Devotionals

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WHERE’S THE PASSION?

BY CHUCK JOHNSON

Over 375 Million dollars and counting, millions of tickets and DVD’s sold, recut and re-released. I am referring of course to the box office smash “The Passion of The Christ”. It has now been over a year since Mel Gibson released what would turn out to be a box office phenomenon. As startling as the success of this movie was, especially to the Hollywood elite, even more startling is the fact that while this movie seems to have hit an emotional nerve with most of it’s viewers it has had a dismal impact on the spiritual lives of most people. One Christian poling group conducted a survey of 1600 adults in the United States; their finding is disturbing on the surface and yet upon deeper study is a woeful indictment on the ‘Body of Christ’.

Of the 1600 adults surveyed only 6 percent admitted that the film had an impact on how they viewed the Christian faith. One in three adults said they had seen the film and yet only six percent were influenced by it. Eighteen percent said that the movie changed some aspect of their religious behavior. This may seem encouraging on the surface, but when we realize that over half of those viewing the film identified themselves as “born again Christians”, the movie seems to have been ‘preaching to the choir’.

Mel Gibson did a wonderful job in producing this film. Mr. Gibson used millions of dollars of his own money on a project that he had no guarantee would be accepted or cover his cost much less return a profit. By comparison the average adult in America can hardly be moved to put a few bucks in the plate to help evangelize the world, even though Jesus instructed the disciples in the Gospel of Mark the sixteenth chapter and the fifteenth verse to go and preach the Gospel to all people.

Why such a blockbuster showing, and yet such minimal results? I believe the main reason is that while the movie did its job in showing the what of the passion. The church did not do its part in telling the why of the passion. Political correctness seems to be the leaven of the church today; it permeates the body from the pulpit to the layperson. The majority of the pastors today are so afraid of offending someone that they would rather let them die in their sin than to confront and deal with the sin. We are told that Jesus is the rock of offence, so dealing with people in regards to spiritual matters is bound to offend them, so what. Are we to shirk our duties because someone might be offended? God forbid, we are to be salt and light, salt burns in cuts and light dispels darkness. So many today are quick to point out that Jesus taught love, and yet they ignore the fact that He also said that He came not to bring peace but a sword Matthew 10:34. The wages of sin are death. Wages are something earned in exchange for something done. Grace is something freely given, it cannot be earned.

This movie moved people emotionally, however emotions don’t change our circumstances, nor do emotions cleanse us of our sins. The reason that people remain unchanged in their attitudes and in their lifestyles is that the pulpit has failed to preach the “why” of the passion. Isaiah 53:4-6 tells us that “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;…But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” The why of the passion is this. He (Jesus) bore our grief’s, carried our sorrows, was wounded for our transgressions, was bruised for our iniquities, He took the chastisement so that we might have peace, and he bore those hideous stripes that so many closed their eyes not to see so, that we might be healed. Do you see the common denominator in this scripture? It is you and me. We are the reason for the passion. God’s love for us is the reason for the passion. The why is about you and me not Jesus. He left Heaven for us, He suffered and died for us, He picked up His life again for us, He is preparing a place for us, and He is coming again for us! The why of the passion must be personalized and internalized, so that people understand and accept personal responsibility for the why of the passion. Then they can appreciate and accept the grace shown to every man, woman and child. Our responsibility is to let every human being know what He has done, is doing, and will yet do for us! Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins Hebrews 9:22-26. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Ephesians 1:7. God has “…delivered us from the powers of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14.

Many people have seen the movie, so that they know the what of the passion, we must now do what we have been called to do and let the people know the why of the passion. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

The words to a wonderful song tell the truth.


What can wash away my sins, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh precious is the flow that makes me white as snow,
no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus!

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