Max A Forsythe
Christ covenant reformed (PCA)
4787 Palmer Road S.W. - Reynoldsburg, OH 43068-3315

The Passion
For the Lord’s Day:  the 29^th of February 2004

Isaiah 53: 1-12
Mark 9: 38  41  & 1 Corinthians 11: 23

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you,
that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed …”

Introduction:  Given the ongoing events of the last few months leading up to the media feeding frenzy of the last few weeks, I decided late Saturday afternoon that the passionate debate of our present could not be ignored.  And so, I have set aside the ongoing series regarding the great revival that resulted from the prophetic preaching and teaching ministries of Micah and Isaiah to consider the present tumult of this twenty-first century.

It is almost as if the heartfelt passion of the Apostle Paul were married to the early uncouth mouth of a barely converted Martin Luther.  By that description I would introduce a little expected advocate for Christ in the person of one Mel Gibson.  To be fair to both the Apostle and the Reformer who were excellently educated men, we have to remember that every person who raises up Christ should not be discouraged, because thereby the elect of every nation have a chance to hear the passionate story of God’s great love and mercy for all of those whom He will call to Himself through the Holy Spirit and the sacrifice and ministry of His only Son: our own Lord Jesus Christ.

“Saint Mel,” if such truly be the case, is hardly an ordinary agent of the Almighty  however: because of the Lord’s providence he has been given the power, position and wealth to make his passionate spiritual discovery better known than ninety-nine point nine per cent of all the preachers and priests on earth put together.  So let us all be charitable in the biblical sense of Mark 9: 38  41:  “John said to [Jesus], ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in you name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’  But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.  For the one who is not against us is for us.  For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.”  And in saying it that way, I do not mean in any way, shape or form to disparage the conversion experience reported by Mr Gibson in the conservative and Christian media.

We also have to remember from which industry Mr Gibson has emerged to tell the greatest story ever told in the only medium that he truly knows and understands.  Andrew Coffin helps us in this regard in a recent article in World Magazine.  “The best understanding of The Passion is that it is Mel Gibson’s very personal expression of a deeply rooted faith, in the best way he knows how: on film.”  With all of that said, let this be my first point this morning:  if we as older and possibly more mature Christians choose to support the apparent success of this Media bombshell  let us do so remembering simply that if Christ be lifted up before the public eye  thereby He may become better known and hopefully better appreciated.  Let us also pray fervently that those elect of every nation who see this film may be challenged to go on and gain a fuller knowledge of the Triune God and His providential ordering of all things to make His only Son Jesus Christ the centerpiece of human history.  And in thus knowing the Lord of all the earth, may they be challenged and prompted by the Holy Spirit to be borning into the great Kingdom of the Spirit: the Christian Church.

Development:  Of course in the grand scheme of things  everything is not as simple and desirable as we may want to perceive any and every event.  And so, as I understand my pastoral job: it is not just to encourage ticket sales as some of the brethren are doing or is it to justify a modern form and type of gospel telling that could honestly be considered out of sync with any definitive instructions of scripture.  Therefore, I have several further points that I would beg you to consider carefully this morning.

First, there is the matter of the Second Commandment which most Calvinistic Reformer’s have considered in relationship to the classic and Christian art forms.  Question 109 of The Larger Catechism encourages us amongst several duties in relationship to that Commandment against religious images to be used in worship.  “The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and any wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; the making any representation of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever; all worshipping of it, or God in it or by it ….”

Now I realize that most Protestants are at least four hundred and some years away from the medieval emphasis on images, icons and holy artifacts.  However  we are not without ongoing misunderstood attempts to retrieve the supposedly rich heritage of telling the story of Christ in images and pictures.  After all, the public educational system has been most successful in derailing any and every literate description and understanding of our most cherished and important cultural, religious and moral truths.  Emotions are the most definitive experience of religion, art and success in our day and time.  Every few months some Christian business or another calls me to offer the most exciting curriculum ever to be devised for sharing the gospel with all ages.  After I ask them if they honor the second commandment in their illustrations  they generally fall silent out of total ignorance of the issue which has informed the Reformers these many generations.  It is almost as if the Reformation never ever happened, theologically, educationally and historically!

We have to remember that it was only the Calvinistic Churches on the Continent that whitewashed the paintings and replaced the ornate artwork images cut into the glass window frames.  The Lutherans were far less circumspect in this regard and they have to this day carried on a richer high church tradition than the greater majority of us would be used to.

Now to be fair in this regard, the position of the session several years ago when the Second Commandment was widely discussed is this:  the session intends to review the books, materials, decorations and instruction used in Church programs with our Confessional standards in mind.  However, what our families decide to do at home for entertainment and instruction in this regard will not be reviewed unless these materials are used for or in place of worship.  Now, I remember when I started to research materials for preaching on the Ten Commandments, several Reformed minded pastors warned me that I could expect a Scottish Revival from too close a consideration of the first four commandments.  They were right, after the series  we had lost fifteen per cent of the congregation even though we had made public the position I just reported! 

Now, everyone  please remember that last week I announced that in no way did I wish to limit your freedom or bind your conscience in regard to the cultural phenomenon which this Passion of Christ has become.  I would also beg you to be informed that at least a third or more of the Pastors in our Presbytery have taken exception to this Question 109.  So, you should realize all the more that your conscience in this regard is and will be respected.   One last word on this issue from an article in World Magazine:  Andrew Coffin reported that the: “17^th century English theologian Richard Baxter, in his Christian Directory, noted (while at the same time strongly arguing against any and all images of God in worship) that ‘the making and using of the images of Christ, as born, living, preaching, walking, dying … rising, ascending, is not unlawful in itself … as Christ was a man like one of us, so He may be pictured as a man.’”

