Easter thoughts...

I'm sitting here on the couch watching "The Passion of the Christ." And I'm thinking about communion tomorrow as I've been asked to give the meditation.

Whatever you think about the Passion... like it or hate it... I personally like it. As a movie, there are parts in the movie that I can't watch... because it's just too real. One of those parts is the scene where they are whipping Him in preparation for crucifixion.

And as I'm watching this... I'm reading these words from The prophet Isaiah...
"2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. "

The reality is that most movies aren't based in reality. They are based in fiction. But the Passion... the Passion is based on the reality of what Jesus endured because I had gone astray. And tomorrow... Tomorrow I have the opportunity to honor Him in his resurrection!!!

Thanks Jesus for what you endured for me.

Jim