Thoughtful Conversationalists

Many of you have seen the film, “The Passion of the Christ.”As a Christian liberal arts institution, Greenville College is passionate about helping followers of Jesus Christ reflect carefully about issues that impact our culture. Our calling is to help equip the church to be “thoughtful conversationalists.” “Mere conversation ” may sound far too passive..But consider the conversations in which we could find ourselves engaged because of this film.

Millions of people will view this film and ask basic questions about who this man Jesus really was.Some may have only idle curiosity, but others will look inward for the first time to decide what they really think about Him.As believer,are we equipped to engage in this conversation? How recently have we considered the essentials of our historic faith in the physical birth, life, death,and resurrection of the Incarnate God? How recently have we conversed about these foundations with someone who does not believe?We talk about having these discussions, but do they, will they, really occur? If so,what form will they take? Will “winning ” or “witnessing ” be our oal? Will it be full of jargon or begin instead with the language and issues our partner brings?The differences depend on how reflective we have been in preparing for this conversation. Have we thought about the questions others might ask? Questions that for us aren't questions at all because they are embedded assumptions.

There will also be conversations among ourselves; among those who confess Jesus as the Christ.Is the violence “too much?” Does the film appropriately combine multiple Gospel accounts? Does Pilate seem morally weak but too open-minded? Do the Jewish leaders appear too irrational, too responsible, letting the Romans “off the hook ” without capturing the essential point that Christ died because “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God?” Does the strong historical evidence of Christian anti-Semitism still apply to the Church today or within our own hearts?

Hopefully our conversations with one another may also include discussion about our attitudes toward one another. Does the powerful story of Jesus ' painful sacrifice for us inspire us to set aside the differences we so often elevate to levels of divisive importance? Do the words we see coming from the actor's lips, “Forgive them for they know not what they do” or “Love one another even as I have loved you” embarrass us as we contemplate how we treat each other despite the painful price He paid in His body for us? These conversations can help set aside our petty differences that trivialize the suffering He bore on our behalf.

Finally,we may have thoughtful conversation with our self. For a significant portion of the film I found my body stiff, my jaw tense. I found myself reflecting on the incredible fact that God had indeed become a particular man, with particular fesh, in a particular time,with a particular mother. It was astounding in fresh ways; foolishness and a stumbling block. “It simply could not be, this cannot be right” called my head. Then, almost aloud, I said,“I believe this. My whole life,every bit of meaning it has, depends on this story being true much as it is here portrayed.” It was a renewal of doubt and of faith all rolled into one powerful visual, intellectual,and emotional experience. As I endured, the seemingly never-ending tortuous .ogging,I found myself repeating, “This is the Lamb who was slain…. By His STRIPES we are healed. By HIS stripes we are healed ….By His stripes we are HEALED.” Oh those painful, unbelievable stripes. How impossible,but oh how precious.

We do believe we will never need to pay the price for our sin that He did “Once for all.” But Oswald Chambers directs us to the delight of sacrifice. How can we be called to lay down our lives for our Friend? Not throwing it down,or flinging it away, but deliberately laying it down. Only because He did so for us first. When we love as He loved, we can be doormats without resentment.

May we all engage in reflective conversation. May the conversations about his bloody unreasonable sacrifice inform and redeem our own hearts, our community, and our world.