VansOpinion - TEARS OF SORRY

In his letter to the editor of the Lincoln Journal Star, on 13 March 2004, captioned, "Spare me the tears", B. Lefty Gordon of Lincoln, wrote regarding audience reaction to the movie, "The Passion of the Christ", "Their reaction, to the film, literally sickened me." Later he stated, "It is one thing to be touched, but to put forth such a ludicrous display of Melodrama is quite another." He obviously couldn't understand the tears shed or the emotions shown. This is my response to him.

To explain the emotional response movie critics across the country have mentioned in their reviews, one can possibly explain such from both the perspective of a Christian and from that of one claiming to have no particular "faith" at all.

Probably every mother in every audience, at some point, considered how she would have reacted, seeing her son brutally beaten after having been subjected to a "kangaroo court" with lynch mob mentality. A mother's love most certainly was clearly shown as Mary followed her son on the way to His crucifixion along the journey through a city where not only was He publicly humiliated, but spat upon, stoned, and beaten bloody. As His hands were nailed to the cross, every mother in every audience in one way or another, felt the pain. When the Roman soldier pierced His side, each mother could feel the pain in her own body. Even though Mary knew Jesus Christ her son, was born to be tortured and die in the manner shown, she could not possibly have held back tears. Hundreds of years before, the story of the coming and death of her son was told in Holy Scriptures. (Isaiah Chapter 52 in the Bible). There has never been a mother of a child injured or killed who has not cried. Some of what you asked in your article to be spared from, was the tears of mothers empathizing and sympathizing with Mary, mother of Jesus.

From my vantage as a Christian man, I must also confess to the movie bringing a few tears. There are some that think "crying" isn't "manly" or the "macho" thing to do. Perhaps there are some guys built that way, but not me. Likely these fellows have never seen or experienced intense physical pain up close and personal. The two men who scourged Jesus in the movie well depict persons who are able to inflict pain on another without any sense of guilt, shame or emotion.

From the time I was a little boy attending a Vacation Bible School at a United Brethren church two blocks from my home, when I first heard the whole story of Jesus and His love, my life was changed. I was told He was my "personal" Savior and by and through his death and Resurrection he paid the price for all my sins. Through church attendance, personal study of Scriptures and through life experiences, now, as I approach my seventh decade of life, that story has become even more precious, assuring and comforting to me. The movie, however, graphically displayed that part of the life of Jesus which I had never really been able to visualized fully.

The movie is not about the pain, suffering and death of Jesus Christ, Son of God, inflicted by Jews or Romans. They were simply the means through which that which had been ordained by God could take place. Viewing the excruciating pain, the shedding of blood, the agony on the cross that Jesus suffered was not because of His own doings, but rather, because of MY SINS and those of every man, woman and child who has ever lived or who ever will live. By and through His death and Resurrection, Scriptures were fulfilled. He atoned for the sins of all mankind. It is written in the book of Isaiah 53:13, "...For he bore the sin of many and made intercessions for the transgressors" Mr. Gordon, that includes both your sins and mine!

The tears you saw were those of both sorry and of joy. Sorry, in knowing that some fraction of the pain Jesus experienced was caused by my sins and transgressions. Joy, in knowing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has bought a ticket to Life Eternal in Heaven for me and every other person who believes in Him. Some cried visible tears, some cried silent tears and others both. Through the new move, "The Passion of the Christ" each of us were confronted with a horrible, yet beautiful display of what we did to him, and what He did for us. If your not doing anything special on Good Friday, I'd be honored to take you to church with me and my family. You can find me at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church right here in Lincoln. If you come by yourself, just ask for "Van", I'd like to meet you. One thing more, now that you've seen the movie, you might really get a lot more out of reading the Book.