We took our UMYF group to see Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" on the Saturday after it opened. I would like to thank Grove Park Chapel once again for allowing us to go with them to their special showing, otherwise, we still would be looking for tickets! Before we took our group, we asked them to read the Bible verses that were depicted in the film so they would know what to expect. This is recommended, and the Bible verses are listed at the bottom of this article. Still we were a little hesitant to take our 13-18 year old group to see a rated R movie, so they all had to have parents sign permission slips as well.
My wife and I went to see the movie on opening day so that we could prepare ourselves for Saturday when we had the group. I will go on record as saying that "The Passion" was one of the best movies I have ever seen. It is a very accurate depiction of what the Gospels have to say about the last twelve hour of Jesus' life. I found it to be a decent blend of all four books, but more Matthew and Luke than the other two. It was very intense and hard to watch in some places. I found that none of the pictures or reports from this movie prepared me for what we saw. The brutal beating and scourging of Jesus at the hands of the soldiers was very hard to watch. I think what may have been worse was the walk to Skull Mount. As hard as it was to watch in those places, I still insist that everyone see this movie. It is important that we, as Christians, as well as, non-believers see what Jesus went through because of us. It reaffirmed to me the love of God. Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to go through Hell for our salvation. That is what the movie said to me.
Once Saturday morning came, I was still a little nervous about what our group may ask or say after the movie. We went prepared, we had a box of Kleenex that could be passed easily down the row we were sitting on. Through out the movie I saw many tears from our group and I was pleasantly suprised. We do devotionals in our Sunday meetings, and I leave wondering if they really got what we were trying to say. After seing their reactions to the movie, I knew that they indeed understood. For all the goofing off we do on Sunday nights, they did understand that Jesus died for them. I found myself very proud of our group after watching the movie. Right up until the snowball fight afterwards, but that is another story.
The Bible verses that are covered by "The Passion" are as followed:
