Mel Gibson’s movie, Passion of the Christ, is not for the fainthearted. No serious Gospel reader will feel that the film overplays the torturous acts inflicted upon Jesus. It exposes those who present the crucifixion in terms of a TV melodrama as misrepresenting its intended impact.
Offering a Gift-wrapped Gospel is cruel. The Good News is that the Son of God absorbed the eternal pain and death that we were destined for in a devil’s hell. There is nothing pretty about that. Which begs the question: “How is the crucifixion presented in the telling of the Gospel in the Lord’s church?”
Most preachers have done a good job of keeping the Gospel—the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ—at the centre of their preaching.
If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the centrality of the crucifixion has been crowded out by lesser things in our personal evangelism.
The church is a beautiful and blessed fellowship. A family of believers who invest in each other, making sure that all do well in all things good. These blessings, and hundreds more, radiate beyond the walls to friends, family, and neighbours. Where there are Christians there is education, shelter, food, clothing and health.
But all of this can be achieved by civic groups. What makes the church different?Let me put it this way: Consider the steps taken by a church when on their journey from: ‘Congregation’ to ‘Charity?’ What changed?
Now, the methods and motives of a charity can be pure. But at best they are fruits of the Christian spirit, not the substance.The substance to Christianity is the “Why” of Jesus’ message to his disciples:“The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later” (Mk.9:31).
It is because: No crucifixion, no forgiveness of sin (Rom.4:25). We cannot be ‘crucified with Christ,’ or live a life ‘dead unto ourselves’ without a clear understanding of the the crucifixion—that which we celebrate in the Lord’s Supper weekly.
The blood-soaked Truth is diluted when the cross ceases to be the focus of all evangelism and worship.
John Staiger
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