was a toddler and falls on the ground.  He cries out and she rushes to his aide.  That is what mothers do.  They know the sound of their child's cry.  They know, just by the sound of the cry, whether that child is truly in pain.  When the mother knows, she rushes to make sure the child is okay.  That flashback helps us, the viewers, make the connection that she is truly his mother in every sense of the word.  And as Christ falls, she rushes to his aide, knowing the cry he lets out is one of true pain.  As a mother, she wants to fix it.  Only this time.....she cannot.

As the tired and beaten Christ makes his way down the road, he flashes back to merely a week prior.  He is riding the colt donkey into the city and the townspeople are waving palm fronds, excited for his arrival.  Those same people who welcomed him gladly, were now condemning him.  How quickly one's opinions of another can easily be swayed.  His heart must have been broken.

When he falls another time, the soldier says that he cannot go on any more and they grab a man from the crowd, Simon.  After much resistance, he helps Christ carry the cross for fear of punishment.  After a few moments, Christ falls yet again and the townspeople swarm in and start to kick and beat on the already fallen man.  Simon screams and yells at them to stop and says - "If you don't stop I won't carry that cross another step.  I don't care what you do to me."  And they all laugh.  Do we have that kind of spiritual courage?  When people are 'beating' up on our Christ do we yell "STOP, I don't care what you do to me......I will not let you beat up on him any more"?  

Jesus hangs on the cross for 6 hours.  Typically a death on the cross was quick due to blood loss or asphyxiation.  However, as he hung there he called out to his father, feeling forsaken but knowing he hasn't been forgotten (don't we feel that way sometimes?).   He looks down and makes sure that not only his mother is taken care of but his beloved John too.  Then he speaks up and asks God to "forgive them, they know not what they do".  He wasn't only speaking of the men there that day.  He was also speaking about us, you and me.  He was already speaking forgiveness over us before we were even a thought in our parents' heads.  On the cross, beaten and bleeding, just had NAILS put through his hands and feet....and his mind was on his mother, his beloved.....and us.

Then as he dies and they lower him down, Mary looks into the camera.  She is looking at us as if we are to blame.  Whenever something doesn't make sense, we try to make it make sense by casting blame somewhere.  As a mother, she was not only mournful but angry.  Yes, he had to die....but in a mother's heart, she probably hoped there was another way.

But.......we also see the 'devil' howl in pain.  Once Jesus took his last breath, the enemy knew the clock has started and his time was short.  He knew he was defeated.  After 3 days, Christ resurrects (there are over 500 different accounts of people seeing the resurrected Christ) and is sure to show himself to his mother and those closest to him before ascending into heaven with promises of a return.

As I said, this movie makes me cry.  However, I feel that watching it helps me realize exactly what he went through.  I have watched other movies depicting Jesus (Jesus of Nazareth was a household favorite growing up) but never have I felt such strong emotions watching one as I do this one.  Never have I seen one depict the brutality of the last few hours of Christ's life.  We need to see that.  We need to understand the price he paid for us.  He did that all for US.  He didn't do it for himself, his mother or even God himself.  He did it so we can live eternally with HIM.

That's some crazy love right there.

Think outside the box....

 
When I mention the "Great Commission" around Bible reading believers, they generally know what I mean.


"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20


It seems like a pretty cut and dried command, in my opinion.  "Go", "Make", "Teach" - those are all action words.  Jesus meant for us to be in continual motion.


I enjoy church.  I think those that say 'you don't need church' are missing the mark.  Church is like our spiritual supermarket.  If we didn't go to the supermarket and get food, we would starve.  Sure, we could survive on what we had around the house to sustain us for a little while but we would be malnourished.  The same goes for our spiritual health.  If we do not go to church and get 'fed' the Word, we will starve.  Yes, we can feed ourselves but not having other believers to pour into us will make us spiritually malnourished.


However, as much as I love going to church and meeting God there, it isn't what Jesus commanded us to do.  He didn't say - "Get up on Sundays and go to a building, worship me for 45 minutes, listen to a message for 30 minutes, then go to lunch.  In a week, rinse and repeat."  Jesus was a doer.  He was never in a place where he was at a stale-mate.  He was a mover and a shaker.  He was constantly looking for opportunities to not only help those around him but to be an example to those listening.


Perfect example is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.  He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.  So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”


As the story begins, we see that that Jesus was just passing through Jericho, minding his business.  Enter Zacchaeus into the story.  Right off the get go, it states who he was "a chief tax collector and wealthy".  In Biblical times, tax collectors were viewed as the lowest low even though they were wealthy.  Their wealth came from other people's money, therefore they were not liked very well because they would beat on your door, demanding taxes and if you didn't have it, they would take your home, children, crops, livestock, etc.  They would connive and lie to get it.  Even so, Zacchaeus had heard about this Jesus and wanted to see him but was too short to see over the crowd.


At this point in time, Jesus' reputation had gotten around so wherever he went crowds would gather.  Even though it says Jesus was just passing through, a crowd had already gathered, waiting to see what Jesus was going to do or what miracle he might perform.   So, Zacchaeus saw Jesus coming his way, and he climbed up into a tree to see him.  The Bible says when Jesus got to the tree, "he looked up".  The man did not yell out to Jesus.  He did not drop a stick on his head.  He merely climbed up the tree and waited.  Jesus was the one who looked up.  He was the one who saw Zacchaeus and called out to him.


The people grew angry because Jesus was going to stay at this "sinner's" house.  However, once Zacchaeus experienced the acceptance of Jesus, he offered to turn his life around and make right what was wrong.  Jesus claimed that salvation came to this HOUSE (not just Zacchaeus himself but his house, meaning those inside it) and he clearly stated that the "Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost".


"Seek" and "Save", again - action words.


How often do we leave the comfort of our four walled church and look for those waiting for someone to meet them, to help them, and share the good news?  Jesus was merely passing by and he looked up at Zacchaeus.  He saw him perched in that tree.  Jesus had to look up and above where he was to see a person that was going down the wrong path and needed the realization that there was better.  

We live in communities where people are watching the churched.  They are seeing us get out of our vehicles on Sunday morning, laugh and fellowship in the parking lot on a Wednesday evening, eat and pray over our lunch.....they are sitting in that tree, watching us and waiting for us to lift our heads and take notice of them - to see them and say, "Come down and let me help you".  We don't have to throw the Bible at their heads to get them to come down, sometimes all we need to do is NOTICE them, to accept them for who they are and where they are at - to be seen with them even when society says they are worthless. - to show them love when they feel unloved. 

When Jesus reached out to Zacchaeus, his entire household was saved.  All because a short man couldn't see over the crowd and climbed a tree.


It is a simple concept that many of us have forgotten to grab a hold of.


"Go"
"Make"
"Teach"
"Seek"
"Save"

Church is an amazing thing.  God tells us to not forgo assembly.  It is important.  However, let's not forget that there is an entire world out there, lost and trying to get a glimpse of hope and some will even climb a tree to see it, waiting for us to take notice when we are just passing through. Church isn't merely inside 4 walls.  4 walls is a box and as Christ-followers.....we need to think outside the box.