When asked if I have seen the movies “The Passion
of the Christ,” or “Son of God” I want to say, “No, I haven’t paid to watch the
torture, humiliation, and murder of my best friend and brother. But thank you
for asking.”
And I despise sermons that exploit the
agony of the crucifixion—the stripe by stripe, blow by blow, gasp by gasp
description of Roman cruelty.
First and foremost, such sermons are not
Biblical. If God had wanted Christians to be guilt-ridden by the appalling
physical aspect of Christ’s passion, you would think at least one of the four
gospel writers would have gone that direction. Instead, in regard to the actual
manner of death, we have this:
Matthew: “When they had crucified him. . .”
Mark:
“And they crucified him.”
Luke: “. . .
there they crucified him . . .”
John: “When the soldiers crucified Jesus . . .”
Second, if the point of Christ’s death
were the pain, there are hundreds, if not thousands of more dreadful ends. For
one, He could, like my own mother, live to be over 90 and die of multiple,
painful conditions that kill by inches. Or he could have simply remained on the
cross for the typical two to three days instead of dying after six hours.
I do not mean to downplay Christ’s
physical suffering, but, over the centuries, tens of thousands of human beings
have been and are being crucified.
Only one had the power to save himself
yet willingly chose to die.
Only one lived a sinless life and chose to die as a
sinner.
Only one died for me.
Only one is still living.
