上月二十五日晚飯後，女兒隨朋友和其父母去看電影《耶穌受難記》。

兩個多小時後，聽到前門開鎖聲，我知道她已經看完回來了。她進來後，過道的燈卻沒有打開。

“阿悅，電影怎麼樣？”我問。

半天沒有迴響，我很納悶，就接着又問了一下。

“電影怎麼樣？”

突然，她哇的一聲，就抽泣起來。

我起身走過去，開燈。這才清楚看見，她淚流滿面，手裡捏着一大團濕濕Tissue。很顯然她哭了很久。

“爸爸，你讓我一個人待一會兒，這會兒我很激動。”她說。

她的弟弟妹妹也被她此刻的情形有點丈二和尚莫不着頭腦。

十分鐘以後，她似乎好一點。來到壁爐前，她因哭滿臉通紅。坐下來後，就將她的感受一古腦地講了出來。她說她們從主耶穌被鞭打至被釘十字架一直在不停地哭。她和朋友多次去洗手間為她們和朋友的父母拿Tissue拭淚。

“我現在真正體會神的大愛了。”

下面是她那天晚上記下的觀影感受。

March 25th, 2004
Response：《The Passion of the Christ》

If you had to pick a truly sentimental movie, “The Passion of the Christ” would be the second to none. It portrays the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life, complete with the brutal beatings and the air of the 1st century. The messages conveyed through the movie were powerful, yet reassuring. We as Christians feel the power of God’s love shining through the forceful images. It is a movie with nothing but grace and truth. A must-see!

When you watch this movie, it’s hard not to cry. The situation our Lord was in was difficult, and He was more withstanding than any member throughout the human race, any gender, any race, any time could’ve ever endured. The road to forgiveness from sins needed Jesus to fill to gap and he just came willingly to our world to save us, no matter what. It’s really a shame when you think of today’s society, when one would hardly ever help another solely for good. There is almost always a scheme behind every move.

I couldn’t believe how generous Jesus was and is. He would never forsake us, even though we had done so much to betray him. We have sinned; he is perfect. We are unworthy; he is the forgiver. He will never leave us behind, and that’s what the movie was trying to show us: He will go through anything just to save us sinners because he loves us with unconditional love.

The most touching and inspirational scenes in the movie were the scenes when Jesus had to carry the cross and the scenes where he was nailed to the cross. The graphics accurately depicts the ache and the horror that Jesus had to painfully endure. When he was carrying the cross, he was already whipped so that he could hardly stand up. Yet, he clinched his teeth and walked forwards. Then came the part where he was nailed. The hatred on the officials’ faces was enough to make me cry uncontrollably. How could they hate such a pure man, their God even? For centuries, maybe even millenniums before the birth of Jesus, the Jews have prayed for the Son of God to come to earth and reunite us to God. But when he does arrive, they snicker as they nail him to the cross, the ultimate punishment for criminals and wrongdoers. Why they even let the murderer Barabas go just to punish the innocent Jesus. If our loving God had not loved us with unconditional love, would he put his own Son through all this misery? It was only because our God is loving, has been loving, and will be loving to us that he made this wondrous sacrifice.

Jesus is a wonderful Lord – even in human form. He did not give in to sins and remained clean and sinless. If our Lord was not sinless, then why is he our Lord? Only someone who is free from the burden of sin could possibly take away sin and bear it, and the only person capable of doing that is Jesus, our Lord, and our God.

Mary, Jesus’ mother was played extremely well. She was portrayed as a strong-willed woman who truly cared for her son. She knelt beside Jesus and encouraged him to go on, to accomplish His mission. She followed Jesus and the soldiers everywhere and was truly torn watching her son and Lord hanging up on the cross, and dying. The real Mary must’ve a lot of courage and determination in order to watch the Bearer finish his main task here on Earth.

Another scene in which we feel God’s love for us shining through is the scene when he rises from the dead. The music and the determination shone on his face reflected that through whatever pains or betrayal Jesus felt, he is not giving up on us. He will forever await us at the throne and one day we will see him again. That day is soon, and as God’s children, we shall gladly await for that day when we will be reunited with our loving Father.

Although some argue that the Passion of the Christ was too graphic and too much to handle, but can you argue that it’s one of the most realistic movies based on the life of our Lord? The attraction of a movie so close to the reality back then almost brings you back to the 1st century as a Jew and demonstrates how much pain Jesus had to endure just for the sake of humanity.