No Greater Love

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. – John 15:13

 
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is easily the most graphic depiction of the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday ever filmed.  For years movies and television shows telling Jesus’ story would be limited in the way they presented the violence of His death.  “Passion” left nothing to the imagination.  Utilizing modern cinematic special effects to bring the horrors of the scene to life, Gibson gives us an up close look at the physical agony that Christ experienced.

 
I remember the first time I saw the film in the theater.  I understood the physicality of crucifixion, but to see it reenacted on the screen was an eye-opening experience.  I’ve seen the movie several times since and still marvel at what Jesus did on my behalf, but it was during my last viewing of the film that I noticed something that gave me a renewed understanding of Jesus did the day at Calvary.

 
Jesus has been condemned by Pilate and has been led out to Calvary to be executed.  His cross having been laid down, the soldiers grab Jesus and violently strip him of his cloak.  Tearing the robe from his weak and beaten body has once again sent him to the ground.  He lies there for a moment; catching He breath, summoning His strength.  It is here where the most amazing thing happens.  Jesus gets off the ground and crawls toward His cross.

 
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  Who does this?  I get it: Jesus is surrounded by armed soldiers ordered to crucify Him.  He’s spent the last several hours being whipped, beaten and tormented.  He’s in no condition to fight.  He’s too weak to run.  But to exert His remaining strength to move toward his death is amazing to me.  Wouldn’t you expect Him to simply lie there, forcing the soldiers to do their jobs while hanging on to life for a long as He could? 

 
Why did He do that?  What could possibly drive Him to actively move toward the pain and agony that awaited Him?  It was love.  It was love that brought Him to earth, to be born in a stable, to feed the hungry, to cure lepers, to heal the sick, and now – to die on a cross.  He wasn’t forced to do this.  There was no mandate or requirement to fulfill.  It wasn’t a debt He owed, simply one that He chose to pay.  It was his choice, rooted in a love that knows no bounds: a love greater than any other.