“The Passion of the Christ.”

It is a phrase we hear frequently this time of year.  It is a reference to the trial, torture, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  Yet we attach the word “passion” to describe it.  Jesus was passionate?!

How could he be passionate about:

• a riged trial
• being scourged
• having nails and a spear driven into his body
• being smothered to death

Where is the sense in any of it?

It seems a contradiction of terms because it makes no human sense.

And here is the reason why:  our passions are about self-fulfillment while Christ’s passion was about self-emptying.

And what would be the ultimate act of self-emptying?  The cross.

The culmination of his work on earth would take place over the course of seventy-two hours.  Seventy-two hours that would produce a tectonic shift greater than that which caused the giant tsunami in Indonesia.  Nothing…