Sorrow makes a man think of God

I found consolation in Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ

By MARK PICKUP
Special to the WCR

Even if The Passion of the Christ didn't make a penny, it would have been worth producing and viewing to illustrate the extent of Christ's suffering. Observing the Lenten season come and go, I must confess, over the years I've become dispassionate about the Passion of our Lord.

The eve of the Easter season was a fitting time to shake up spiritual blockheads like myself. Our Lord paid a dreadful price to reconcile humanity to God. The Passion of the Christ is a blockbuster in more ways than one. People are actually talking again about Christ's sacrifice.

The Crucifixion

Much of our post-Christian culture simply cannot comprehend nor identify with the point of the Passion of Jesus Christ. Either that or the culture understands all too well the meaning and implications of the Passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ - but utterly rejects it.

This is the way it's been throughout the centuries: St. Paul spoke of the message of the cross being a stumbling block and foolishness to people of his time (1 Corinthians 1:23). The mysterious paradox of the Passion of Christ is that, throughout the ages, it has preceded immense peace and hope in the lives of millions of people, and changed countless human hearts for the better. I am one of those people.

I watched the Passion of the Christ from my electric wheelchair and wept. For 20 years I have suffered with the slow physical degeneration from multiple sclerosis. My body has gone from being strong, agile and athletic to painful spastic rigidity. My left arm is the only limb unaffected by MS. The Passion of the Christ touched at me at the deepest human and spiritual level.

I need a Messiah who understands physical and soul-pain, and thanks be to God, I found him. I need to know he suffered more than I have ever suffered, that my agony will never match his. Christ knows the point of no return in physical destruction. I find great comfort in that - contemplating the Passion of Christ. It's unbelievable that he willingly submitted to the torture, rejection and sorrow of the Passion out of love for the likes of me.

I need a film like The Passion of the Christ to remind me, in no uncertain terms, that I am not alone in my harrowing torment. Christ understands that physical suffering is just the tip of the iceberg. Emotional and spiritual suffering dwarfs physical pain as is implied in "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).

Christ's Passion should serve as a reminder to humanity that essential truth closest to the heart of God is often cloaked in paradox.

Out of his pain comes our healing; out of Christ's apparent defeat comes the ultimate victory: Victory over death itself.

The Christian faith is filled with paradoxes: In life we find death; in death we find life. The ultimate freedom and liberty comes from surrender and submission to the will of God.

In our own strength we find weakness but in our weakness God gives us strength. He who tries to preserve his own life will lose it.

St. Paul spoke of a paradox of the cross: "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). My own paradox is this: The sicker I become, the more evident Christ's presence becomes. Perhaps that is the healing for which I have so steadfastly prayed.

Watching the depiction of Christ being mercilessly flogged at the whipping-post, until he could bear no more, then the cruel Roman soldiers dragging him away from the blood-soaked pillar, broke my heart.

The Scriptures foretold Christ's Passion hundreds of years before the terrible event: "But he was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins. Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole. By his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

This only makes sense when one sees himself as a sinner before a perfect and holy God who cannot tolerate sin. To ask a perfect and holy God to accept sin is to ask him to be less than God.

It's your choice

The Scriptures tell us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22). I suppose this is the only way God could visually drive home to a stubborn and rebellious human race, the seriousness and gravity of sin. I think it's useful to view The Passion of the Christ in this context. He was taking upon himself the punishment for a sinful world.

I am a man whose body is slowly being destroyed by incurable, degenerative disease. There is great consolation for me, in the reality behind the Passion of the Christ. Life's stakes are too high for me: I can't afford to live as fluffy as popcorn. There's enough of that at the movies.

(Fourth article in a Lenten series)

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