For me...

Last night I watched The Passion of the Christ for the first time. Yeah, I know I'm a good nine years late, haha... when this movie first came out I was only thirteen years old, and my parents decided it would probably be best if their sheltered little homeschooler wasn't exposed to that much gore. Having seen it, I think that was a great decision. But now that I've grown up and been exposed to all sorts of craziness - and grown a lot closer to Jesus personally - I am SO GLAD that I made the decision to watch it last night. This isn't a plug for the movie or anything, but I have never before understood the depth of what Jesus did for us. And I still don't - but I think I'm a lot closer to getting it now. I'm a very visual, very emotionally aware sort of person; so while the Bible tells us what happened to Jesus, the matter-of-fact way the story is told and the lack of cultural relevance (not too many crucifixions happening in America's justice system) always left me feeling a little distant from the story. Cool, Jesus died for me... basically He got kicked around a little, He was nailed to a cross, hung out there for a few hours, and then gave up the ghost (literally). Right?

Not so much. Witnessing the kind of torture He actually went through had me sitting curled up, arms wrapped around knees pulled up to my chest, crying like it was A Walk To Remember and Jamie just died. And that was just at the whipping. Seeing what those kinds of whips actually do to a person's flesh, especially the cat of nine tails - watching the guards having to actually rip out chunks of his skin to get the barbs of the whip to release him - hearing his screams, but seeing him struggle to stand anyway - watching him embrace this agony, and later his cross, and knowing that it was all so that he could embrace me - it was the most painful love story I've ever seen. Yeah, it was just a movie, and that guy's name was really Jim, and the blood was all fake... but one day, it wasn't. That all actually happened.

He... the real Jesus... the actual, literal, tangible, personal son of God... really and truly went through that all of that excruciating pain and more (they didn't even show the beard ripping in the film) just because He wanted so badly to not have to watch me suffer the same fate. His love for me is so strong that He actually CHOSE to allow the guards to beat and whip His body so cruelly that He couldn't even walk upright without a struggle, let alone carry the cross all the way to Golgotha; then He allowed soldiers to nail spikes through His wrists and feet; then He chose to hang there with every inch of His body in agony for hours before it was finally finished. It should have been me. I should have been the one covered in my own blood from head to toe. I should have experienced the agony that He did... but love. Love took the pain that should have been mine. Love set me free from the curse. Love wraps His arms around me from behind and wipes away my tears with weathered, tender hands set above gaping, scarred holes in His wrists.

Now go back through that last paragraph and replace the words "I" and "me" with "you", and "my" and "mine" with "your(s)". Read it again. That's my point for today... HE LOVES YOU THAT MUCH. It's a love so great that it's humanly impossible to grasp, and yet He places that love right within your hands.

But wait... there's more! HE DIDN'T STAY DEAD!!! That moment at the end of the movie when they showed the graveclothes sinking in on themselves as their previous inhabitant slipped through them and stood back upright, fully alive, completely and perfectly whole save for the holes where the nails and the spear pierced Hiim... SO MUCH JOY!!! He is alive, and because of that, we too are alive and will be alive eternally! And furthermore, He is WITH US. Always... right here. Right now. And forever. Wow! I have no more words... except maybe the ones at the end of this song, sung from Peter's perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKxD8WnSYqQ

He's alive, and I'm forgiven! Heaven's gates are open wide! He's alive, He's alive, He's ALIVE!