Purposeful Passion
And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? Mark 9:12 NASB
Suffer – When did Yeshua ask this question? The context is critical. He asks this question as He is descending from the mount of transfiguration. Do you see the irony? Immediately following the moment when the disciples witness His glorious divinity, He asks them about the necessity of suffering. The moment after they see for the first time that He is the manifestation of God and is fully endorsed by God, He connects His witness of God with suffering. To be the Christ, the Messiah, is to be the one who suffers. There is no glorification without humiliation.
The Greek verb is pascho. It is basically a verb about experience. But the kinds of experiences that are described by pascho are those that come over someone. They are from the outside. They “attack” the person. That’s why this verb is almost always used for evil experiences. In the Greek world, “passion” was a terrible thing. It meant that the suffering of others, the plight and tragedies of life, could turn toward you and you would fall prey to their indiscriminate punishment. We have the same idea in our culture today, except that we call it “fate.” The Greeks took two different approaches to the wiles of fate. The first was to be hedonists. Throw yourself into all of life’s pleasures so that when life turns on you at least you have something good to remember. The second was stoicism. Do your very best to remove every possibility of emotional disturbance. Go through pascho with resolve. Don’t feel anything! Those two approaches are alive and well today. How many of us either run to addictive cover when things get bad or grit our teeth and pretend it isn’t happening? Greeks through and through.
But what does the Bible say? Ah, now we encounter something quite unusual. There is no Hebrew word for pascho. In the New Testament, pascho occurs 42 times, almost always in connection with the sufferings of Yeshua. It never occurs in citations from the Tanakh. Of course, the Tanakh has a lot to say about suffering. It uses hamal (to feel compassion – Ezekiel 16:5) and halah (to be affected – Amos 6:6) most of the time. But the view of the Tanakh is very different than the Greek idea of an outside attack on a person. That’s why pascho doesn’t fit. In the Tanakh, suffering is usually the result of the inherent consequences of an evil act. In other words, evil doesn’t attack from the outside. It shows up as a result of inner actions. And it is not always individual. Entire nations can experience the inherent consequences of national disobedience and rebellion. But none of this is gratuitous. Evil doesn’t just happen. In the biblical world, God is behind all actions in history. God uses all history to accomplish His purposes. Providence is the final explanation of all suffering, and that explanation is usually clouded in mystery.
We suffer. We suffer because we sin. We suffer because others sin. We suffer because the world is filled with sin. We are responsible for much of our own suffering. But when we cannot see the connection between our suffering and our actions, we are assured that God is behind all of it. How He is behind it we do not know, but that does not diminish the insistence that He is behind it. Why He does what He does we do not know, but that does not diminish our requirement to trust Him. We are not privileged to see the big picture, but there is a big picture and it is seen by a God who cares for His creation. And that will have to be enough for the time being.
There is a very good reason why Yeshua ties glorification to suffering. In this world, suffering vicariously is the path to glory. It is of little righteous consequence when we suffer for our own disobedience. Such suffering only proves that we are not immune to the structure of the universe. But vicarious suffering, the willingness to take on the consequences that belong to another, has righteous effect. That models God. And that is the purpose of being His servant.
Perhaps you could spend a minute sorting out the suffering in your life that is the consequence of your own disobedience or the disobedience of others from the suffering that you willingly take on in place of another. Then you will know where you are acting like a Greek and where you are serving God.
Topical Index: suffer, pascho, hamal, halah, Mark 9:12, glory
When no one comments, I know that it grabbed people, like it grabbed me. It is a difficult to change from Greek to Hebrew. I have heard this approach used to argue national disasters as God’s doing. However, even those were Greek tainted arguments. I base that on the statements that it was God’s doing because of sin and stopped there. Thanks, Skip. You have given me the reason to re-think the issue from the faith position.
In the Greek world, “passion” was a terrible thing. It meant that the suffering of others, the plight and tragedies of life, could turn toward you and you would fall prey to their indiscriminate punishment.
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death.
