In one of the final scenes from the movie “Passion of the Christ” you find Jesus in his last moments on the cross committing his spirit to the Father. As he mumbles out his last few words and death finally overtakes him, the movie focuses on a raindrop falling from the sky and hitting the ground with tremendous force, following by an earthquake and darkness. The scene then switches to Pilate in his house as things are falling on the floor all around him, John and Mary who stand at the foot of the Cross looking up at their Savior, and then finally a scene of the temple as the earthquake rips one of the rooms in half and tears apart the curtain to the holy of holies. As the religious leaders stumble around the room, watching things catch on fire and see the “destruction” of their holy place, the camera zooms in on one priest who stands there looking at the torn curtain. He begins to tear at his clothes and weep.
I just couldn’t get over this scene.
I couldn’t get past the guard who throws the spear in Jesus side and as the foundation of the world begins to shake, he falls on his knees and looks up at the man on the Cross.
I couldn’t get past the priest tearing at his garments and weeping.
I couldn’t get past the image of Satan screaming from the pits of hell as he recognizes what has happened.
I know this may seem very random, but go back to Exodus 20 with me.
18Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." 20 Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." 21The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Here we have this picture of God- the God whose presence came onto a mountain and Moses had to be the representative for the people. A God so holy that if even an animal touched the mountain it had to be put to death. A God you don’t play games with.
A system in which sin was paid for by the blood of bulls and goats. Where someone else had to go into the holy places to speak to God for the people.
The writer of Hebrews 12 writes these words:
18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." 21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear."
22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
What changed the scene? What changed the scene from the altar where a priest is standing over a lamb ready to take knife to its heart, a scene of fire and smoke pouring out of a mountain- to this picture of us dwelling with God in Zion? Of a God who has now “moved into the neighborhood” and dwelt among us?
The cross.
The Cross changed everything.
The cross. The central part in the story. The one thing generations of people waited and longed for in the Old Testament. The Cross. The one thing generations of people today are continuing to miss and forget.
The difference between the apostle John who writes “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” and the priest who tears at his clothes in rejection of all Jesus had come for.
The difference between Satan screaming and ripping at himself as Christ has “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” and the guard who cries out “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
See, I forget the cross all the time. And I can live in this really weird place where sometimes I still think of God as though I am living in Exodus 20. A God so angered and wrathful over my sin that I fear and tremble and don’t want to approach His presence. A God who might just squash me if I make one too many mistakes. When really I am living in the second part of Hebrews 12 that states I am no longer a subject of God’s wrath- because Jesus took ALL that for me on the Cross. He bore every ounce of the wrath of God in my place.
I have a God that invites me to run to Him when I sin. A God who looks at me and says “Come here. Come dwell with me! Come let me make you into my own image to glorify me.”
The death of Jesus- His murder, not like Abel’s- a homicide which cried out for vengeance- became a proclamation of grace!
The difference of the people in the scenes from the Passion (and I realize this is just a Hollywood portrayal of what happened) and their reactions is those who understood the Cross and those who chose to reject it.
We have a God who is invited us to dwell with Him. A God who is inviting us into the most intimate, phenomenal relationship the world has ever known. A God who is so holy that creatures cannot cease to sing his praises. And a God who has come down- who became flesh, and dwelt among us that we might be free.
See, we're not the main characters in the story. We're not the central part. Jesus is the hero, the main character. The Cross the central part.
May our reaction to the Cross today be one that brings us to our knees in repentance and stirs in us a hate for our sin. Jesus grant to us a spirit of repentance! And as we understand the depths of our depravity and who are- may it bring us to run 180 miles an hour into the arms of the God who has invited us to dwell forever with Him in Zion.
Glory forever to the Lamb who was slain and who has conquered forever! Amen.
