THE PATHOS OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST

It the Gospel of John we read statements throbbing with deep pathos:

'The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.'

'He was in the world, and the world was made by him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.'

'This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.'

'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'

'You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.'

Matthew's Gospel contributes to the pathos:

'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.'

And Luke reports:

'As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, 'If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace - but now it is hidden from your eyes.'

This is the deep pathos of the cross of Christ: that this crucified One is the Lord of Glory who dwelt among us clothed in human flesh. So far had our human god concepts degraded that God himself walked among us and we did not recognize him.

But there is a second and deeper pathos: that this rejection, this crucifixion, was known to him even before the creation of the world ' yet he still created. He still created the first hill, the first tree, the first human mind and muscle: everything ' every object, every element of strength that was used in the crucifixion, existed only from his hand. In an act of incredible love God created us, knowing we would one day nail his human body to a cross.

But deeper still goes the pathos: that this cross, this ultimate expression of human rejection of God, is our one, final chance of acceptance by God: and this final offer, this last and only hope, is still rejected. 

Scriptures: John 1:5, 10-11; 3:19; 4:10; 5:39-40; Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41; 1 Corinthians 2:8; Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:19,20.