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Many movies portray the suffering of Jesus, but Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” was tough to watch. In one scene, Christ is brutally whipped beyond recognition—so brutal that some viewers scream “Enough!” Yet no film can capture the ordeal our Lord actually endured both physically and mentally as He, without any hint of guilt, was made sin on our behalf. Isaiah in chapter 53 wrote this: “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” The only way to show gratitude for His suffering on our behalf is to repent of our sins, and follow Him with all our hearts.
