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Why Do We Call It "The Passion?"
Catholic Exchange ^ | March 26, 2007 | Jeffrey Schwehm

Posted on 03/26/2007 12:54:44 PM PDT by NYer

I grew up among Jehovah's Witnesses and we never referred to Jesus' death as the "Lord's Passion."  I can remember hearing the parents of my Christian friends talk about attending a "Passion Play" in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and wondering what kind of play they were describing.  I soon realized they were talking about a play that re-enacted the death of Jesus Christ and I wondered how such a terrible event could possibly be referred to as "The Passion". 

It was a Legal Transaction

Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) viewed Jesus' death as a "ransom" that was paid for us.  It was mostly a legal transaction.  Adam, a perfect human son of God, lost everlasting life for us by sinning in the Garden of Eden.  Therefore, Jehovah sent His son, Jesus, another perfect human, to die on the torture stake (for the JWs, it is not a cross) to pay for that which was lost by Adam.  The belief is that had Adam not sinned we would still be living in a "paradise earth" today.

When describing the death of our Lord in their publications, the Jehovah's Witnesses oftentimes show the scales of justice being out of balance before Jesus' death and then coming back into balance after Jesus' death.  They believe that since Adam as a perfect human lost everlasting life, that all that was needed to balance the scales of justice was for another perfect human, Jesus, to die faithful to God.  To them Jesus is not God incarnate but merely a perfect human creature, no more and no less.  The Jehovah's Witnesses emphasize that God demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and that Jesus' death satisfied this demand.

 While Christian thought does talk about the legal aspect of Jesus' death, the JWs' overemphasis on the death of Jesus as a ransom, a mere legal transaction, coupled with the denial of Jesus' true nature as both God and man, has lead the them down a path of legalism. It inaccurately portrays the God of Christianity as the Almighty Accountant keeping track of all the debits (sins) and credits (works) of each person while granting everlasting life to only those few who get enough credits to deserve it.  What they lack is an understanding of the sacrificial aspect of our Lord's Passion.

It is a Sacrifice

The sacrificial aspect is certainly emphasized in genuine Christian thought.  Consider Abraham, who was told by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.  This event is considered a foreshadowing of the coming crucifixion of Christ.  This is one way we are taught in Scripture that the crucifixion of our Lord is sacrificial in nature.

In Abraham's time, it was common practice for the gods of the nations to demand that their worshippers sacrifice their firstborn to them as proof of their devotion to them or to obtain special favors.  So, when God requested this of Abraham, he was probably thinking that this was a "normal" thing for any god to demand.

In contrast, Yahweh made the point to Abraham and to all future generations of humans that He is a different God from the gods of the nations.  As Pope Benedict says in his encyclical God is Love, the Old Testament is unique in that it gives specific examples of the unpredictable acts of God toward His followers and the fact that God would sacrifice something for the benefit of his followers would certainly be an unprecedented act in the minds of our ancient fathers (God is Love Part I Paragraph 12).

Yahweh made the point through this encounter with Abraham and Isaac that He was going to show us, in the fullness of time, how much He loves us by sacrificing His Son for our sake.  As usual, Almighty Yahweh turns the tables on us and demonstrates that He is not afraid to do the dirty work to save us.  I am certain that Abraham left that encounter with God both relieved and in awe as to how different Yahweh is from the false gods of the nations of his time.

It is the Passion of Our Lord

In Pope Benedict's Encyclical God is Love, our Holy Father teaches us that the crucifixion of our Lord is a demonstration of the erotic or passionate love that God has for us.  He says the following:

"In the Old Testament, the novelty of the Bible did not consist merely in abstract notions but in God's unpredictable and in some sense unprecedented activity.  This divine activity now takes on dramatic form, in Jesus Christ, it is God Himself who goes in search of the 'stray sheep', a suffering and lost humanity" (God is Love Part I paragraph 12).

Jesus tells us about the nature of His mission and the passion (eros) of His love during his ministry by giving us the parables of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to search for the one lost one and the Father who runs out to meet his lost son.  (See Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke chapter 15.)

