Doug
Koop
CW Staff
What does the word "passion" mean to you? These days most people will think first of a movie. A few highly religious types will mention the suffering and death of Jesus and the biblical narratives that tell the Easter stories.
But most people are likely to describe passion as an intense desire or inner drive that can be all consuming. They will speak about finely focused energy and attention, of single-minded pursuit of a vision. They will say that "passion" is the emotional drive behind some particular action. You can be passionate about hobbies, work, money, God, sex or just about anything.
So why do we refer to the last days and hours of Jesus’s life as the Passion? I like to think that it’s because Jesus was so singularly focused on the calling He had to fulfill. He knew what was ahead of Him long before He was betrayed, arrested, humiliated, beaten, sentenced to death and crucified. He knew He had to suffer all this and more.
But because He loved people so much and knew that this terrible sacrifice was what it took to release us from sin’s grip, He was positively intent on staying the course. He knew He was to be the suffering servant, "despised and rejected," abandoned by man and God. Yet He carried His cross and died horrifically.
Today we can only bow in utter amazement at the passion Jesus had to reconcile people to God.
Power is another word that Jesus turned upside down. Power is about force, strength, control and influence. Jesus displayed a power so great that it is practically invisible to those of us who see the world through human eyes. Certainly Peter and Pilate and countless others who viewed the spectacle of Jesus’ final hours failed to perceive the power He showed, although it seems that they did have intimations of it.
Jesus wielded power differently. When He was arrested, impetuous Peter reached for his sword and started a fight (as countless Christian warriors throughout the centuries have been inclined to do). We feel we need to "win," and somehow think that striking out at an enemy is the way to accomplish that.
It seems to make good sense, but it’s not the Jesus way. Before healing the man Peter wounded, Jesus said: "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?" (Matthew 26:53-54).
This understanding of "power" was utterly incomprehensible-downright blasphemous-to a devout Muslim friend of mine, who said: "You claim that Jesus is God and yet you claim He was killed-by men!" Well, yes, we do. It is a unique and difficult belief.
Ultimately, however, it makes good sense. People who refuse to defend themselves may be considered weak, but what really takes more strength: to prevail physically, or to control oneself? To exercise restraint is very demanding, especially when the means to "win" are right at hand. Jesus demonstrated remarkable powers of personal restraint and obedience to His Father’s will.
He told Pilate: "My Kingdom is not from this world. If my Kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my Kingdom is not from here" (John 18:36).
Jesus was intent on modeling a new vision of the Kingdom-a different politics; a different expectation of service. He was demonstrating a better way of exercising power.
After Jesus chose the brutal path to Calvary and voluntarily relinquished His ability to avoid suffering, He demonstrated an even greater power-a power beyond human comprehension-by rising from the dead. Jesus is the victorious conqueror who has rescued us from death.
This was the victory worth winning; the glory worthy of the struggle. By His passionate, courageous act of will and obedience, Jesus was elevated from the most humiliating of human deaths to the heights of heavenly glory-a seat at the right hand of God.
Glory is, among other things, the fame, admiration and honour due someone who does something important. Jesus deserves it for that. But there is a whole realm of moral beauty and ineffable majesty that is largely beyond human visibility. We get glimpses, but the full glory of God has yet to be revealed to us. That day will come when Jesus Christ returns to earth and receives complete recognition for the wonderful work He has done.
The resurrection of Jesus is undeniably the pivotal event of Christian belief. Without it, our faith is empty. This is why Easter is the most important celebration in the Christian calendar. It is why we can sing with the angels: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!" (Revelation 5:12).
