Wounded Lamb

One of my Easter traditions is to watch The Passion of the Christ on Good Friday.

Although it's filled with intense visuals, I want to see in full the extent of Jesus' love for me. 

And I think the verse the movie opens with sets up the story perfectly.

 ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53 has so many great passages on Jesus' death.

Here's a few that really impact me:

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
       Like one from whom men hide their faces
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
       and carried our sorrows,
       yet we considered him stricken by God,
       smitten by him, and afflicted.

And verse 7 portrays the striking image of a "lamb" being destroyed:

 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
       yet he did not open his mouth;
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
       so he did not open his mouth.

Finally, verse 10 reminds us that God was the One that originally planned it this way. He knew exactly how high the price was to redeem us from Lucifer's ownership: His Son.

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
       and though the LORD makes ^[c] his life a guilt offering,
       he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
       and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

In the crucifixion scene, Mel Gibson wanted the close-up shots to feature his hand hammering the spikes into Jesus.

I guess he wanted to emphasize the fact that because of our sin, we all had a part in nailing His flesh to the wood.

We can never thank our wounded Lamb enough for making all things new.

And one day soon, we will see our Lamb coming as a Lion.