Laura Matthews

Now, I’ve read that statement many times, and had understood it intellectually. But Gibson’s film is helping me understand it more intimately and leading me to ask myself some tough questions that are renewing my faith.Why would anyone choose to go through that? I believe there’s only one answer: love. Jesus’ love for all humanity, including those who hadn’t been born yet (you and me), motivated his supremely faithful actions. By suffering the agony, his most startling commands carried more weight: “Love your enemies,” “Forgive seventy times seven,” “Bless them that curse you.”What he did makes it impossible for us to turn to him and say, “You just don’t know what I’m going through, Lord. You don’t understand.” He did understand human suffering, yet out of love for us, he freely offered his example of unwavering love for his enemies. Science and Health explains: “Jesus’ teaching and practice of truth involved such a sacrifice as makes us admit its principle to be love.”It was divine Love-God-who sustained Jesus through his ordeal, opening the door for him to rise unscathed. That Love never abandoned Jesus, and proved more powerful than the implacable hate trying to destroy him. That Love is still here, with us all, and it comforts us when we are faced with the trials of life.

In a Reader’s Digest interview, the film’s director Mel Gibson says, “That’s what the film is about. It’s about the greatest expression of love. No greater love has a man than he would lay down his life for his friends.”Love for his friends-and he is my friend. To me, Jesus’ humanity is what’s brought out in this film. — Spirituality.com