Amos - a view from under the pew: Reflecting on Christ's suffering

amos the churchmouse:

a view from under the pew

Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse who types by hurling himself at the keys, but he can’t use the capital shift keys and he shuns punctuation marks — except the hyphens and dashes.

After seeing Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” Amos has been intensely reviewing those devastating events of the first Good Friday in history.

The agony of the Savior in Gethsemane, the kiss of betrayal by one of his own, the mockery and injustice of a kangaroo court, the beating, the taunting and the scourging by the Roman soldiers, and finally, the cruel, torturous nailing of His body to the cross to die has completely overwhelmed our little churchmouse’s soul and intellect.

reflecting on christ s suffering

after seeing mel gibson s

portrayal of the passion

of the christ boss it shook me

to the core of my mousy being

so much so that my little tail

quivered as i stumbled out

of the movie theater

even roscoe the rat and

corky cockroach lost their

appetite for spilled popcorn

and sticky gummy bears

during the film

such agony is unutterable

incomprehensible

unbearable to even

think about

and to think boss that

my sin

caused

his pain

to begin with

it just makes me

hurt inside out

there was only one

solution boss i scampered

over to willifred s tiny

time traveling machine

talked willifred into installing

it in my 57 cheese-rolet

matchbox car

ya gotta take me to the

first century a d says me

but why says he

i gotta find out the truth

about jesus s agony says me

so willifred and i jumped

into my cheesy car and

off we zoomed through

time by standing still

in the blink of an eye

we found ourselves under

a pitch-black sky

surrounded by eerie

sounds and grotesque trees

it was so scary it took mounds

of courage to steady our

trembling knees

then a flickering shadow darted

behind a huge olive tree

who goes there says me

it s only i a little harmless

firefly who dares to brighten

this dismal night s sky

what are you doing here

says me with a bit of fear

oh i ve come to watch

the battle of the ages says he

these next few minutes

could spell defeat or victory

the end of life or the

beginning of a wondrous

destiny

what do you mean

simply this see that awesome

blood-and-sweat-drenched

creature over there that s jesus

what s he doing says me

praying with all his soul

through all of his humanity

to link up with the strength

of his deity

but some people claim jesus

didn t really need to pray

that he was just giving us

a model for prayer says me

come look and see says he

there he was boss and just

looking at him you couldn t

help but see some of the awful

torment he was going through

he was experiencing tremendous

emotional shock – visibly shaken

under the great stress and agony

of that prayer battle – the awareness

of calvary

of becoming sin for all humankind

of suffering the wrath and

forsakenness of the father s

fellowship

the aloneness of his death and

descent into the pit of hell itself

the physical agony of dying on

the cross

the ultimate spiritual conflict

between the kingdom of light

and the demonic dominion of

darkness – all of it weighed so

heavy on his mind heart soul and

body that it came upon him with

a traumatic terrifying jolt

he prayed with such intensity

and agony that his sweat came

out in literal drops of blood

all because of my sin – and

everyone s – and his great

love for us

he dropped to his knees

crying out to the father

it wasn t long before he

fell prostrate on the ground

under the weight of the

warfare he was waging

then finally as the battle

increased he literally writhed

and threw himself repeatedly

upon the ground in absolute

emotional distress

gethsemane was agony for

jesus boss

i know there are those who

feel jesus didn t need to pray

but they should have

seen him there in the garden

as my little firefly friend says

because that s where jesus really

won the battle for our souls

amos