Before we delve into this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s column I want to begin with a quote.
\nAnd I want you all to really think about it.
\nHopefully, if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done my job, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tie in well at the end.
\nSo here we go.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A human life has value to God wherever it lives and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not being let off the hook with geographical location being an excuse for somebody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life to be wasted.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nOk, now you might want to read that a few more times, but we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll continue.
\nAs you already know (unless you do truly live in a cave), Mel Gibson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s movie, The Passion of the Christ, was released in theaters last week.
\nNow I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t planning on writing about this movie, but as Gibson said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t not do it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI saw the movie Friday night and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll admit –it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s violent, but it is an amazing work of art.
\nI recommended to my mom that she waits for it to come out on DVD so she can pause or fast forward through it.
\nBut beyond the violence and beyond the controversy there is a question that I believe needs to be answered.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the same question that was asked nearly 2000 years ago by Pontius Pilate.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What should I do with Jesus, the one called the Christ?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAs you watch The Passion of the Christ we see numerous accounts of what others have done with Jesus.
\nOf course we have his disciples. The 12 men who have give up three years of their life following Him.
\nYet as we see from the opening of the movie, they have trouble keeping watch and praying with him.
\nWe also have Judas Iscariot, one of the 12.
\nA name that has become synonymous with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153traitor.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nIn the Passion and in the Gospels we see that Judas struggles with this question of Pilates.
\nWe see that he is willing to give up his friend, companion and teacher for a mere 30 pieces of silver.
\nIn hindsight, I look back and can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe he would betray The Christ for something that small and that futile — yet, I look at all the things in my life that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve betrayed Christ for and realize I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done it for much less.
\nBut Judas and I aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t alone.
\nAnother disciple turned his back on Jesus in a crucial moment.
\nPeter denied he knew Christ three times after The Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrest.
\nHow many times have I denied my faith or my walk with Christ in order to stay \u00e2\u20ac\u0153out of trouble?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nHow many times have I backed down from a chance to be a witness in hopes that someone might like me more?
\nI can easily claim to be a Disciple of Christ or a Child of God on Sundays, but what about Wednesday or Friday or Saturday night?
\nWho\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s child am I claiming to be then?
\nAnother character in The Passion of the Christ, that Gibson took some artistic license with, was Simon of Cyrene.
\nThere is only a brief mention of Simon in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, but I enjoyed the scenes Gibson added with Simon.
\nAs you see in the movie (theologians upset with Gibson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s straying from the Gospels please bear with me), Simon was a member of the crowd.
\nHe simply came to see the show until he was made to become a key player on the Via De La Rosa (The Way of the Cross).
\nSimon was very reluctant to get involved.
\nHe didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to cause trouble. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to be associated with this man, The Christ.
\nYet when he looked upon the face of Christ he was changed.
\nLike Moses talking to God on the mountainside — looking upon God changed his entire appearance.
\nAs he struggled to carry the cross of Christ to Golgotha he changed. He knew that this man was no ordinary man. He knew that this man was special.
\nPerhaps he had been a part of the crowd on Passover.
\nMaking a huge fanfare about this new man riding into town.
\nPerhaps he had been with Jesus in Gailee when Jesus had taught.
\nPerhaps he was even caught up in the frenzy of a mob that hollered for Pilate to crucify Jesus.
\nWe don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know.
\nBut in Gibson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s version of the story, we can see that no matter what his past was, he was a changed man after his face-to-face encounter with The Christ.
\nHe couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t not change.
\nLike Gibson has said in a number of interviews, The Passion of the Christ was a story he had to tell, because of the difference it made in his life.
\nAnd the Passion of my Christ is a story I must tell as well, because of the difference it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made in my life \u00e2\u20ac\u201c yet so often like Peter, or Judas \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I betray my Savior for measly things on this earth.
\nVery quickly, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s go back to the quote I gave you at the beginning of the column, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A human life has value to God wherever it lives and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not being let off the hook with geographical location being an excuse for somebody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life to be wasted.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAny guesses on who said this?
\nDoes it matter? That quote should hit each of us between the eyes.
\nThe man who said this knows what Christ has done for each of us.
\nHe knows what Christ has called each of us to do.
\nHe knows that following Christ means it should make a difference in our lives.
\nWe should care and love for everyone around us not as a suggestion from Christ, but as a commandment of Christ.
\nWe should be willing to go at the drop of a hat to Asia or Africa or Russia if we are called.
\nWe should be willing to give up a Saturday to help build a house for someone in East Temple with Habitat for Humanity.
\nWe should be willing to give up a lunch break once or twice a month to help hand out food and clothes to the needy with Helping Hands.
\nWe should love our fellow man, because He gave us the ultimate example of love.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for a friend.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nI admire friends of mine, who are ready and waiting to head to the mission field. They realize that God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s love knows no geographic bounds. They have examined Pilates question and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is what I shall do with Christ.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nMay God bless them abundantly on their journeys.
\nAnd while I and many of you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t yet feel God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call to a foreign country, may we do everything here in Belton, TX to share God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s love.
\nMay we examine each day, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What should I do with Jesus, the one called the Christ?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nIs it just a fad we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re apart of \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or has he made a true difference in our life?
\nAnd for those of you who might be reading this column and wondering what is all this fuss about Jesus about \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be amiss if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t offer this phone number to you: 1-888-Need-Him.
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s simple, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s free and they will be happy to answer any questions you might have about this man they call the Christ.
\nOr e-mail me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d love to show you what He has done for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before we delve into this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s column I want to begin with a quote. And I want you all to really think about it. Hopefully, if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done my job, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tie in well at the end. So here we go. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A human life has value to God wherever it lives and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not being … Continue reading What Shall I Do With This Man<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2090],"tags":[2088,2089,2092],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns-reflections","tag-belton-journal","tag-columns","tag-newspaper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}