The Passion of Jesus

It's very interesting that the word "passion" continues to be used by Christians to describe the last moments of the life of Jesus. The language is traditional and comes from the use of the Greek verb paschein in the New Testament, which means "to suffer". The word is used frequently in the New Testament, including thirteen times in the synoptic gospels. Although nine of those instances are descriptions of the suffering that Jesus will endure at the end of his life, it is not used in the same way that we might use "The Passion" today to encapsulate both the suffering before Christ's death as well as the death itself. For instance, Mark 8:31 puts the following on the lips of Jesus:

The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chiefs priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise up.  

There's a distinction there between the suffering he expected to endure and his actual death. This understanding is supported by the other four usages of the verb paschein in the synoptic gospels, which all describe the suffering of other people in circumstances that will not lead to death. But it didn't take long before Christians began describing the period of suffering between the garden of Gethsemane and the crucifixion as "The Passion" and this usage was clearly understood by Christians for several centuries.

Of course, the English word "passion" (which comes from the Greek paschein and Latin passio) is used very differently today. We rarely if ever use it to describe suffering outside the context of Christian theology. Instead, we use the word to describe intense feeling, usually positive, especially though not exclusively in romantic contexts. No one would question me being, say, passionate about my wife, but I could also be passionate about my work or my faith so long as I have a deep felt sense of my commitment to both.

It seems to me that this new meaning is having a significant impact on our understanding of the suffering and death of Jesus. Because we describe the suffering and death as "The Passion" we can't help but hear it as being deeply connected to the love that Jesus has for humanity, perhaps even as an expression of that love. This certainly isn't a bad thing, but it's a connection that's made so easy for us because of the way our language has developed, which is certainly a happy accident!

It also leads me to wonder. If we understand the word "passion" in this way it seems to me that we could use it more broadly for the life of Jesus as a whole. We could easily understand the entire ministry of Jesus as "The Passion", an expression of the deep felt sense he had about his purpose in the world and the love that he had for all people. I say that not to take away from the very real suffering he endured at the end of his life, but rather to highlight the fact that the suffering is intimately connected to the way he lived.

An Ash Wednesday Beginning

It seems right to me that this blog will begin on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of a communal journey toward the cross, and the beginning of a season of individual repentance. Lent reminds us not of the universality of God's grace (an important truth, no doubt), but of the difficulty of the Christian life, which we so often want to make easy. Lent is a time to be reminded of some of the more difficult teachings of Jesus, to hear the challenging call that Jesus offers to anyone that might want to follow him:

If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison--your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.

But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, "There's the person who started that building and couldn't afford to finish it!"

Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can't, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.

This is an awfully hard teaching, especially for those of us accustomed to measuring success by what and how much we accumulate. Lent offers an invitation to listen to these words again, to have ears to hear that we might actually receive life by denying ourselves the luxury that our culture so often calls success. The life of Jesus is a testimony that such denial doesn't mean a life devoid of laughter, feasting and joy, but rather a life where the decisions we make are touched by our love for and commitment to God. 

We demonstrate this love and commitment through words, but even more through our actions. Participation in the Lenten fast isn't an obligation, but an act of love. It's a reaching out to the one we love and declaration that he is more than food or drink or whatever other good thing we might deny ourselves for a time. When we do this, we are transformed because, best of all, God responds. As it turns out, he loves us too.