Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

Today - this Sunday before Easter - is known both as Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. So we begin by reading the story of Jesus riding into the city of Jerusalem accompanied by the shouts and cheers of the crowds, and we go on to read the story of Jesus' suffering under Pontius Pilate, his death on the cross, and his burial. Within less than an hour we go from palms to passion. That's a quick trip for us, but for Jesus and for those who lived through these events back them, the transition from palms to passion must have left them dazed and emotionally drained.

Passion Sunday - now "passion" may seem like a strange word to find on the church calendar. In our culture, passion is more associated with hot and steamy scenes on afternoon soap operas or in R-rated movies. In a less lurid sense, "passion" is also associated with personal or professional goals. In our goal-oriented society, people often asked, "What's your passion?" They are not just asking, "What do you like to do?" but, "What gets you going? What gets you excited? What motivates you?"

In both of these uses, however, passion is about love. The question, "What's your passion?" is really asking, "What do you love, what do you cherish? What do you live for?" For example, when we talk about people with a passion for food, we sometimes say that they do not eat to live, they live to eat. That's passion.

Yes, passion may seem like a strange word to use to describe the final days in Jesus' life, until you remember that thus word comes from a Latin word for "suffering." This is what the Passion of our Lord is about. It's not about loving; it's about suffering. It's about what you live for; it's about what you die for. But wait a minute. There's a connection between all of this. What we are willing to die for tells us what we are willing to live for. What we are willing to suffer for tells us what we truly love, what we truly value.

Some people live their lives without any passion. They go through the daily motions of getting up and going to work and grabbing a little bit of pleasure or a momentary diversion whenever they can. But there is nothing that consumes them - nothing that is so important that it drives almost everything they do. Others squander their passion on things on things that will not last, going from one passion to another without ever finding that one thing in life that is of ultimate importance.

When we come to the end of our lives and look back over the 60, 70, or even 90 years that we lived, we will want to have lived a life that mattered, a life that made a difference in their world. That does not happen without passion.

No other person has ever lived whose life has made more of a difference in our world than Jesus' has. The reason is his passion. Jesus was a man of great passion. Jesus was a man of intense love. It was this passion that brought him into this world, and it was this love that took him to the cross. It was this passion that caused him to drink the cup of suffering, and it was this love that caused him to lay down his life for the sins of the world. You are the object of that love. You are the object of that passion. Jesus' love for the world, for me and for you, was the driving force behind his life and his death.

So as you listen to this Passion story today, do not just think about the events - focus on the passion behind these events. Do not just think about Jesus' suffering - focus on his love behind his suffering and death. Such love, such passion calls for a response of love and passion as well. So as you reflect on God's love and passion for you, ask yourself these questions: How passionately do you love God? How much are you willing to sacrifice or to suffer for Jesus? What are you living for? What are you willing to die for? In other words, "What is your passion?" Amen.