He is Risen!

This week marks the holiest week of the Christian calendar. Passion week begins with Palm Sunday and ends with Resurrection Sunday.

Over the years, there have been many films depicting the life and crucifixion of Jesus. Two of the most recent films are Franco Zefferelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, which was originally shown on television during Holy Week in the late 1970s, and more recently Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.   

When I first saw Jesus of Nazareth back in the day, I remember how it deeply affected me. I remember sobbing and thinking how much He must love me (and everyone else) to have gone through such agony.

And then in 2004, Mel Gibson produced The Passion of the Christ. I remember what a controversy it was. How Hollywood disdained and mocked Mel Gibson and the film. But God will not be mocked, and the film was an incredible success grossing over 612 million worldwide. It became the seventh-highest domestic grossing film and the highest-grossing Christian film of all time.

Standing in line outside the theater, my husband and I knew what we were about to see from our study of the Bible, but we were unprepared for the shock and sorrow on the faces of those who left the theater. And their silence was unnerving.

We hadn’t expected it would be as brutal as it had been and yet, thinking about the abject cruelty of the Roman Empire, the film was probably not nearly as violent as the reality of the actual crucifixion. When the film ended, there was not only pin-dropping silence in the darkened room, but a stillness, a reverence, that I had never seen in a theater before, or since. As those around us got up and soundlessly left the theater, we had the same sorrow etched on our faces that the previous group had had. When I asked my friends and family members, some in our state and many who lived across the country, of what had occurred when they went to see the film, they recounted the same experience. The unnerving silence, the sorrow, and the stillness.

After the film’s release, Mel Gibson and the film’s star were interviewed and told amazing stories about the film’s concept and things that occurred during the filming of The Passion of the Christ. Most notable and incredible was how the actor, Jim Caviezel, who portrayed Jesus, had been struck by lightning while hanging on the cross and lived. But he had to heart surgery after they completed the film. Caviezel has since visited churches throughout the nation to encourage people to live for Jesus.

Jesus came to earth as a humble man, died a sinner’s death even though He was without sin and arose from the dead. That is the gospel. And that is what we, as Christians, believe.

But it’s not the end of the story. Jesus will return in glory.

He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Matthew 28:6