Saturday Thoughts

Yesterday being Good Friday, I wanted to devote some time and thought to what the day signifies.  In the earlier part of the day in silence with no music or disturbances, I worked on some curtains and then had a piece of peanut butter toast for lunch.

The time from 1:00 to 3:00 is very holy in the life of the church -- the time when Jesus suffered and gave his life on the cross.  We had DVR'd "The Passion," Mel Gibson's film about Jesus that begins with the agony in the garden and culminates with his rising from the dead.

We started the film at around 1:30 and watched it straight through, and blessedly, there were NO commercial breaks in this showing.  Let me share something with you -- I'm having trouble writing this blog this morning, because the feelings from yesterday are still there for me.  And here's the crux of it.  We had taped the movie days before and I didn't want to watch it then.  I didn't want to watch it yesterday either, and was walking around the house trying to figure out how I could have some quiet time and what I would do with it.

All I could think of was the scene where Jesus is scourged.  And my own feelings of unworthiness kept washing over me, my own feelings of regrets in my life, that kind of thing.  I didn't want to see it again.  And the fact that I didn't want to see it again made me feel even worse.  Who was I to push aside the gift that Jesus gave each one of us to spare my own comfort?

Finally, as the movie started, I settled down and just experienced the movie, watched it with new eyes.  I'd forgotten about some of the beautiful scenes of Jesus' life as a child, the time he spent with his mother.  I'd forgotten about Satan too, his milky white skin and his deceivingly youthful appearance, as he snaked his way here and there during Jesus' trial and suffering.

The only other time we saw the movie, I didn't notice that the blood on Veronica's veil was marked with the face of Jesus.  It's only on the screen for a fleeting amount of time, a few seconds, and that's the real genius of this film.  It is so subtle, so much like life.

For those of us not educated in the language of Jesus, Aramaic, the film is authentic in that regard too.  For someone like me who took Latin in high school, hearing the language spoken by Pontius Pilate and Claudia was also very real. 

Simon, of Cyrene, who was forced to carry Jesus' cross, an unwilling participant in the event, evolves as one who defends Jesus and who believes in Jesus at the end.  Judas tries to undue what he did, but is depicted as being hounded by demons to a place where the dead carcass of a donkey is lying.  The donkey still has a rope around it and Judas uses that rope to hang himself.

So many people in these 12 hours of Jesus' life had decisions to make.  And in the history of the world, there would be no decision even to this day more important than to open oneself to our Lord, to ask for the gift of faith.

Even as Claudia travels across the courtyard to bring linens to Mary, she has made a decision about Jesus.  Her husband, at first trying to listen to what Claudia told him about Jesus, wavers but then he hardens himself and does the politically expedient thing. 

Caiaphas, the high priest, is unrelenting in his persecution of Jesus.  He fiercely protects his position of power, and then when the earthquake strikes and damages the temple as Jesus breathes his last, he is shown crying.  Does Caiaphas really understand?  Does he ever understand?  For he had a decision too, and he made it.

Peter's denial was heartbreaking.  Here was a man bold in his faith in Jesus who in weakness denies his Lord three times.  He made a decision too, but Peter whose name means rock becomes the rock of the church.  Today more than 2,000 years ago, he would have been hiding in fear and trepidation.  And yet he is fortified and made alive in a new way after Pentecost when tongues of fire rain down on the apostles, when they receive the Holy Spirit.

While there were and are criticisms about the film because of some of the material added, it seems to me that this presentation adds to the viewer's understanding.

And so our today, our final Lenten quote is:

"It is finished." -- Jesus' last words on the cross.