The Passion

[ALERT] Remember that I am a Christian, if you have a problem with Christianity then you should skip this post![/ALERT]

I saw the Passion of the Christ tonight, what an amazing movie. Mel Gibson put more than money into this film, he showed us the true love of Christ. That he endured so much so that I might be saved is an amazing concept. Most people aren’t willing to give the time of day to me, but He gave his life!
This was a hard movie to watch and I confess that I got up once to get a quick breath of air. This was not because it was a bad movie but because seeing what He endured in that final 12 hours was difficult to watch. The guilt feelings alone were getting to me but when they started beating him with a cat-o-nine-tails, I had to step away for a moment.
I already knew most of what I saw, I knew that Christ was amazing. It’s just seeing the story brought to life that made it a life altering experience. There was not a dry eye in the house, including mine. There is not a thing I would want changed about this movie, seeing it in Aramaic and Latin adds greatly to the whole thing. I saw many people walk out of that theater saved, some for the very first time! Yes there were quite a few who bailed out as soon as the first credit showed, but plenty more stayed for that last half hour to hear our pastor speak.
If you aren’t a Christian but are curious, I can’t recommend this movie enough, all though I would tell you to take along a friend who is a Christian. They can help you sort out whats going on and help you with your feelings afterwards.
For those of you who have stuck with me this far, I have a story for you that started before the film began to roll! My church bought up most of the seats to this showing in advance so that we could invite family and friends along to see this with us. I invited 4 people none of whom showed up, they did at least warn me in advance that they were not coming. I now had 4 extra tickets for this show, our pastor asked for 2 of them for someone who had asked if we had any extra. I kept the other 2 since for the first time in a long time, God told me too. I stood in front of this theater for an interminable time watching people pull in, waiting to see if anyone needed tickets. I thought maybe I should just go in and get some seats close to each other for my wife and I, it was then that I heard a clear and unmistakeable NO. So I waited, my wife asked me to go in and get us seats and I told her no, later she reminded me that we would want some popcorn and drinks and still I stayed. I turned to her after a while more and was getting ready to give up when I heard a conversation behind me. A young man was telling two girls that they only had one ticket left for that showing but they had more for a later showing. He was trying to convince them that they could just come back later. I turned and walked over to them and asked how many tickets did you need? A little perplexed they turned to me and said 2, these were the people I was waiting for, I felt it in my heart, I felt something wash over me. I handed them my extra tickets and told them to enjoy the movie, they wanted to pay for them and I told them no, I wanted them to go see the movie. All three thanked me and it was an amazing thing for me. I have been told thank you many times before but this was the first time it was delivered in such a way that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they meant it. I do hope they enjoyed their experience as it was a large crowd and I would never have been able to find them in there.
If you haven’t seen this movie you should, even if you are not a Christian it should offer some insight as to why Christians are so full of love for Jesus. If you have seen this movie I hope it helped you like it helped me.