"The Passion" John 18: 1-12; John 19: 13-27

Our Lenten journey through the Gospel of John brings us to the passion story, the story of Christ death and crucifixion, a little bit before Good Friday.  I would note that the liturgical calendar now calls Palm Sunday "Palm/Passion Sunday" with the option to celebrate the Passion of Christ on Palm Sunday. The idea being, of course, that if people do not come back to church for a service of darkness during Holy Week, they move from shouting "hosannas" and waving palm branches to lilies and resurrection a week later with no sense of the death of Christ.  Perhaps our discussion of the passion the week before Palm Sunday will help make it clear that Jesus needed to be resurrected because he had died.

I find it interesting that "passion" is the word used to describe the death of Christ.  The root word for "passion" means literally "suffering," which makes sense given Christ's suffering.  But, passion has taken on a different connotation that speaks to strong feels.  We are "passionate" about things that have significant meaning to us, and passion is often used in the context of a strong love for someone.  That, of course, fits as well when we think about Christ's strong love, that is passion,  for us and for the world that leads him to the cross, that is his passion/suffering.

Although in this chapter Hamilton notes that Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, John does not specify the exact place, instead referring to it as a garden on the other side of the Kidron Valley (Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life, 122). Remember, this takes place immediately after Jesus has finished his prayer.  the Gospel of John does not have a garden scene like the synoptics in which Jesus is anguished as he prays and frustrated with the disciples ss they fall asleep.  Hamilton suggest that this is because the Gospel of John  focuses on Jesus' divinity, and the human side of Jesus that is agonizing over what is to take place does not fit this image (Hamilton, 123).  This opens up a conversation about what is more powerful -- Jesus' human side suffering and the divine side being in control of his destiny, or divine suffering.  If I argue that divine suffering has more power, it is still hard for us to accept that God might suffer.

Hamilton points out that in the Gospel of John a cohort or battalion of soldiers come to arrest Jesus.  This designation of troops is not found in the other gospels, and it reflects somewhere between 200 or 600 soldiers (depending on the exact reference) show up to arrest and unarmed Jesus (Hamilton, 123 -- Hamilton says 600, but the New Interpreter's Bible suggests it could be a group of 200 also; New Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IX, 801).  Hamilton argues that this reflects that power of the divine Jesus that requires a battalion of soldiers (Hamilton, 123).

We might also notice how Jesus responds with "I am he," to the soldiers' question, which references the "I am" sayings and God's name "I am." John also gives the image of the soldiers stepping back and falling on the ground, which presumably confirms that power of the Jesus, although it begs the question how they could capture him if they were afraid of him.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus does not appear before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. Hamilton notes that in John's telling of Jesus' trial, the word king or kingdom is used fifteen times (Hamilton, 125).

IN the Gospel of John, Jesus is crucified on the Day of Preparation (for the Passover) which would be when the lamb was slaughtered for the Passover celebration.  This projects Jesus as the Passover lamb (Hamilton, 130).    Hamilton also notes that only in the Gospel of John is the name "Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews" posted in three language m(Aramaic, Latin, and Greek).  Again, John's focus on the divinity of Christ (132).

In the Gospel of John, Jesus does not cry out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me."  Instead, his last words are, "it is finished," which has the connotation of not just being complete, but "announcing that the battle has been won, a mission accomplished" (Hamilton, 136).

Where do you think the focus of this sermon should be?