Grief

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A wise widow friend of ours once commented that she thought the church in general was(is) in denial about the way Jesus was brutalized in going to the cross. She is correct. To qualify for membership in the First Church of Denial you need only be baptized in de Nile river. No, seriously, that's why a film like "The Passion of Christ" was so important and at the same time so much avoided by so many believers. Some attributed it to their dislike of Mel Gibson but it went far beyond that. For some of us, Gibson's reputation may have served as a smokesreen permitting us to remain respectably in our denial about the depth and degree of the sufferings of our Savior on our behalf. After all, the more aware we are of the nature of that suffering the less likely to neglect and take for granted so great a salvation, If I could issue one universal law in Christendom it might be this: all are required to view "The Passion of Christ" at least once every five years, and no closing your eyes or plugging your ears allowed! Maybe then we'd begin to emerge out of our denial into some deeper acceptance of the terrible price that Jesus paid to purchase to us from our various bondages.

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