Background on Passion Of Christ

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From Action to Passion

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 14:10, Romans 8:32, Matthew 27:1-2, Luke 23:1-3, John 19:16

I was invited to visit a friend who was very sick. He was a man about fifty-three years old who had lived a very active, useful, faithful, creative life. Actually, he was a social activist who had car...

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He is With us in our Crying Out to God

Author

Wesley Hill

Scripture

Mark 15:34

When the great theologian Jürgen Moltmann was sixteen years old in 1943, he was drafted into the German army and was soon captured by the Allied forces. He wound up in a prisoner of war camp in Scotla...

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And So Was Raised the Cross…

Author

Melito of Sardis

Keywords

And so he was raised on a cross, and a title was fixed, indicating who it was who was being executed. Painful it is to say, but more terrible not to say. . . . He who suspended the earth is suspended,...

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St. Matthew’s Passion: Not Theater But Prayer

Author

N. T. Wright

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 2:8, John 12:32, Isaiah 53:4-6, Luke 23:39-43, Hebrews 12:2

Another example struck me forcibly during the 2014 season of Promenade Concerts in the Albert Hall in London. (The “Proms,” as they are known, make up a major annual festival, offering world-class mus...

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A Double Blessing

Author

Mark Batterson

Keywords

Blessing

Scripture

Isaiah 61:1, Psalm 96:1-3, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17, Psalm 40:3, 1 Peter 4:10-11, Psalm 67:1-2, 2 Corinthians 9:10-11

During his celebrated career as a composer, George Frideric Handel wrote forty-two operas, twenty-nine oratorios, and 120 cantatas. Of Handel, Ludwig van Beethoven said, “To him I bow the knee.” Hande...

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When Failure Launches our Greatest Success

Author

Charles Colson

Keywords

Sometimes God takes our greatest failures and turns them into our greatest successes. Charles “Chuck” Colson had risen the ladder of national political success at breakneck speed. After a tour in the ...

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The Poor in Spirit at an Oregon State Correctional Institution

Author

A. J. Swoboda & Nijay K. Gupta

Keywords

In June 2024, I (A. J.) had the opportunity to visit the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon, to meet with a group of inmates who had read one of my recent books. The experience was...

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What We Preach

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 2:4-5, Colossians 1:18, Philippians 2:8-11, Galatians 1:6-9, 1 Corinthians 2:2

A strong church once inscribed these words on an archway leading to the churchyard. Over time, two things happened: the church lost its passion for Jesus and His gospel, and ivy began to grow on the a...

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Repentance for the Religious

Author

John W. Rilling

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:25, Hebrews 9:28, Matthew 4:1-2, 1 Peter 2:24, Psalm 51:1-2, 2 Corinthians 5:21

Written almost a hundred years ago, this excerpt from the Reverend John W. Rilling points out one of the main reasons we continue to observe Lent, a period of repentance and discipline for many who ca...

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Which “World” Are we Talking About?

Author

C. J. Mahaney

Keywords

World

Scripture

John 2:15, Genesis 1:31, John 3:16

The “world” of 1 John 2:15 doesn’t refer to the created order or to the blessings that come from living in a modern society, such as modern conveniences or medical and scientific advances. For God cre...

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Simon of Cyrene an Archetype for Carrying our Cross

Author

Judith Couchman

Keywords

The Dolorous Passion described Simon of Cyrene as a “stout-looking man,” and a fourth-century sarcophagus (stone coffin) from Rome supports this description – The Passion Sarcophagus, probably from th...

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Jesus’ Emotions

Author

G. Walter Hansenin

Keywords

Scripture

John 11:35, Matthew 9:36, Luke 19:41-42, John 2:15-16, Mark 3:5, Isaiah 53:3-4

I am spellbound by the intensity of Jesus’ emotions: Not a twinge of pity, but heartbroken compassion; not a passing irritation, but terrifying anger; not a silent tear, but groans of anguish; not a w...

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A Short History of Christian’s Fighting for Justice

Author

Justin Giboney

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, Exodus 3:7–10, Isaiah 58:6–7, Luke 4:18–19, Romans 13:1–4, Psalm 72:12–14

There are also many historical examples of Christians faithfully using political means to fight for justice and righteousness. William Wilberforce: Politician and Abolitionist William Wilber...

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Following Jesus Requires Real Commitment

Author

Bradley Long

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-8, Matthew 22:37, Romans 12:1-2, Luke 14:26-27, Deuteronomy 6:5, Luke 16:13, Mark 12:30, John 14:15, Matthew 16:24-26, Luke 9:59-62, Matthew 6:24, Hebrews 11:13-16, Hebrews 10:38-39, Matthew 6:33-34, Matthew 10:37-39

What are you willing to do for love? An instructor for the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course shared with a class the major hang-up he had to get over before asking his wife to ma...

