He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
Mark 8:31–37
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Romans 4:25
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:1–4
This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Acts 2:23–24
This word “passion” – it doesn’t mean what we might at first think. It’s not about strong feeling, as in “I love you passionately”. It stems from the Latin word passiō, meaning to suffer, or to submit. Remember when Jesus says, “Suffer little children … to come unto me” (Matthew 19:14, KJV)? The word “suffer” means permit or allow. “Passion” is associated with this, and with the word “passive”. The passion of Jesus is about when the time came for him to lay aside the inner strength and authority that had kept those who hated him at bay for so long, and permit them to have their way with him so that the will of God in the salvation of the world could be accomplished through his grim and agonizing death.
When we think of the death of Jesus, by which we are saved and the way to
heaven is opened for us, it is important to include the passion, because passion is part of our salvation. There’s a German word, Gelassenheit (literally “letting-goness”), which is about allowing things to take their course, submitting to reality and to God, not getting ourselves in the way of the flow of things or obstructing the unfolding of grace. Our salvation was won by Jesus’ death, but also by his passion, his submission and humility, his self-emptying, and his laying-aside of power.
When we think of your suffering and death for our sakes, Lord Jesus, words fail us. Let us sit in silence and adore you, and pour out our love and thanksgiving in the silence of our hearts… Thank you, Lord Jesus. We adore you, Lord Jesus. For all you have done for us, for so much love, for our full and free salvation, for the abundant life you have won for us, for the healing and freedom we find in you, we bring our humble and hearty thanks. Give us grace and strength to follow you as you truly deserve, and to remain faithful to you unto our lives’ end. Amen.
