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Jesus death on the Cross is offensive to the world |
2004-02-25 |
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The central event of the Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, something that believers often take for granted and the rest of the world does not understand. It has always been that way. Two thousand years ago Saint Paul proclaimed to the Christians in the Greek city of Corinth, “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles…For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”
Mel Gibson is an actor and director. He is also a Catholic Christian who has made a movie about the death and resurrection of Jesus called “The Passion of the Christ”. It is interesting to see the controversy stirred up in various parts of our culture by this movie. Some critics say the movie is too violent, yet these same critics praise a hyper-violent movie like “Kill Bill” for its supposed artistry, and don’t seem to be bothered by the graphic violence on such acclaimed and popular TV programs as “CSI” and other crime shows. Others are afraid that the movie will incite hatred against Jews because they will be blamed for killing Jesus. Even Jewish authorities that have seen the movie and express these fears admit that the movie is not anti-Semitic. Hollywood defends the “rights” of Janet Jackson and the other “artists” who produced the offensive garbage of the Super Bowl half-time show, yet a movie about the atoning death of Jesus for our sins is offensive to them. Why is that?
The death of Jesus makes no sense to the world. It is offensive. It shows us that we are not in charge, and that when we act like we are we just make a huge mess of things. It demands that we admit our sinfulness and our selfishness and our limits. If God has to come and die for us, then that means we are not able to save ourselves. If God dies at our hands, then that means we are truly despicable and deserve nothing from God but condemnation. But God forgives us. God gives us all things as a gift, even His Son. The world, and that includes you and me, wants to do everything ourselves. We want to feel entitled. We want to feel that the world owes us something. We don’t like to feel indebted to someone else, or hopeless to fix our own problems.
“The Passion” is a movie. It is not perfect. It is not Scripture, even though Scripture inspires it. But because it is an attempt to “proclaim Christ crucified” it is a stumbling block and foolishness to those who look to human solutions for the world’s problems. It is not surprising that the movie would be controversial, because proclaiming Christ crucified is always controversial, and demands a response from us. During this penitential season of Lent we meditate on what it means to be sinful humans created by a loving God who we reject and kill, but who uses our own vicious rebellion to save us and give us forgiveness and eternal life.
Adults should try to see “The Passion”. We also hope you come to church on Wednesday evenings in Lent for supper and worship, as characters visit us from the Bible who learned what it means that God is the one who builds our lives. God wants to use the cross to replace our pride and foolishness with faith in Jesus. God wants us to share that faith with others. God wants to strengthen our faith. See you in church!
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