It’s Passion Week, But Do We Really Get It?
As most of you know, this week leading up to Easter is know by Christians as the Passion Week. It is the last week for Jesus on Earth prior to being crucified. But when we really stop and think about what this week included for Christ, do we really understand what He went through?
First of all, what do we mean when we use the word “passion”? Most of the time when we use the word “passion”, the word means “strong and barely controllable emotion” according to the dictionary. A lot of people use it in this term when describing Jesus’ last week. They want to think it means His immeasurable love for us. Not exactly false. He does love us without measure.
The word “passion” when used in the context of Passion Week actually has a totally different meaning. It actually is referring to the suffering and death of Jesus. Synonyms for the word “passion” in this context are: pain, suffering, agony, and martyrdom. Not exactly words that give you the warm and fuzzies.
Jesus’ last week on Earth prior to His crucifixion, was a week filled with strife, turmoil, and suffering. Put yourself in His shoes. We all have experienced dread in our lives. We have dreaded certain moments in our lives that were about to happen. We have felt the anxiety of life. We have felt overwhelmed at times. Jesus is completely God and completely man. In saying that we must realize that by allowing Himself to be completely man, He was forcing Himself to experience all the emotions of human life. He had to experience all the pain, suffering, stress, and anxiety. He did not allow Himself to be removed from any of that. He experienced it all to the fullest.
He experienced the joy of being welcomed in by the crowd of people shouting “Hosanna!” when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He felt anger when He saw how the moneychangers had made the temple into a moneymaking scheme. He felt the hurt of a so-called friend betraying Him when Judas kissed His cheek. He felt the worry and anxiety of the pain He was about to experience when praying in the Garden of Gethsemane asking God was there another way to fulfill His plan. He felt the rejection of people as they shouted “Crucify Him!” not long after healing their sick. He felt the pain of the whip, crown of thorns, yanking out of His beard, and the nails piercing His body on the cross. He felt death.
We so often dismiss the suffering of Christ when we say that Jesus died on the cross. The words are easy to say especially when you don’t think about what all went along with it physically. When you don’t personalize something, it is much easier for you to deal with it. When you don’t own it, you can put it in the back of your mind. Salvation is personal. We need to always think and remember what it took for us to have the opportunity to be saved. It was a significant price. It was significant in pain and suffering. So much so that God Himself, through Jesus, wanted another way out. He wanted to avoid what was about to happen.
“And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:37-39
This week was a difficult one for Christ as He went through almost every emotion known to man in a short period of time. It was painful and exhausting. And it goes to show how much love He has for us that He was willing to experience it. Did He want to avoid it? Absolutely. Who wouldn’t? However, He was willing and able to put those personal feelings aside and put our eternal needs in the forefront.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
This Easter, don’t allow yourself to take what Jesus did for you lightly. Don’t put it out of your mind because it makes you uncomfortable. He paid the ultimate price for you. And if you had been the only person on Earth needing a Savior, He would have done it anyway. He paid a personal sacrifice to satisfy a personal debt. We need to fully appreciate that and be eternally grateful.