People are so fond of stories. We do enjoy reading and telling stories especially those stories in which we can fit ourselves. There are a lot of popular TV shows which tell us stories about numerous ways of life. We have the popular “Batang Quiapo,” the “Pepito Manaloto” and a lot more. Most of the viewers really shout their lungs out in utter disgust when, without warning, the electricity goes out. It is because they do not want to miss a part of the story even if the ending is conclusive.
Some playful minds even make stories about other people maybe because they really love stories not knowing in the end that they become termites in our society as tsismosos and tsismosas. I know a lot of them around Virac because most of the time they feast on bishops and priests.
The gospel that we have just heard is a story of a man. The world considers it as a tragedy, but God has a quite different viewpoint. It is the story of God’s love for man.
Mel Gibson’s epic movie shown in cinemas some years ago, “The Passion of the Christ,” brings alive the gospel of the passion of Jesus. This movie is taken from this account of St. Mark because Christ is portrayed as helpless and seemed to have lost his Divine nature when He cried out to the Father: “Why have you abandoned me?”
The movie is graphically violent, and the suffering of Jesus was horrendous. The whole film is drenched with so much blood, gore, and non-stop violence.
Whatever controversies the film might provoke, one point, however, stands out and leaves a deep impression on the viewer. It is not the suffering of Jesus. Rather, it is the love of Jesus. Love radiates from Jesus.
Jesus accepted this terrible suffering and death out of His love for each one of us in full payment for all our sins. His horrendous suffering and death give us a measure of the horrors of our sins accumulated against God and neighbor.
However, like the movie, we should not focus on the suffering of Jesus during the Holy Week ahead. What we should focus on is the love of Jesus that speaks to us through his suffering.
The suffering of Jesus speaks to us about his love in three ways.
First, it is a sign of love. It tells us in the most powerful way possible what Jesus told us in his lifetime: “the greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.”
The suffering of Jesus reveals the immeasurable love of our God for each one of us, a love in which God gives Jesus to all humanity to suffer and die on the cross for our redemption. Jesus carried the cross weigh down with all our sins and laid down His life on the cross for all humanity.
Second, the suffering of Jesus is an invitation to love. It says in the most powerful way possible what Jesus said so often in his lifetime: “Love one another, just as I love you.”
“The Passion of the Christ” is the gospel of God’s love. The movie invites us to reflect on God’s love and mercy, reflect on our failure to love that contributed to the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross and the little love we have done to live the gospel message of love and mercy.
Third, the suffering of Jesus is a revelation about love. It tells us that love entails suffering. Jesus stressed this in his lifetime, by saying: “If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, take up his cross and follow me.”
Jesus did not promise a life of ease by being His followers. Our lives are filled with troubles and trials such as sickness and the death of a loved one. These are some of our daily crosses we offer to God to share in the passion of Jesus with the hope of sharing in His resurrection.
In our era of fast relief painkillers and instant gratification, we expect everything to be pain free. However, this is impossible. Some things in life do not come pain free – because they are painful by nature.
It is painful to try to rekindle a relationship that has begun to cool.
It is painful to try to keep the lines of communication open with someone who does not listen to what we say.
It is painful to try to deal with someone who is demanding to the point of being unreasonable.
It is painful to try to face each day with courage in a world that has passed us by.
We should not feel depressed by the movie. The movie “The Passion of the Christ” brings alive more than just the words of the gospel. It brings alive the love and mercy of God for us.
Similarly, as we begin the Holy Week, we can retrace, spiritually, the Holy Week steps of Jesus, meditate on, and learn from the passion of Jesus.
We can learn the lesson of love contained in the suffering of Jesus. We can learn that the suffering of Jesus is a sign of his love for us. We can learn that the suffering of Jesus is a revelation about love: true love always entails suffering.
Finally, we can learn that the suffering of Jesus is an invitation to love our brothers and sisters.
This is the message contained in today’s Passion Sunday Readings and in the movie of Mel Gibson. This is the lesson of love that Jesus wants to share with each of us in the week ahead. Let us make this year’s Holy Week celebration a real meaningful one in our lives because now we become persons who can love even the unlovable at the expense of our death and our acceptance of the cross of Jesus.