Summary: The proclamation of the Passion so easily allows us to be spectators when in fact we are disciples. We must not listen to the passion. We must learn from the Passion. Jesus teaches all the way till his last breath, and then he even teaches from the tomb. If we have chosen to be in the this church, then there is no place for us except as disciples learning again from the master. There is no room in the Passion nor in the church for spectators. When it comes down to the Passion and Holy Week, it’s time to get on your knees and learn from the master.The movies and the media and some shallow spiritualities might want to impress us with the ugliness, the suffering, the injustice, and the persecution, and that might be fine for moment or two, but you can’t stop there. The Passion of Christ is not about how Christ suffered, what happened to him, and how awful we might think it was. The Passion of Christ is about his response, not his persecution.For a long time before Jesus, people persecuted each other, and it has continued without a pause since Jesus himself suffered and died. People die horrible deaths. Innocent people die too, put to death by legal injection, the miscarriage of justice and the abuse of power and authority. Christ is still suffering in the poor, the abused, and victims of violence all over this earth. The tragedy is that it is all so common, and so disciples must look to the master to learn from him the response to all this because the Passion is not about suffering and persecution. It is about the response of Jesus.Watch and learn from the master. Despite his fear and his agony, he is focused on God and on others. He meets women who are weeping for him, and he tells them to weep for themselves. He hangs there with a criminal, and he comforts him with a promise of Paradise. No matter what happens in this Passion, it is never about him. He remains attentive and focused on God and the needs of others.Our world has been filled with suffering and pain since the first humans made their appearance. What is new is the response of Jesus to that pain. No complaint. No whining, No blaming. No excuses, and no denial. It’s all for others; total selflessness and sacrifice out of love. This is something new in the face of something old. Learning that lesson, some have risen up with hope and courage in the face of injustice and pain in this world ready and willing with courage and faith risk persecution and hatred and bring comfort, hope, and relief to the suffering never thinking of themselves.This is what we can learn from the Passion; not how Christ died, but what he still teaches us through his death about hope, about sacrifice, and about love for others.Let the Holy Week begin, and let this world be filled with people who learn from the master’s suffering how to respond.
