The Christ of the Passion
by Pastor Walter Snyder

This week, we examine the real "Star" of the film ~The Passion of the Christ~.

In the midst of reading Isaiah, the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26f) asked Philip of whom the
prophet spoke, "Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good
news about Jesus. (Acts 8:35)" Chased from Jerusalem by religious persecution, Philip used this
prophecy to proclaim "Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Cor 2:2)" While we have no record of
all Philip said, we see the results: The Ethiopian was converted and sought Baptism.

What an odd segue! "Good news" involves seemingly horrible news: "He was oppressed, and he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep
that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was
taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the
living, stricken for the transgression of my people? (Isaiah 53:7-8)"

How can this be? The most cockeyed optimists, those who find silver linings in tornadic clouds,
don't expect to find good news prefaced by oppression, affliction, slaughter, and judgment. We
aren't ready to follow a loser, letting One who allows Himself to be defeated become our Leader.

When God is involved, however, His Word cautions us to expect the unexpected. Israel expected
a conquering Messiah and got a conquered One instead. Amidst a western culture expecting its
winners to bend, break, or make new rules, God provides the image of One who scrupulously
obeys His Law. As a seemingly final twist, good is repaid with evil, obedience with abandonment,
and perfection with persecution. The One who promises His followers that they "may have life
and have it abundantly (John 10:10)" loses His own life.

Still, this isn't the final twist. They don't replay Super Bowls or World Cups. Baseball players
don't get four strikes, the sun doesn't rise in the west, and dead men don't rise. Yet One Man
does call the dead back to life, then orchestrates His own death and resurrection. A cold, dead
body bursts living and breathing from the tomb on the Third Day.

Now He's busily remaking our broken lives, replacing shattered dreams with rock-solid hope,
doing over---and doing right---all that we've done wrong. Even as we find ourselves striking out,
staring at a losing scoreboard with the clock reading "0:00," and totally unable to cope with our
sin-infested lives, we discover that Someone is playing a different game. He went alone to the
tomb and came out leading all who believe in His sacrificial love. He lost the "Battle of the Cross"
but won the war against sin, death, and devil.

We cannot save ourselves. Our spiritual batting average is .000, our team spirit nonexistent, and
our fumbles and errors---our sins, debts, and trespasses---are tied with the all-time record. Any
one of us could lay claim to Paul's self-depreciating but totally honest confession as "foremost"
among sinners (1 Tim 1:15). Yet "Christ Jesus came into the world to ~save sinners~, of whom I
am the foremost." He doesn't help us to succeed, He succeeds and then gives us the fruits of
victory. He doesn't empower us to achieve peace with God, He establishes peace and then leads
us to believe this and receive it with thanksgiving.

Just because we cannot earn our salvation doesn't mean that it isn't earned. The capacity for
perfection isn't in us but it was and is in Christ. We who cannot offer God one single truly good
work benefit from His life of good and evil death. He appeased the Father's wrath and paid off
our impossibly high debt to God, "not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and
His innocent suffering and death. (Apostle's Creed, Meaning of the Third Article)" This Lenten
season, whether we are in church, at work, or even sitting in a movie theater, we can be sure that
the blessings He promises belong to each of us. So whether you see ~The Passion of the Christ~
or not, He shows and tells you what His suffering and death have given you: "life ... abundantly."

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version~<TM>, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

Catechism quoted from Luther's Small Catechism, © 1986 by Concordia Publishing House.

Ask the Pastor, © 2004 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced in totality, including this
disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication and redistribution.
Translations into other languages should similarly note the United States and any appropriate
international copyrights, as well as God's Scriptural injunctions concerning the property of others.

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."