The Passion of the Christ

This in no way is a criticism of those who watched the 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ, or even of the movie itself. If you were blessed by watching it, praise the Lord. This is an explanation of how it affected me.

I was raised in Mexico during my formative youth. I attended Mexican schools and was fully integrated into Mexican culture. Mexico in the '50s and ‘60s was Catholic, and Catholicism in Mexico was strongly pagan. It was a mixture of tribal witchcraft and mysticism and was definitely NOT Christian. Because of the false Christianity in the Catholic church, true Christians called themselves "evangelicals" rather than Christians.

Good Friday, the remembrance of the crucifixion, was a major event in the Catholic church, while His resurrection was largely ignored. Elaborate reenactments of the crucifixion were performed in every village with gruesome portrayals of Christ's suffering. I have even seen a man actually nailed to a cross during one of these festivals. These were pagan festivals done by a pagan religion.

I saw The Passion of the Christ many years ago, and I wouldn't want to see it again. To me it represents paganism in every way. The physical sufferings of Christ were way overblown. No human could endure the amount of blood loss depicted in the movie.

Yes, Christ did suffer physically before and during his crucifixion. But the physical suffering was not the cause of his death. On the way to Golgotha, after being mocked and flogged, Jesus was ministering to the needs of others. While being nailed to the cross he was concerned for the souls of the soldiers. Even on the cross he took time to care for his mother and the thief dying next to him. It was not that suffering that caused his death. In fact, nothing caused his death. He willingly, on his own, gave up his life.

The suffering that Christ bore on the cross was not due to Roman centurions, but was the result of him taking on my sin, which caused him to be separated for the first time in eternity from his father. Though that relationship was restored following his resurrection, there is the continual memory of that one painful separation. That is evident in John's Revelation, where he sees the Lamb "as though it had been slain".

I felt the movie over-emphasized his physical suffering but largely missed the spiritual suffering, likely because the author did not understand it.

If you were blessed by the movie, if it brought you closer to Jesus, praise the Lord. But for me it reminded me that the sufferings of Christ, the pain he endured, was not caused by the Roman soldiers or the nails in his hands and feet, but it was my personal sin that bound him to the cross.

Had Jesus remained on the cross, had the tomb not burst open, I would be, of all men, most miserable, having caused the death of the Messiah. But three days later death was defeated, Jesus bust forth from the grave, never to die again. And I am forgiven!

Hallelujah!