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When The Passion of the Christ was released in theatres, my reaction to the hype was all but favorable. I questioned why the evangelical community would look to a film made by a famous celebrity as if it were the “ultimate evangelistic opportunity,” because, in my opinion, we have had opportunity after opportunity to share our faith for a long time. Waiting for a film is not the only outlet available to us.
In my personal comments, I’ve given the hype over Mel Gibson’s movie a lot of criticism, as well as a few comments about the movie itself. I even wrote a blog post about it a while ago, in case you’re interested in reading it. But Mel’s movie made its impact, and many have had a change of heart, for better or for worse, toward Jesus.
But here I want to focus on what has become my “theological hobby horse” of sorts over the past few years, and my “proof text” (although I dislike proof texts) would be Colossians 1:19-20: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (TNIV).
In the film, before Jesus was crucified, he made a statement to his mother that grabbed me and has never left my memory. He said, “Look, Mother, I make all things new.”
Renewal, restoration, reconciliation. All three words, similar in concept, represent the mission of the kingdom of God. As a world full of brokenness, we long for––we dream about––the life we’ve always wanted. C.S. Lewis says, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” (emphasis mine). This is why we long, why we hope, why in our bones we understand that “another life” is available to us.
It began with the work of Jesus Christ, the world’s true Lord, on the cross and inaugurated at his resurrection. The beginning of a new creation has come. Renewal and restoration will occur. Since this is the central “good news” (gospel), as the pronouncement of Jesus’ work on the cross is proclaimed, and as we give our allegience to the world’s true Lord, the kingdom of God will dwell “on earth as it is in heaven” (see Matthew 6) and the fallenness will be restored.
