Our Passionate Savior
Many of you I am sure, have seen the movie, “The Passion of The Christ”. And as this is Good Friday, I thought I would take a moment to talk about The Passionate Jesus.
You see, from my perspective, the passion of Good Friday, is a direct result of the passion Jesus had throughout His life. You do not all of a sudden become passionate.
What Are the Things Jesus Was Passionate About?
He was passionate about people!
If you will recall, the religious and hard-nosed hypocrites of the day complained that He hung out with tax collectors and sinners.
In Matthew chapter 11 it says
“18 For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’19 The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.”
It was more important to Jesus to hang with the people than it was to look righteous.
He was passionate about the poor
He was passionate about the poor and the hurting. Remember He said it was not the well that needed a physician but the sick. He had a huge meeting of 5000 people and He saw they were hungry and He fed them.
In fact, He told us that if we did not do the same, we would be separated as the sheep are from the goats.
He was passionate about friendships
He was passionate about friendships.
Remember, the last thing He did before heading to the garden of Gethsemane was to have a meal with His friends and tell them that they were his friends.
In fact, He said that greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his friends.
He was passionate about the kingdom of God
He was passionate about seeing the Kingdom of God (His rule and reign) established on earth.
If you will recall, He got in very hot water for healing someone on the Sabbath. And He signed His own death warrant when He cleansed the temple from those selling religion.
His passion was expressed by relevant emotions
He was passionate enough to show emotion.
He celebrated at the wedding at Cana.
He cried at the death of Lazarus.
He got stern with Peter when Peter told him not to go to the cross, and He loved people all people enough to eat, drink, listen, and accept them where they were.
He was passionate about teaching servanthood
He was passionate about servanthood. Instead of choosing to be the Conquering King first, He chose to be the Suffering Servant and to model that servanthood for us.
He told the disciples that the greatest shall be least and that the greatest shall be the servant of them all.
He lived out that servanthood by choosing to go to the cross and serve us all by giving His life voluntarily for us.
Are His Passions Your Passions?
This Good Friday, I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians in Chapter 2 of The Message Bible.
Phillippians 2:5-8 The Message Bible
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
Now that is something to think about!
