During this week, Christians around the world remember the suffering that God’s son, Jesus, the Christ went through.
The recently released movie portraying the last twelve hours of Jesus, has generated much controversy, praise, and maybe most of all new interest in how and why Christ suffered!
It seems remarkable that in a world, where we have been numbed by daily displays of gratuitous violence, we had and outcry about the violence in this movie, which is not based on imagination but on the biblical accounts of prophets of old and the Gospels. Maybe those who protest sympathize with Jesus who takes the cruel blows from the whips, the stinging pain from a crown of thorns pressed on his head, carrying the crushing weight of the cross on his mangled back, while there is no indication of guilt that would deserve such awful treatment.
Then there is the discussion of who really killed him. Was it the Jews, the Romans or are we all responsible for his death?
I’m glad that these questions are being asked. They provide an opportunity to share the answers God’s Word gives us.
Hundreds of years before Jesus would suffer on the cross, the prophet Isaiah said that One would come who would take up our infirmities, carry our sorrows, who would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed by our iniquities. The punishment that would bring us peace was upon HIM, by his wounds we are healed! Isaiah also said, that it was the LORD’S (God’s) will to crush him and cause him to suffer, that the LORD made his life a guilt offering for us all, which means that he took the punishment we all deserved as our substitute.
Our sin is the reason why Jesus, holy and without fault, had to endure the cruelty and hostility of the Cross. He was the only one who could pay the price and restore our relationship with the Creator! He endured it willingly because His love for us is deep and real!
While watching a movie we can tell ourselves that the actors are not really suffering—but on that day, almost 2000 years ago, there were no special effects applied, the pain was real, He really died! Let’s remember it, be thankful for it and share it with our neighbors.
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