Just How Badly Did Jesus Suffer? Series

The violence in The Passion of the Christ has many moviegoers asking: Does the movie have to be so bloody?

Most film critics have felt the need to stress their discomfort with the amount of violence in the film. Roger Ebert, who gave it a thumbs up, said The Passion of the Christ is the most violent film he had ever seen.

One critic said, “The film is frightening [because of] the relentlessness of its brutality.

The beating and whipping and ripping of skin become so repetitive, they’ll leave the audience emotionally drained and stunned. ‘Yes, yes. That’s the point,’ Gibson has said. He wants his film to be shockingly graphic to show the [enormity] of Christ’s sacrifice.”

Did the one-time "Lethal Weapon" star took the violence too far? Gibson said he wanted to push the viewer "over the edge."

Let’s face it: The suffering of the Christ and the shedding of His blood gave birth to the church. And Mel Gibson doesn’t shy away from it in his movie about Jesus.

A question begs to be asked:

Just how badly did Jesus suffer?

Series: The Passion of the Christ: True or false?

Text: Isaiah 53:4-6, 52:14, p. 525

Have you ever considered that you, your family, or your ministry might just be under attack… spiritually?

With our recent growth at CVCC in both AM and PM services, I believe that we are increasingly on the “radar screen” of our spiritual enemy, the devil and his demons. We know that we are in a battle. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Some of our leaders at CVCC have been having unusual nightmares. Others are experiencing unusual struggles with children and other relationships. Some of our leaders are facing health concerns. Maybe it’s just the aging process or maybe it’s just that we’re living in a fallen world. But the obstacles and issues we are facing seem to be unusual. I wonder, “Are we facing targeted attacks from our enemy?”

Do you know how to fight this fight? Do you know how to wage spiritual warfare?

We are privileged to host a seminar on Saturday, March 27…

Spiritual warfare conference.

In past weeks, we’ve looked at biblical answers to: Who really killed Jesus? What crime did Jesus commit? Talks in the coming weeks will give the biblical answers to: Why did Jesus die? Couldn’t there have been another way? How now should we live?

But today: Just how badly did Jesus suffer?

The agonies of God’s Son were without equal. No one ever suffered like this man. The Bible tells us that one song we’ll sing in heaven is “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (Rev. 5:12). Through all eternity, we will sing about the death of Jesus – the shedding of His blood.

No one ever deserved suffering less, yet received so much. He was without sin. The only person in history who did not deserve to suffer, suffered most.

In Isaiah, hundreds of years before Jesus was even born, we see words that predict His suffering.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;

… upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:4-6 (ESV)

I see five words in this passage that give us a glimpse of just how bad it really was:

Sticken

Smitten

Afflicted

Wounded

Crushed

Words from Isaiah 53 are shown at the beginning of The Passion of the Christ to provide a biblical context for understanding all the violence that follows. This week, I looked at these words in the Hebrew to try to unpack a little more of their meaning.

The Bible says that Jesus was…

Stricken – refers to the blows He received

touching, striking

Smitten – refers to the beatings He received

smiting, hitting, beating

Afflicted – refers to how He cowed down

oppressing, humbling, being bowed down, being forced into submission, having pain inflicted upon

Wounded – refers to His fatal piercing

boring through, fatal wounding

Crushed – refers to His being shattered

This word emphasizes not only the physical pain, but the emotional and spiritual suffering of the Savior as he became sin for us.

All these words together describe the scourging and the crucifixion.

Scourged. The word comes from Latin. Excoriare is a compound word meaning “to flay.” Ex means “off” and corium means “hide or skin.” So scourging literally means “off with the skin.”