Thoughts on the “Passion”

On the afternoon of 07 July, I had the opportunity to witness the season finale of the Drumheller Passion Play.  I wish to thank the actors and the Drumheller community for their colossal effort and for the vivid visual images that, I believe, will never leave my mind.  The grand outdoor setting with its unique physical features; the acoustical characteristics of  the local topography; the artistic employment of size and space in all three dimensions; the capture and employment of the spectator’s imagination; and in particular the lack of any electronic amplification of sound — all combined to increase the richness of the experience in which I felt totally immersed.

I appreciated the opening acknowledgement of the challenges which the producers and cast felt in attempting to represent the story, so well known, and so freighted with emotion and personal significance.  It is truly a theme beyond the capacity of the human to fully comprehend or to fully portray.  As with most artistic and literary creations, the sequence of specific events was not the intended focus, and in the process some secondary theological points may have been obscured.  BUT the major focus was transparently evident.

As I sat among the silent onlookers, tears came to my eyes a number of times —
     ▸    at the tenderness of the scene in which the daughter of Jairus was presented to her father, alive again;
     ▸    at the plight of the innocent Victim when so many of the very ones to whom he had ministered were shouting “Crucify Him!;”
     ▸    at the poignancy of the dying Saviour providing for his heart-broken mother, entrusting her to the care of his beloved disciple John; and
     ▸    in particular as the risen LORD proclaimed in triumph, “I am the resurrection and the life!”

During that dramatic representation, my mind was drawn to the words of the Prophet Isaiah — “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  [Isaiah 53:5]

It is my prayer that every actor in that powerful drama — and every witness present — may personally experience the reality of the salvation bought for them at so great a price:  “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.”  [2 Corinthhians 5:19]

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”  [John 3:16, 17]

Pastor David R Streifling
Seventh-day Adventist Church