As our Holy Father says:

"The real novelty of the New Testament lies not so much in new ideas as in the figure of Christ himself, who gives flesh and blood to those concepts — an unprecedented realism" (God is Love Part I paragraph 12).

This unprecedented realism of God's passionate (erotic) love for us is demonstrated and fulfilled in God's culminating act of sacrificial (agape) love by His dying on the cross to save us.  In Jesus Christ, God comes searching for us, His lost sheep and begs and pleads with us to come home to Him.  His death on the cross gives us the way to come home as His Church is born through the outpouring of water and blood (the Sacraments) that flow from our Lord's side even today through the sacramental ministry of His Church.

Far from being a mere legalistic balancing of the scales of justice, as the Jehovah's Witnesses (and some Protestants also) emphasize, the Passion of the Lord is all about love, both a searching, passionate or erotic love and a sacrificial agape love.  I often point out to my Jehovah's Witness friends that their god loved us so much that he sent a mere creature to save us but that the Christian God is different in that He does all of the dirty work to save us Himself and this dirty work includes a most vile and painful manner of death, crucifixion.

The next time we encounter a Jehovah's Witness or any one else who has not experienced the authentic passion of Christ, let us pray that they will have an encounter with the authentic Jesus through us.  May they see that our passionate God is searching for them and that God has sacrificed Himself for them so that they might come home to His Church and spend eternity with Him.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Other Christian
KEYWORDS: jehovahswitnesses; lutheran
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Jeffery M. Schwehm is a former member of the Jehovah's Witnesses' Headquarters Staff in Brooklyn, New York and a former Lutheran. He is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, WI and a member of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Kohler, WI. He is also the President of The Fellowship of Catholic Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses (www.catholicxjw.com), a Catholic apostolate to assist Jehovah’s Witnesses into the Catholic Church.
1 posted on 03/26/2007 12:54:46 PM PDT by NYer
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To: Lady In Blue; Salvation; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; redhead; Notwithstanding; nickcarraway; Romulus; ...


2 posted on 03/26/2007 12:55:09 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: NYer

I don't think many here have said so but I so appreciate your posts.

Thankyou.


3 posted on 03/26/2007 1:03:15 PM PDT by alisasny (<hangs head in shame over prior tagline abuse : ()
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To: NYer

This is a wonderful article for me. I work with a young man who is a JW and struggling terribly with issues of faith and goodness. Knowing little of his religion, I didn't realize this incredible difference between us.


4 posted on 03/26/2007 1:22:58 PM PDT by trimom
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To: NYer
This unprecedented realism of God's passionate (erotic) love for us is demonstrated and fulfilled in God's culminating act of sacrificial (agape) love by His dying on the cross to save us.
Other than the general poetic/metaphorical use of the word death for orgasm, this is the first time I've ever heard anyone suggest that we call Christ's suffering and death the "Passion" because they relate to an act of erotic love.

I was under the impression that the word "Passion" was etymologyically related to "passive" -- as in, Jesus emptied himself of his divinity (the kenoisis) and let his enemies torture and kill him.

5 posted on 03/26/2007 2:07:28 PM PDT by eastsider
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To: NYer

Why Do We Call It "The Passion?"

passion, root word "patis", Latin, "to suffer." "The Passion" - "The Suffering."

6 posted on 03/26/2007 2:08:03 PM PDT by Quick or Dead (Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms - Aristotle)
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To: eastsider
Sorry for the misspelling -- kenosis
7 posted on 03/26/2007 2:08:19 PM PDT by eastsider
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To: Quick or Dead
That's it -- patior -- deponent verb -- to suffer ...
8 posted on 03/26/2007 2:11:21 PM PDT by eastsider
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To: NYer
The next time we encounter a Jehovah's Witness or any one else who has not experienced the authentic passion of Christ, let us pray that they will have an encounter with the authentic Jesus through us. May they see that our passionate God is searching for them and that God has sacrificed Himself for them so that they might come home to His Church and spend eternity with Him.

