The Passion of Christ

By Christopher C. Randolph

The Passion of Christ is at the heart of the life of anyone who would claim to be a follower of Jesus.  Christ Jesus was brutally beaten and tortured to death on top of a hill called Golgotha for all the world to see.  This is fitting since He also died at that time for every sin ever committed on Earth (past, present, and future). 

The reason that a believer such as myself can make such a claim is the that Jesus is God.  Only God could die for every one of my sins much less the sins of every human that has ever lived and ever will.   That is why the divinity of Christ is the heart of Christianity. Praise God for his mercy and grace.

But, thankfully, His work did not end up on that hill.  There are those who would follow Jesus who stand transfixed by His blood on that tree.  They worship and praise His holy name and thank Him for His mercy and His grace.  But their feet never leave the proverbial foot of the cross.

Do not search for the living among the dead.

You see, on the first day of the week, Jesus was raised, the door of the tomb was opened and He left death behind. Jesus lived again so that He might lead us out of our spiritually dead and dark lives into lives of life in His service in the light.  That’s His Command to us in our lives on earth, after all; serving/loving others.  He died a gruesome death for every sin committed by every person who ever lived and ever will live.  If He did that, did He not rise to offer those same people life?  He did all of that for you and for me so we need to follow God’s will by loving/serving those whom He also died and lived for.  That’s “all” He asks of us: Love Him and Love others.  We, as believers, tend to be pretty good at the first, but not as good at the second.  We are not nearly as passionate about Jesus as He is about us for one thing.  We are too focused on the lifestyle and not on the life.  We are too quick to judge others who have sins for which Jesus already paid the ultimate price.

Jesus did all this so that believers would do better.  If you claim to follow Christ, I’m talking about You.  Yes.  I’m also talking about myself.  I have no illusions about that.  It’s hard.  Living by faith is a difficult thing.  Jesus doesn’t compare it to carrying one’s cross for nothing.  He demands commitment to Him and all He is and stands for.  The Good News is that Jesus did not just rise from the dead.  He also ascended into Heaven. This, of course. speaks to His divinity as well as His ability to empower His believers to perform the work He has commanded.  Rising from death is uncommon to be sure, but decidedly not a unique occurrence even in the Bible but we don’t worship anyone else who is raised from the dead. For instance, we don’t worship Lazarus or the little girl. They were both dead and then came back to the living.  The difference being Jesus’ divining and His steadfast love for all humanity.

Jesus’s ultimate love food each of us is demonstrated beautifully in the story of Jesus and Mary at the Tomb.  Not only does this story demonstrates Jesus’ love and passion for humanity it also shows us His need to ascend to Heaven in order to complete His ministry. Remember what Jesus said:

 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
  
(John 3:13-15 ESV)

Mary clings to Jesus

Mary clings to Jesus.

 Here is where it get’s even more interesting.  The aspect of all of this that is often missed is that, in context, Jesus is not talking about being lifted up on the cross.  He’s speaking about ascending into heaven so that those who believe in Him may have eternal life.

 
Living lives of love and Christ-like passion, I believe, will also fill believers with such a passion for Christ and everyone He loves that His light will shine among His followers.  Such passionate lives will be infectious and people will be drawn to this holy light like moths to a flame.

You may also like this thought provoking, original series:

The Day God Created Man: or Don’t Shoot the Messenger

A Rebuttal to When God Greated Man

Jesus Is The Last Adam

The Origin Of Sin

Who Told You That You’re Naked?

God Bless,

Christopher

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25 thoughts on “The Passion of Christ”

  1. “Deuteronomy 8Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

    9Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,

    10And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” There must be a good reason God says to not even make an image. The serpent told Eve she would not die for disobedience. I’m going to listen to God.

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    • I would disagree…while I lack training in the Greek of the Bible, my understanding of the original text is that Jesus probably looked far worse. But Mel Gibson’s “image” of Christ’s horrendous sacrifice is nonetheless important for all Christians to see.

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  8. Christopher, I enjoyed reading this post, God bless you! During prayer yesterday, I thought about Isaiah 53 and how Jesus was despised, rejected, a man of sorrows, and the word (sorrows) really caught my attention because it wasn’t just one sorrow….Jesus had many sorrows (mine, yours, our brothers and our sisters in Christ and those that have yet to accept Him into their heart….Jesus had the sorrows of the drug addict, the prostitutes, the alcoholics, the murders, the robbers, the homosexuals, the poor, the needy, the orphans, the widows, the fatherless, the outcast, the misfits, the popular, the not so popular…the ones that are being bullied, the ones that are doing the bullying….you see Jesus is not a respecter of people and Jesus hung on the cross with the sorrows of this entire world with Him.

    When Jesus died on the cross, it wasn’t for one group of people, it was for “ALL” people and reading this post this morning is a great reminder that….Jesus was acquainted with grief and ignored by the very ones that HE died on the cross for…the ones that HE was beaten beyond recognition for, the ones that Jesus, endured the long agonizing process of hanging on the cross with nails in His feet, nails in His hands and a crown of thorns on His head….and I was reminded of my prayer and the tears that fell from my eyes, as I thanked Jesus for dying on the cross for me.

    I thanked Jesus for the nails that pierced His hands and I thanked Jesus for the nails that pierced His feet for me. I thanked Jesus for the sword that pierced His side and the blood that came streaming down, the blood of Jesus that redeemed me, the blood of Jesus that justified me and declared me not guilty, I’m talking about the blood of Jesus that set me free, glory hallelujah! I am rejoicing Christopher because the PASSION OF CHRIST is reflected in the words that you have penned and it is reflected in the hearts of those that love HIM, those that have been drawn to JESUS holy light like moths to a flame.

    Shine for Jesus, shine your light, be a beacon in the darkest night!
    Like a fire burn so bright, shine your light JESUS!

    I’m excited because through the pictures that you have shared, I praise God that the stone has been rolled away and like Lazarus, many shall come forth today, not by might, nor by power but by the spirit of the Lord! Many shall know that they are forgiving and my prayer is that those that have been struggling with forgiving themselves, will forgive themselves!

    I received a lot from this message, God is speaking through you in a very unique and creative way!

    Keep writing!

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  11. Ciao and Calvary blessings to you, and all your loved ones brother Christopher. Thanks for taking the time out to visit my new Christian blog site – much appreciated!!!

    The Passion of Christ should be in the heart of everything a Christian disciple says, does and acts upon – for the born again believer has been redeemed, pardoned, forgiven, justified by the shedding of Jesus Christ’s precious anointed blood on Calvary Hill

    Dio te benedica, AMEN!!!

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  13. Thanks Br. Randolph for the gentleness and care you demonstrated in relating with the gentleman who first responded to your treatise in this post. Such is remarkable of a heart that is touched and changed by knowing the true Christ. Your transformation is quite apparent if not infectious. Bless you. I woke up to the thought of the cross this morning, how so many Christians, including myself, have not yet entered into an experience of the death of the Lord Jesus on the Cross. The picture you adopted moved a little close to what the Lord experienced on that gruesome night, and what an unspeakable cruelty of man against his Maker, what a vileness, what an horrendous wickedness of man’s (woman inclusive) evil heart. But Jesus paid the full price by bearing the full weight of man’s absolute depravity in order to purchase freedom and liberation for man (woman inclusive).
    I love you Jesus. A silent tear creased my cheek as I contemplate this; that God would love me this much! Far beyond my comprehension. Lord, I thank you.

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