Evangelization and the Passion
While filling the coffee pot this morning, one of the housekeeping staff stopped me in the hall: "Man, have you seen dat movie, 'da passion'?" He continued with a lengthy description of how, while watching Our Lord suffer for his sins, he 'just broke down, nigga,' and after the movie 'all of us was just sittin' there tryin' to collect our thoughts and sh*t.' (Another observation was that, if he had been dying on the cross, he wouldn't have just forgiven his persecutors -- he 'woulda burned them f*ckers'). After seeing the movie, he 'went back to church an' everything,' apparently after a long absence.
This is a guy who, as it happens, has had a long history of trouble with the law (which I happen to know only because, despite my protestations, and for reasons unknown to myself, he comes to me frequently for legal advice). He's a bit rough around the edges, and usually keeps to himself. I had never seen him like this before, as animated as a five-year-old boy. The whole incident was just a refreshing breather from the incessant 'culture wars' into which this movie (still doing well, by the way) has reluctantly been drawn. After all of the accusations of anti-semitism, theological sadism, etc., have all died down, I only pray that the lives of ordinary men and women, like my friend on the housekeeping staff, have been changed for the better.
# posted by Jamie : 7:36 AM
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