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zestfiveMy sister is a christian and I am not, but we do share similar values. I appreciate what she wrote and wanted to share it with someone.
The current public discussion of “The Passion of the Christ” movie prior to its release has me thinking about Jesus’ suffering.
I’m not sure I’ll go see the movie. I don’t like the violence in our media culture and I don’t see a lot of popular movies because I don’t want to get desensitized to violence. Also, I’m not convinced that seeing a really graphic portrayal of Jesus’ crucifixion in a movie, no
matter how realistic it might be, will benefit my relationship with Jesus.
It might be politically incorrect as a Christian to say this, but I don’t think that in my relationship with Jesus, his actual physical suffering has been a big focus in my spiritual development. His life and his
message have been a bigger focus for me, though of course his suffering is part of the message. Maybe one reason I have the “luxury” of not focusing on his suffering is because my personal life and my community
life have been free of physical violence.
But I have been learning from Christians in El Salvador how one might integrate Jesus’ message and Jesus’ suffering.
The average Salvadoran reads the Bible in very different ways than I do (in more ways than I know). They read about the Hebrews wandering, homeless, depending on God and know what that’s like because they were in
the same situation during their civil war. Salvadorans find more meaning than I’ll ever know in the fact that God chose to come to earth as a poor man in a little country under political repression, because the Salvadorans are also poor and repressed, and it meant God cared about
them.
I have seen El Salvador’s martyrs’ bloody clothing and the sites of some of the assassinations (including inside a church). I have seen the bullets that were shot at people I met. I have sat across the table from women as they shared their stories of torture. I have seen the
photographs those women took of the bloody, battered, dismembered bodies strewn along the roads to document what the government said wasn’t
happening.
That was very disturbing and I didn’t even witness any of the violence first-hand. For me those experiences are more real than an actor on a screen and they deepen my relationship with Jesus.
The Salvadorans’ stories are bigger and deeper than the tortures and murders, just like Jesus’ story is bigger and deeper than simply the horrible violence of the last few hours of his life. The Salvadorans I met are still seeking justice after 20-30 years of struggle and torture and death. I am in awe of their faith.
There is true suffering in the US. We can also relate our society and lives to the stories of the Bible. But many of us don’t have experiences that relate to the physical brutality of the crucifixion. I don’t have any such direct experiences, but what I have seen in El Salvador is
enough exposure to the violence that happens all over the world. I am interested in the bigger, deeper story and not one that focuses mostly on the violence.
Jesus’ physical body was broken in the crucifixion, but as Paul says in Corinthians, we are now the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ continues to be tortured and murdered around the world, but it does not die.
Thanks be to God.
Sunday, February 22, 2004
The current public discussion of “The Passion of the Christ” movie prior to its release has me thinking about Jesus’ suffering.
I’m not sure I’ll go see the movie. I don’t like the violence in our media culture and I don’t see a lot of popular movies because I don’t want to get desensitized to violence. Also, I’m not convinced that seeing a really graphic portrayal of Jesus’ crucifixion in a movie, no
matter how realistic it might be, will benefit my relationship with Jesus.
It might be politically incorrect as a Christian to say this, but I don’t think that in my relationship with Jesus, his actual physical suffering has been a big focus in my spiritual development. His life and his
message have been a bigger focus for me, though of course his suffering is part of the message. Maybe one reason I have the “luxury” of not focusing on his suffering is because my personal life and my community
life have been free of physical violence.
But I have been learning from Christians in El Salvador how one might integrate Jesus’ message and Jesus’ suffering.
The average Salvadoran reads the Bible in very different ways than I do (in more ways than I know). They read about the Hebrews wandering, homeless, depending on God and know what that’s like because they were in
the same situation during their civil war. Salvadorans find more meaning than I’ll ever know in the fact that God chose to come to earth as a poor man in a little country under political repression, because the Salvadorans are also poor and repressed, and it meant God cared about
them.
I have seen El Salvador’s martyrs’ bloody clothing and the sites of some of the assassinations (including inside a church). I have seen the bullets that were shot at people I met. I have sat across the table from women as they shared their stories of torture. I have seen the
photographs those women took of the bloody, battered, dismembered bodies strewn along the roads to document what the government said wasn’t
happening.
That was very disturbing and I didn’t even witness any of the violence first-hand. For me those experiences are more real than an actor on a screen and they deepen my relationship with Jesus.
The Salvadorans’ stories are bigger and deeper than the tortures and murders, just like Jesus’ story is bigger and deeper than simply the horrible violence of the last few hours of his life. The Salvadorans I met are still seeking justice after 20-30 years of struggle and torture and death. I am in awe of their faith.
There is true suffering in the US. We can also relate our society and lives to the stories of the Bible. But many of us don’t have experiences that relate to the physical brutality of the crucifixion. I don’t have any such direct experiences, but what I have seen in El Salvador is
enough exposure to the violence that happens all over the world. I am interested in the bigger, deeper story and not one that focuses mostly on the violence.
Jesus’ physical body was broken in the crucifixion, but as Paul says in Corinthians, we are now the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ continues to be tortured and murdered around the world, but it does not die.
Thanks be to God.
Sunday, February 22, 2004