How close do you want to get?

On Sunday night a whole group of us converged on the local movie theatres to see the Son of God movie premiere we had arranged.
To be honest I was looking forward and not looking forward to it.
I was nervous about how much cringe factor there might be.
I was apprehensive about seeing the sacrifice component of the story, as seeing Jesus crucified has never entertained me!
And I was excited to see Jesus, who I chose to follow many years ago, with His life portrayed once again on the silver screen...

Many scenes stirred me but one did more than all the others...

In it a man named Simon of Cyrene was forced by the roman soldiers to help Jesus carry the cross to Golgotha. Through the winding and undulating stone streets to the barren hills outside of Jerusalem.
They showed how this played out a little different to how I had imagined it before.
I have always pictured Simon carrying the cross, with Jesus struggling along behind or in front of him.
In this movie however, the were shown to be beside each other.
Both heaving and dragging this instrument of torture and death to its intended destination.
Arms around each other at times. Sweat and blood mixing on both their flesh.
They were shown to be pretty close!

And if you asked Simon and a bystander on the street afterwards what they thought of the whole thing, I wonder how different their answers would be?
I wonder how much more of an impact it would have had on Simon than anyone else?
What did it do to his life and the choices he made from there?
What was the story he told his family and friends compared to a mere observer?

I would suggest his story would have been powerful. It would have had huge meaning.
The very fact he was in extremely close contact with the Son of God would have changed him inexplicably forever!

So how close do you want to get to this Jesus? Because I think it will dictate how much He impacts your life...
You are welcome to gaze from a distance, but you are also invited to come as close as you can.

There is a huge difference I believe between knowing about Him and actually knowing Him.
There are lots of experts from a distance. But friends are known by how close they are.
This Son of God is not looking for mere experts or commentators on aspects of faith.
He is looking for friends that see their lives changed.
Who in turn change the world.
And who finally get to spend a glorious eternity with Him...

So how close do you want to get?

Something to think about...