Passion Sunday 2.4.17 Sufferings of Our Lord
The ‘Passion’ of Our Lord means the suffering of Our Lord.
We can spend the next two weeks especially, contemplating His sufferings.
He suffered and died for us. His death saved us; the
sufferings added value to the death as a perfect sacrifice.
The more we love, the more we are prepared to suffer for the
beloved.
In which case, Our Lord’s suffering shows a great deal of
love, not just for one person but the whole human race, from start to finish.
He suffered in different ways. There was the physical
suffering. We might think this is the worst; certainly it was bad enough.
But worse still was the spiritual suffering. He allowed
Himself to feel what it was like to be a sinner; and not just one sinner, or
one sin. He felt the guilt of all sin of all time, at the one time! Imagine the
weight of that. It was this anguish that caused Him to sweat blood.
This is Passion on a grand scale.
Then there is emotional pain, being insulted and ridiculed.
He allowed Himself to feel that as well; to be treated so badly by so many
people.
Especially painful was the ingratitude. He was doing all
this for people, yet they would still not welcome it.
And this would continue to the present day. There are still
people who will refuse to be saved; who will reject Him.
Seeing His figure on the cross should move anyone to instant
change of heart, but often does not. It can even be an occasion for further
mockery and contempt.
All this He took on Himself. So we see His pain comes from all
directions and many levels.
It is the clearest possible statement, on God's side, of His
love for us, and His desire to save us.
It is up to us, who do not reject Him, to deepen our grasp
on the meaning of Our Lord’s Passion and Death.
When we see a crucifix, or make the Stations, or pray the
Sorrowful Mysteries, we pray to be moved to a fuller identification with Our
Lord and all His intentions; that we can respond with suitable awe, gratitude, and
a desire to imitate; making us more sorry for sin, and less likely to sin again.
And to an increasing extent willing ourselves to suffer… cf
response Oh Sweet Jesus who for love of me didst bear Thy
cross to Calvary, in Thy sweet mercy grant to me to suffer and to die with
Thee.
We fill up what is lacking (Col 1,24) – what is lacking is
the number of people who care.
This will reduce His pain, as He sees people awakening to
what He is doing, and supporting Him in His suffering.
The two weeks of Passiontide are a time of special
intensity, the climax of Lent – which then leads to a fuller understanding of Easter.
We could say that the Passion of Our Lord was designed to move
the heart of God, as Judge. At the same time, it was meant to move the heart of
Man, turned hard of heart in his sins over many years.
He succeeded in the first, but only partially the second
point. God was impressed with the sacrifice, but Man was not (speaking
generally).
What more could it take than God Himself to come down here,
and live as one of us, then be put to death for other people’s sins?!
They will look on the
one whom they have pierced, and weep for him as for an only son (Zech 12,10; Jn
19,37).
It is just a matter of when people wake up to the immensity
of this event – the Passion of Our Lord. God is ready; we are still thinking
about it!
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