The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 6

I started off this series (five posts ago and about five months ago!) by stating that I had learned a lot of bad theology by listening to sermons as a kid. Whether or not they were doctrinally correct, these dull-as-ditchwater Sunday morning episodes had me thinking that Jesus (and His Father) were about as lively and exciting as a Pez dispenser. On a good day.

When I was young, I admired church plays for their truth-telling about a Savior who was somehow mysteriously at once glorious God incarnate and humble carpenter. Although I couldn't understand it conceptually, I could understand it experientially. I experienced the energy and excitement simply by watching an actor play Jesus on stage. I felt as if I understood everything for the first time. I was caught up in a big adventure. Actually, it was the right size. It fit. It was much much bigger than me, yet not bigger than life itself. It was what I wanted life to be about.

I was excited about an enormous Passion play at my church this year. But something went wrong. The Gospel Story was hyped up with flying acrobats, flashing lights, and hollywood special effects. I felt like I was watching the latest Peter Jackson flick. Ordinary humans don't fit in that kind of epic. (By ordinary, I mean you and me, people who hope that qualifying as a disciple doesn't include looking like a J-crew model, or frolicking gracefully from one divine appointment to the next on a bright and perky CCM score.) That just doesn't fit with the way life is. Or the way I want it to be. Ordinary humans don't fit in the Iliad.

It is true that we serve a big God. Much bigger than we can imagine. His story is an epic -- in its own way. It is unique. It is unlike any other story that humans could invent. And this is the amazing part: It is for us. Whether or not we want to accept the frightening honor, God has written us into the Greatest Story Ever Told. That really is Epic.

Thanks for reading for the last five months!

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

By: Chad