The Passion of Jesus Christ; God’s Supreme Act of Love by Rev. Tad Stanson
In these difficult times where it seems God’s
light is fading from our world, we must hold to the truths found in the most sacred and important book ever written, the Bible. Within its sacred pages are the answers to life’s deepest questions, among its words we find hope and ultimate truth. The Bible tells of a God who loved His supreme act of creation so much that when they sinned against Him, He sent His only begotten Son into a dark and fallen world to save them. God’s love for a fallen humanity was perhaps most profoundly demonstrated in the events of a single week nearly two thousand years ago. We will begin that Holy Week this year on Palm Sunday, March 28, 2021 and will celebrate its triumphant culmination on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021. Between these two glorious Sundays, we with solemn hearts will contemplate the great and important events of Jesus’ Passion. Passion is derived from the Latin patior which means to suffer. These sufferings of our Lord began in the Garden of Gethsemane and ended on the Cross of Golgotha with His horrible yet triumphant death. After Jesus ate for the last time with His disciples, before His crucifixion, He went to pray in a garden on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem. He withdrew a few feet from His disciples who accompanied Him, and began to pray, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not my will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). When our Lord finished this prayer, Luke tells us, an angel came and strengthened Him. Jesus then prayed even more earnestly and His agony was so great that His sweat became as great drops of blood. Jesus fully understood what horrors were to come and what terrors He was soon to suffer. The Jewish authorities feared the favor Jesus had with the common people, and they saw Him as a political threat to their authority and power; thus,
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The Connection
SPRING 2021
while he was still in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was then taken by force to face trial before the Sanhedrin. The ruling religious authorities, lead by the High Priest Caiaphas, tried to bring false testimonies against Jesus in an attempt to condemn Him to death. When faced with false accusations, Jesus remained silent. Finally, the high priest asked Jesus a direct question, ‘“I put You under oath by the living God; Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven”’ (Matthew 26:63-64). With that affirmation, the high priest tore his clothes and proclaimed that Jesus had spoken blasphemy. The crowed that was present shouted that Jesus deserved death and began beating our Lord. Although the Jewish religious authorities could charge Jesus with an offense deserving in their minds of the penalty of death, they could not actually execute him. Execution of prisoners was the exclusive domain of the supreme ruling authority in Judea at that time, Rome. “When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor” (Matthew 27:1-2). As Jesus stood before Pilate, the Roman official was deeply impressed with this man who was so hated and reviled by the Jewish religious ruling class. While the priests and elders had condemned Jesus of blasphemy within their own religious community, they now charged Jesus with the political crime of claiming to be the king of Judea which would be a very serious offense in the minds of the Romans. “Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you say’” (Matthew 27:1).
