Passion Week ...

Tonight, for Good Friday, we are watching Mel Gisbon's The Passion of the Christ and then taking communion. It will be a minimalist service, leaving each person to their own meditations.

However, Wednesday night we watched Stephen King's The Green Mile and had a discussion afterwards. What follows is the handout from that service:

The Green Mile
a picture of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant

Tonight, on the Wednesday of Passion Week, we are looking at a Christ’s suffering on our behalf from a different point of view. Isaiah 53 describes someone called the Suffering Servant who docilely accepts brutal treatment for the sake of others. Matthew 8:17 cites Jesus’ healing miracles as fulfillment of Isaiah 53:4a, while 1 Peter 2:24-25 cites Isaiah 53:5b-6a as a statement of what happened on the cross. The Green Mile is a secular picture of this Suffering Servant.

Isaiah 53

Questions

The Green Mile is the nickname for death row in a fictitious Louisiana prison. The guards see themselves as preparing convicts for death and keeping them calm until the day of their execution. How is this like the priests and the temple without the redemptive power of Jesus?

One of the convicts on death row has the initials J.C. and has the power to heal others. However, as a convict he has been rejected by a society that does not, and does not care to, know him. What parts of Isaiah 53 describe the convict John Coffey?

What parts of Isaiah 53 describe Jesus’ life, ministry, arrest, trial, death, & resurrection?

In the movie, John Coffey takes others' infirmities upon himself during his life, while 1 Peter 2:24-25 says Jesus took our sins on himself while he was on the cross. What do you think it cost God’s Son to live and minister to us as a human being?

In the movie, who repents of their former way of living, and what forms does repentance take?

What does forgiveness look like in the movie?

Who is at peace by the end of the movie?