Passion has varying meanings depending on your background. For many its definition is “strong barely controllable emotion”, “an intense desire or enthusiasm for something” or “even intense love”.
However these modern definitions don’t convey the original meaning. The word passion is from the Latin root word patior, which means “to suffer”. I suppose in history people have suffered for their art or beliefs, leading us to describe them as being passionate about something, hence the evolution of the word.
With our thoughts trained on the origin of the word passion, we can see why many Christian faiths refer to the weeks events leading up to Easter Sunday as, “The Passion”.
Early Christian Pilgrims would travel to Jerusalem and walk the route they believed Jesus Christ took, carrying the cross to his crucifixion. Those who couldn’t afford to make the pilgrimage would become involved in the passion story at home, by listening to gospel readings and watching or taking part in passion plays. Over the centuries these passion plays changed and were told and retold in different languages.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we don’t hold passion plays, however we are more than mindful of the events recorded in the bible and the impact the last week of Jesus Christ’s life has made upon the world.
From being seen as a triumphant King arriving in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, to less than a week later being crucified. No insult was spared, even when presented to his own people by Pilate, they chose to release Barabbas instead of Him. The literal Son of God being traded for a thief whose name given by mortals, in Hebrew is “bar-abbas” or son of the father.
This week in history changed the world. During these seven days Jesus Christ…
- Entered Jerusalem Triumphantly
- Cleared the Temple
- Taught on Temple Mount
- Suffered in Gethsemane
- Was crucified
- Buried in the tomb
- Established teaching of the Gospel in the spirit world
- Was Resurrected to set all men free from death
Not only did he overcome all our sins but also the first transgression in the garden of Eden, as the very act that had enabled us to have mortality, had also denied us immortality, but Adam and Eve knew even then a way had been provided…
“After expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve faced a devastating future. Having opened the door to mortality and temporal life for us, they had closed the door to immortality and eternal life for themselves. Due to a transgression they had consciously chosen to make in our behalf, they now faced physical death and spiritual banishment, separation from the presence of God forever. What were they to do? Would there be a way out of this plight? We are not certain just how much these two were allowed to remember of the instruction they received while still in the garden, but they did remember they were to regularly offer for a sacrifice unto God a pure, unblemished lamb, the first male born of their flock.” Jeffery R. Holland 2019
That unblemished lamb was a sign or token of the Christ to come, not just to give us Salvation, life after death, but also to pay for our personal sins, to relieve our suffering and pains of all types, extending to us both immortality and Eternal life with our Heavenly Father !
Over the next few days I will be posting the following pictures to my social media accounts to share the story of the passion. They are all taken from mormon.org, feel free to share them too.