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INJ
Passion Sunday
St John 8:46-59
Judica, Lent V
April 2nd, 2006
Divine Service
Hope Lutheran Church, Aurora, CO
Dear Saints,
Today begins what the church calls “Passiontide,” the last two weeks of Lent. As we walk farther into the valley of the shadow of Christ's death, we are given to contemplate the death of Christ with seriousness and all diligence, for we are hearing the greatest mystery that mortal ears can hear: that the Lord of all has offered Himself [Hebrews 9:14] as a sacrifice, and by the spilling of His blood has paid our redemption and cleansed our guilty consciences.
Passiontide, so today is “Passion Sunday.” The word 'passion' means two different things, it means something different here, in front of the Lord's altar, than it does outside the Lord's church. Away from this altar 'passion' can mean 'excitement, strong desire, rage'. We can say things like, “He passionate about his work,” or, “She sings with passion.” Passion, then, is an emotion, a strong one. “Follow your passion,” this is advice that I remember hearing as a teenager, and this emotion, this drive is extolled as a wonderful virtue, that you go at something with all your might.
We see this kind of passion in the gospel text before us today from the 8th chapter of the Gospel of St John. Jesus is in the temple and is engaged in a theological debate with the Jews, the chief priests and the Pharisees. The debate is about fathers. Who is the Pharisee's father, and who is Jesus' father? And this debate is heated. Who has the passion?
It is the Pharisees. They are passionate about who they are, “Abraham is our father.” [St John 8:39] And they defend this themselves, insulting Jesus, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father-God!” [St John 8:41] You can hear the passion in their voice, and it continues as they insult Jesus and continue to defend themselves, “Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon.” [St John 8:48] And more, “Now we know,” they say, “that you have a demon!” [8:52] Their passion becomes rage and reaches almost insanity as they again accuse Jesus of being possessed by a demon, and then they reach the boiling point as Jesus teaches them who He really is, “they took up stones to throw at Him.” [8:59] It's clear that they were very sincere about what they believed. This is the way that the world would teach us passion.
But here, in the Lord's Church, before the Lord's altar, as we hear the Lord's Word and prepare to taste His broken body and spilled blood, here we learn another way to speak of passion. Here passion is not an emotion, but an act, or even better, a being acted upon. Jesus' passion is His suffering, His giving Himself into the hands of His enemies, His letting Himself be taken and beaten and mocked and humiliated. Jesus' passion is that He does not seek His own honor, does not seek His own glory. Jesus' passion is not an emotion, it is the event of the cross; His passion is not what drives His life but rather His going to death.
We see Jesus' passion in this Gospel text as well. He does not return insult for injury, but simply preaches the truth, both law and Gospel. He shows them their sin, “You dishonor Me...” and then, stunningly, He freely offers them life and salvation in the Gospel, “If anyone keeps My Word he shall never see death.” [8:49,51] To His would-be murderers Jesus extends the gift of life. It here seems as if Jesus is throwing pearls before swine, but we rejoice that He is here also speaking to us, that we would keep and treasure His word, and find in it our life and salvation and the forgiveness of all of our sins. “If anyone keeps My Word he shall never see death.” [8:51]
But before His enemies, Jesus does not defend Himself, “I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.” [8:50] Jesus commends Himself to His Father who judges all things righteously. Jesus suffers the enmity and the hatred of the unbelieving Jews and the Pharisees and the chief priests.
Jesus takes it, not fighting back, saying simply, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, 'I do not know Him,' I shall be a lair like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.” [8:54,55] This is Jesus' passion, that He receives whatever the Father gives Him, be it good or bad, comfortable or painful, honorable or shameful, Jesus is the true Son who receives everything that the Father gives.
And this is exactly what His enemies despise, for they know their own sin, that the are grasping for their own honor and glory, and so as Jesus continues to teach and hold forth before them who He is and what He is given to do by the Father, their anger erupts. “Before Abraham was, I am.” [8:58] And they reach for stones, but His hour has not yet come. It wouldn't be the stones, but the nails and the darkness that would bring Jesus' passion to its full.
And so we learn of two types of passion: one of striving and working and grasping, of defending and honoring ourself, and the other of receiving and suffering and dying. The first type of passion brings death, and a despising of our dear Lord Christ, but the second passion, the passion of Jesus for us, His cross and suffering and death, this brings life.
It is this passion that draws us to the Lord's Church, to His altar, that we would be partakers of His death, that we might drink the blood that He gave for us, that we might taste His death and know life. That we might have and keep His word and have life into eternity.
It is Jesus' passion that puts all of our passions to death, all of our striving and working and grasping after our own honor and our own glory. With Jesus' passion for us, we are free to receive from the Lord's hand whatever He gives us, be it life or death, good or bad, comfortable or painful, honorable or shameful, with Christ we receive everything that the Father gives.
And so we are taught by the Scripture to lay our passions aside, and rejoice in Jesus' passion for us. May God grant us His Holy Spirit, that this Passiontide we rejoice in Jesus' suffering for us, His passion for us, that we may treasure it and find in it our comfort and peace. Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller