The Passion of Christ

BIBLE STUDY #797 CHURCH IN THE HOUSES TUESDAY DEC 31, 2013-JANUARY 6, 2014 Topic: “The Passion of Christ” John 8:1-11

We can speak of Christ’s passion that took Him to the cross surrendering His precious life to save us from our sins. We know about the marks of the wounds in His side, hands and feet. That is how His beauty was, with blood and pain. Jesus died in the cross so that we would be able to go and see the Father, for those sinners who are on earth and repent and believe in Him can see the Father. The Lord Jesus had this passion until death so that men could be at the Father’s side; so that there would not be separation of God and men on earth. Passion is a very intense feeling that dominates the will and was able to disturb Jesus’ reason since His detention on behalf of the Jewish authorities until His death on the cross. It is the action of suffering. Our Lord and savior experienced that feeling so strong out of love for us. Jesus suffered on behalf of those who were supposed to help Him, He suffered in the hands of those Jewish religious priest. His passion was the sum of His sufferings, His ailment and His forgiving heart. He struggled with His own life to bring forgiveness on earth, the restoration for men. God had created Adam to make a dwelling for Him also. But, the devil in his insistent desire of taking away what belongs to God tempted Adam and God lost the land where He intended to dwell with men because the world was cursed due to sin. It so happens that God did not have the intention to give up leaving men in the hands of the Devil and started His great battle to make men turn to Him. He established the Law and saw that it was not so easy for men to comply with the ordinances, or purify themselves, or love sanctity. Then God understands that in order to deliver men and bring back that communion He had at the beginning in the Garden of Eden, He needed to send someone full of great passion. Someone who could suffer not for Himself but rather for those whom God loves. Then, He sent our wonderful Jesus. The scenery that begins in John 8:1 says that Jesus went to the Mount of Olives after the Feast of Tabernacles was over. We can see that the Lord went ahead while everyone else went home. We see Christ’s passion for the lost souls. He went through a night of short duration to be at the “arena” again early in the morning. He knew that the principal priests and the Pharisees wanted to harm Him. He went with the Father to pray in order to compose His sad and interceding heart and recover His energies for the new deeds of “love” that were to come. We can see the encounter with the adulterous woman. The action to deliver that woman out of love falls upon Jesus. Jesus suffered, because of that woman’s adultery. He was never a sinner, but His love led him to suffer according to what the adulterer deserved. For always being in this position of passion the Lord Jesus Christ was taken to pain, ailment, to suffer death and death on the cross. Those priests and Pharisees were not able to accuse Him because the passion of Christ never yielded to the persecution of those who were supposed to be with Him. They wanted to throw stones at the woman, well Moses’ law said to stone to death. “Well what do you say?” they asked the Lord (Vs.5). They wanted to confuse Jesus in His passion for humanity. Whatever His answer was, if He said “Stone her”, He would come out of His ways; well Jesus did not come on that occasion as a judge, but rather to suffer (for her and for humanity). And if He prohibited them to stone her it would indicate that He wanted to diminish public morale. What Jesus wanted was to let them know what He came for, to die for her, yes, for that woman who they were accusing. Sitting He remained writing with His finger on the ground to make them see the feeling of rejection He felt because of the attitude of those great hypocrites. The response they all needed was His forgiveness for that sinning woman. He said to them: “Whoever among us is without sin” (whoever’s conscience absolved Him of any similar sin). If anyone is innocent! Then He leaned over again on the ground and wrote on the ground. He did this so they could leave, so they could escape without being seen by Him and to avoid before His eyes a manifestation that He could hardly bear. For His passion Christ makes us new creatures! Jesus gets in the way to suffer, not for Him, but for her. He did it so that woman would be cleansed, new and able to go to the Father! Because I assure you she wouldn’t sin again. Is this the passion that you have taken in your life and has not permitted you to sin again? Amen.