A second issue in my mind is the incomplete sequence of events which this movie represents.  This fact is very much in accord with the ancient Passion plays performed in the Middle Ages to educate an illiterate peasantry to the realities of the gospel story.  Out of that educational purpose there arose the Fourteen Stations of the Cross still engraved in many Catholic sanctuaries.  Now I do not understand the Catholic theology well enough to be definitive  however, it appears to me as a Protestant that the more concerned people could be with the dramatic and visual cost of their salvation, the more easily they could be persuaded to part with their time, money and confessional discipline.

We have to remember that the Gospel story is ever so much more than the last twelve hours of Christ’s day and night on earth.  Andrew Coffin notes that like the classic paintings of Christ by one of the old masters:  “Rendered in vivid detail, these works of art focus the mind and imagination on one aspect of Christ’s life (very often the crucifixion), but lack the context and completeness to be anything more than one piece of the whole.”

Unlike a host of New Testament Churches only, we have always pointed to the vital importance of the Old Covenant revelations pointing to and leading up to the definitive hour in history: it was very nearly clearly outlined that the “suffering servant” would be stricken, broken and killed like many of the prophets before Him.  This mindset was so strong that even repeated direct reports to the Disciples that Jesus would rise from the dead were ignored.  And so, like the military gamble of D-Day and Desert Storms I & II a complete and utter surprise in the unfolding events took the enemy and the world by storm  The crucifixion could well have been anticipated  but the resurrection (even though hinted at) appeared to be a complete surprise to all concerned. 

Thankfully, I have heard that the last few seconds of the film under discussion at least makes that reality known  yet after several hours of numbing violence  is the greatest event in human history even realized?  This was always the problem with Catholic theology: the cost of salvation must always be counted and calculated and those who would be saved must in one form or many make merit for their lost condition.  While, we as a Covenant people can assent to the anticipated fruits of the Holy Spirit outlined in the New Testament letter of James, we cannot agree that faith and works are co-equal in the matter of salvation.  We, on the basis of Scripture must affirm Salvation by faith alone.

A third issue for me is one that I would call a mild form of combat fatigue.  And this is all the more likely in an age when the greatest majority of the population has no immediate conception of just how you process a chicken, pig or cow into carefully boxed, sanitized and ready to eat sandwiches, cartons and meals to pop into the Micro-wave!  I at least grew up with a first hand knowledge of that process.  I have seen a live cow butchered and processed and enjoyed the final product immensely!  I have also dressed chickens and rabbits without much sympathy, knowing that these domesticated animals were provided for our health and well being.  I never thought much about what I knew against the common ignorance of the general public, until one meat customer objected to the blood red water that seeped out of a thawed package of hamburger.  We of course were used to that and it never passed my mind as a valid concern.  It didn’t help any once I asked a store meat cutter why the super market product seemed superior.  He simply told me that they added some form of powder to absorb the moisture and thereby pampered the consumer into thinking the end product was thereby bloodless!

In an age when boxing, marital experiences and military combat have occurred outside of our ordinary comfort zone  I believe that the brutal violence exhibited in this film could come as quite a shock to the average American citizen.  Having been in the military as well as having seen a few fist fights in my time, I was well prepared to comprehend the gospel passages that define the terrible beating given to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  In fact over the years I have attempted to make those passages better understood so that people would realize the actual surprise of the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate when Jesus stood before him after several brutal beatings.  “What manner of man is this?” goes the usual assumption of the perceived awe growing in the heart of Pilate that night of all nights.

I do not say all of this lightly since I have known many sincere sympathetic people over the years who have been hardened in regard to the faith once given to us because of ornery churches who fought tooth and nail over matters of no importance.  In my own history, I could have easily been discouraged and forced out of the ministry for all the persecution I went through.  Members of my own family have been hardened by their experience of the faith as they watched how the barely converted Christians treated their own.  And this is by far the most common reason for many people to stay home from the church, because sin is still so evident in the body and blood of Christ’s own bride: the Church itself.

And so in closing on this section, I am concerned that many perspective viewers of this film who have not been desensitized by the previous decade of decadent violence in the films could be bothered by the sheer shock value of this dramatization which the producer has admitted to using to make clear the real, if limited perception of the Passion of Christ.  I can remember a few films where Mr Gibson has performed that the violence was indeed much more than necessary.

Application: Finally, we come to the end of my meandering consideration of the Passion being shown before the eyes of this generation.  And my fourth point is simply this: there is this week, this month and perhaps most of this year in which a window of opportunity for discussing the Lord Jesus Christ is broken wide open.  And if the forces of liberalism, humanism and general all around wickedness are able to slam it shut  I am very worried about the immediate future in this country and even that of the rest of the world.  And so I would admonish one and all to speak of the hope that is within you, even as the scriptures tell us.  Ask people if they have seen the movie, what did they learn, what did they feel and do indeed begin with their answers and tell them that there is much, much more to the story.  In fact inquire closely to sense if the Holy Spirit is using the opportunity to call them into His Church.  And thereby may we all do everything in our power to assist the Lord in reaping the harvest of souls.  After all, this is what the Passion is all about:  Jesus  the GodMan who died that we might know Him and enjoy Him forever and ever. 

And finally, as we draw close around the table of our Lord, let us all the more appreciate the symbols of body and blood which were broken and poured out so that we may have life eternal.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Coffin, Andrew.  “Graphic by Design,” World (28 Feb 04).
The Westminster Confession & Catechisms.
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