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« Responding to the Trayvon Martin Tragedy | Main | Viewing the Crucifixion in a Different Light »
April 3, 2012Avoiding the Cross
It’s so much easier—and less painful—not to think about the reality of what Jesus went through. And yet, it’s essential.
And so the Cross—the mind-numbingly painful and brutal reality of it all—well, it’s hard for me to swallow.
Several years back when The Passion of the Christ came out on DVD, we bought a copy. My bright idea was to watch it every Good Friday as an aid in contemplating Christ’s suffering and death.
It literally took me four years to follow up on that idea. For four Good Fridays in a row, despite my determination to go through with it, I just couldn’t bring myself to watch it. (I’d seen it in the theater, so I knew—very distinctly—what I was avoiding.)
The Crucifixion was not pretty and worship-inspiring, like some beautiful serene-faced marble sculpture of Christ on the cross. The reality of the Crucifixion is intense pain, blood, and gore—complete agony.
But it’s not just the violence itself that’s upsetting and unsettling. It’s why that violence happened that can be so difficult to come to terms with.
Here at my desk, it feels somewhat safe, spiritual, and academic to think and write about the Crucifixion—how through that act Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and vanquished death’s power in our lives. How on that cross Jesus bridged the gap between humanity and God, enabling us to have a restored and intimate relationship with our Creator.
But I write from the safety of distance and time. I’m not in first-century Palestine, watching it. Hearing it. Indeed even smelling it.
When I really face off with the Cross, I’m brought to my knees in my own agony over what I’ve done—what I still do—that put him there. I’m chastened, put right, and reoriented by the Cross. As Isaac Watts so poignantly put it, “When I survey the wondrous cross . . . [I] pour contempt on all my pride.”
Last year on Good Friday I finally got up the gumption to do it: I watched The Passion of the Christ and contemplated what Jesus did for me that day. It was just as horrible as I thought it would be.
But I’ll be doing it again this year . . . because I need the reminder that there’s no safe PG-version of the Cross. It’s not tame or palatable, but in its gravity we get a glimpse of the incomprehensible depth of Jesus’ love. We cry with Mary at the foot of the cross . . . but, wonderfully, we also join Christians across the centuries in proclaiming, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!”
Comments
Hi, great article, I enjoyed it, but I don't see what it has to do with the upcoming Hellbound documentary in the subtitle of the article? The whole article doesn't even mention the documentary. Just thought maybe you had the articles mixed up or something.
Posted By: Nina | April 3, 2012 4:26 PM
Thanks, Nina! You were right, it was an incorrect deck on our part! It is fixed now.
Posted By: Ashley | April 4, 2012 10:08 AM
Thank you for this reminder that without Good Friday, there is no Easter. We can't have the celebration without the pain. And to think that is was for us that He did it. "And buried He carried, our sins far away . . Oh glorious day!"
Posted By: Laura @ Cornerstones for Parents | April 6, 2012 5:28 PM
I'm nearly as bad about violence as you, Ashley. I never did watch Passion and, unless the Lord tells me otherwise, I never will.
As a girl I hated hearing about Jesus' pain, and the thought of the nails was unbearable...
I wrote on somewhat the same lines on Monday, but I like how you bring out that it was MY SIN that did that to Jesus. How can I do anything but worship and serve the ONE willing to do that for me?
Posted By: Cheri | April 6, 2012 7:16 PM
The scene in the movie that still sticks with me (I didn't see it in the theater and it took me 3 or 4 years to decide to watch it at home) was not so much the whipping and beating, but the scene where Jesus has been left slouching on a bench alone, ignored by the soldiers and everyone else. That's too often where I am, looking at a Jesus wounded and bleeding for me and just not paying him any attention at all.
Posted By: Gretchen | April 7, 2012 4:27 AM
yes, i hate anything violence too and i watched passion of Christ once, couldn't stand it.God will help me to appreciate what He did for me more and walk rightly with Him.
Posted By: Naomi | April 11, 2012 6:40 AM
The Passion is rough to watch, no doubt. But you know what makes it even more difficult? The movie is sanitized. The first century practices were event worse than the movie depicts.
Thank You, Lord.
Posted By: Michael | May 4, 2012 1:05 PM