*************

How beautiful is this.

9 posted on 03/26/2007 2:12:11 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: trimom; NYer
Knowing little of his religion, I didn't realize this incredible difference between us.

************

Me either. It's most amazing, and rather sad.

10 posted on 03/26/2007 2:13:18 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: trisham

Amen and Amen


11 posted on 03/26/2007 2:15:29 PM PDT by Rightly Biased (Courage is not the lack of fear it is acting in spite of it<><)
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To: alisasny
I don't think many here have said so but I so appreciate your posts.

I don't write them; I simply post them. Thank you, all the same. We christians are one family in belief. We need to overcome the obstacles to our unity in practice.

12 posted on 03/26/2007 3:50:44 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: trimom
I work with a young man who is a JW and struggling terribly with issues of faith and goodness.

Share this article with him and definitely provide him with the link in the comments. More importantly, add him to your prayer list. (Since I can't keep track of all the people for whom I pray, I have asked my Guardian Angel to take on this task. It alleviates the burden of remembering.) Why not do the same?!

13 posted on 03/26/2007 3:54:34 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: trisham; trimom; Alex Murphy; Kolokotronis; All
Knowing little of his religion, I didn't realize this incredible difference between us.

You still have time so check out EWTN's Journey Home program this evening. The guest is Deacon Adrian Straley, former member of the Disciples of Christ.

Future episodes include:

Apr 23 (re-air)
Journey Home Roundtable with
Fr. Gray Bean, David Currie, Steve Ray
Former Baptists

Apr 30
Deacon Joseph Pasquella
Former Eastern Orthodox deacon
 

14 posted on 03/26/2007 4:13:38 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: NYer

"Deacon Joseph Pasquella
Former Eastern Orthodox deacon"

How very odd. I wonder what jurisdiction he was. The name, no sure guarantee itself, I'll readily admit, is not at all Orthodox.


15 posted on 03/26/2007 4:20:40 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: Kolokotronis

Probably convert to Orthodoxy and convert back? Or her married into a Greek family ala My Big Fat Greek Wedding (no offense meant).


16 posted on 03/26/2007 4:26:13 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: StAthanasiustheGreat

"Probably convert to Orthodoxy and convert back? Or her married into a Greek family ala My Big Fat Greek Wedding (no offense meant)."

Could be, or maybe his mother was Orthodox. My name isn't even remotely "Orthodox". I'm wondering if he wasn't a convert to some vagante or uncanonical sect. The fact that he was an "Eastern Orthodox deacon" along with his name points to a convert. There are not many "cradle Orthodox" deacons running around, but there are a number of convert deacons in a couple of the canonical jurisdictions and the non-canonical ones see deacons springing up like mushrooms after a summer rain. I simply cannot understand, in these times, why any serious RC or Orthodox would convert to the other unless it was for marriage purposes. There simply isn't any pressing theological or "salvific" need for it that I can see.


17 posted on 03/26/2007 4:37:49 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: Kolokotronis; StAthanasiustheGreat
How very odd. I wonder what jurisdiction he was. The name, no sure guarantee itself, I'll readily admit, is not at all Orthodox.

"Pasquella" is obviously Italian. Guess we'll just have to tune in and watch in order to better understand his genesis and what provoked his change of heart.

18 posted on 03/26/2007 4:40:32 PM PDT by NYer ("Where the bishop is present, there is the Catholic Church" - Ignatius of Antioch)
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To: NYer

"...and what provoked his change of heart."

Liquor, I'll bet it was liquor! That stuff makes people do all sorts of strange things.


19 posted on 03/26/2007 4:53:50 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: eastsider

"That's it -- patior -- deponent verb -- to suffer ..."

Perfect tense (participle) form of this verb is passus meaning suffered. This word is found in the Credo "...sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est...."


20 posted on 03/26/2007 5:01:06 PM PDT by rogator
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