Hi Roy,
I agree, after reading Today’s Word last night there wasn’t much to add
When I was young I always thought the Greek worldview was very Other
And interesting in comparison to the American worldview
And I always wondered why Christians called the death of Christ a “passion” play
Because I thought passion was a good thing
All my favorite Heroes had displayed a lot of passion
– Doc Holiday
– Cool Hand Luke
– Serpico
Isn’t “passion” believing in something so strongly you are willing to die for it?
Isn’t “passion” believing in something so strongly you are willing to die for it?
Hi Desiree’
I tend to think of it in terms doing what we believe is the right thing to do
Regardless of the consequences
In 1973 I was very disturbed watching Al Pacino in Serpico surrounded by corruption
Working as an undercover narcotic agent in NYC with crooked cops and drug dealers
Serpico was young, and very vulnerable, but never thought twice
About risking his life to do the right thing
In the end he had nothing to win and everything to lose
I remember thinking at that time that I had very little
Of Serpico’s passion
There is no success without suffering- there is no crown without the cross.
This is our focus: The Suffering Servant. This, my friends and family, is not about “us.” The focus is upon the One who has suffered, yes vicariously, for us, and in our place and in our stead, upon Calvary’s execution stake. One became human, and One went through our entire human experience and humbled Himself and lived as a man would live for thirty three years upon this green planet. He was also tempted and tested in all points as we also are today tested, yet this Man never once sinned. One Man and one Man only,the man Christ Jesus has ever lived a perfect life.
~ Who did sin, this man or parents that he should be born blind? ~ And Job, what did you do wrong that God would punish you so? ~ (the “so-called” friends of Job!). Job knew he was innocent, and yet he still suffered. We, who are alive today would ask “Why do bad things “happen” to good people?”- and might as well ask also (just so we will have the “rest of the story”- the re-visited question: “why do the heathen prosper?” And this Man, the only Man who never sinned,- why was He crucified as a common criminal? Why did Christ suffer?- and why do we suffer?
What about the passion of the Christ? Was the cross necessary? ~ For The Messiah also has once suffered for sins, the Just (Him) for the unjust (us), that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit: by Whom also He went and preached unto the spirits in Sheol; ~ For He who had not known sin made Himself to become sin in your place, that we would become the righteousness of God in Him ~
Are we the first ones ever to ask these “universal” questions? No. Why don’t we do something radical and actually listen to the living and time-tested truth of the word of God? Yes, ask the questions,- (how else are we to learn?) But then, do we listen for the answer? I will guarantee everyone who draws breath- the quality of your life will be in how well you “shema” the words of our Savior, the living Word of God. Listen and obey..
Now “hear” the words of the LORD… (sound familiar?) Fantastic.. Shall we make another attempt to penetrate the soil of our obstinate hearts? The sower sows indiscriminately- all depends upon the receptivity of the soil.
~ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than they. For to which of the angels said He at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten You? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? And again, when he brings in the First-Begotten into the world, He said, and let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He said, Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. But to the Son He said, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. And, You, LORD, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Your hands: They shall perish; but You remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment; and as a clothing shall you fold them up, and they shall be changed: but You are the same, and Your years shall not fail. But to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand, until I make your enemies Your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? ~ (Hebrews 1)
All this begs the question: ~ Who is Jesus of Nazareth who is called the Christ? ~ Is He the son of man? And is He the Son of God? And is He God, the resurrected, now living, ever interceding Son?Is He our Savior? Redeemer? LORD?
If, (or “since”) the answer to all of the above is “Yes, He is,” then what is left for us to do, but “shema” our Savior? “Shema”- to listen and to obey.
~ Whatever He says unto you- do it ~
~ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God ~ SomeOne is interceding for us!
~ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ ~
(1 Peter 1.7)
What was the testimony (no test- no testimony) of King David? ~ (Psalm 119.71) ~ My suffering was good for me…~ Huh? Why is this so David? (and now, the rest of the story…) , for it taught me to pay attention to Your decrees.
– Are we listening? Or is it time for another “tune-up?” ~ And if any man (do I qualify?) has ears to hear…- let him hear..~