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Playing the Part in Oberammergau

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 20:3, Isaiah 53:4-6, Matthew 16:24, John 19:17, Psalm 22:14

An American businessman went to Oberammergau to witness the famous passion play, just before the outbreak of World War II. Enthralled by this great drama that depicts the story of the cross, he went b...

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Moving the Fence

Author

Mike Yaconelli

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 19:1-10, Galatians 3:28, Romans 3:22-24, Ephesians 2:14, Acts 10:9-48, Luke 10:25-37, John 4:4-26

In the Second World War, a group of soldiers were fighting in the rural countryside of France. During an intense battle, one of the American soldiers was killed. His comrades did not want to leave his...

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The Paschal Mystery

Author

Dorothy C. Bass

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 1:3, Luke 24:1-12, Mark 16:1-8, Matthew 28:1-10, John 11:25-26, John 20:1-18, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, 1 Corinthians 15:54-55

This vortex of dying and rising—Jesus’ and ours in him—is the paschal mystery. Christians still tell it and taste it, especially when we gather for worship on Sunday. Christ’s Pascha—the word for the...

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A Poor Man’s Ticker-tape Parade

Author

Mia Levetan

Keywords

Scripture

Zechariah 9:9, Exodus 12:1–28 , 2 Kings 9:13 , Matthew 21:1–11, John 12:12–16, Psalm 118:25–26

Frederick Buechner is a master of capturing the excitement of the moment of Palm Sunday. It’s a great reminder that the story itself is a great illustration! We call it Palm Sunday because maybe t...

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Our Silent Boycott

Author

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Keywords

Mario told me I needed to listen to some Tupac. “Alright,” I said. “Let me hear his best stuff.” I didn’t tell Mario that, where I grew up, people who were saved didn’t listen to rap music. I’d been s...

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A Wrong Understanding of What This Life is Supposed to Be

Author

Larry Crabb

Keywords

Questioning God

The problem sincere Christians have with God often comes down to a wrong understanding of what this life is meant to provide. We naturally and wrongly assume we’re here to experience something God has...

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“FIRE”

Author

Calvin Miller

Keywords

We must journey to the edge of heat if we would catch the flame. When Blaise Pascal died in 1662, his servant found a scrap of paper hidden in the lining of his coat. It turned out to be a testimony o...

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Never Give up

Author

James Boice

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:, Exodus 14:21-31, Daniel 3:13-30 , 1 Kings 18:20-40, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 23:

In the second century before Christ the great rival to Roman power in the Mediterranean world was Carthage, the Phoenician city-state located on the north African coast. It had been founded in 822 B.C...

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The Impact of Going Through the Fire

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:16-17, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:9-10, Matthew 27:45-50, Isaiah 53:1-5, Luke 23:34, 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, Ephesians 5:2, John 15:13

In George Bernard Shaw’s play about Joan of Arc , as Joan faces her execution by burning, she addresses those in power who have condemned her: “I will now go to the common people and find comfort in ...

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Dost Thou Know Before Whom Thou Speaks?

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Daniel 3:, 1 Kings 19:, Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:4-5, Acts 5:29

Hugh Latimer was the Bishop of Worcester, England during the reign of King Henry VIII. On one occasion he preached a sermon that offended the king, who sat in the audience. The king commanded Latimer ...

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Chess and Surrender to God: The King is Infinity Points

Author

Ryan Bundrick

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 6:33, Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 6:5, 1 Corinthians 10:31, James 1:17, 1 Timothy 6:17, Luke 14:26-27, Philippians 3:8

We sometimes imagine surrender to God as emotional starvation. Every pleasure feels suspicious, and every passion feels in competition with our love of God. We think that the more miserable we are in ...

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Finding Your "Why"

Author

Simon Sinek, David Mead, and Peter Docker

Keywords

Every one of us has a WHY, a deep-seated purpose, cause or belief that is the source of our passion and inspiration. You may not yet know what yours is or how to express it in words. But we guarantee,...

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The Embodiment of their Hopes

Author

Alan Jacobs

Keywords

Scripture

Joshua 1:9, Isaiah 40:29-31, Romans 8:37, Hebrews 12:1-2, Philippians 4:13, Psalm 31:24, 1 Timothy 6:12

I have been reading Julian Jackson’s biography of Charles de Gaulle — it’s exceptional, so far — and I find myself meditating on a story Jackson tells near the beginning of the book. In June of 1940, ...

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The Testimony of the Great 20th Century Pastor Martin-Lloyd Jones

Author

Timothy Keller

Keywords

One of the things that is interesting about Lloyd-Jones’s testimony is that he was a royal physician when he became a Christian; he worked for Lord Horder, the physician to the royal family. If he had...

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The Trojan Horse of the Church Year

Author

Fleming Rutledge

Keywords

Palm Sunday

Scripture

Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:8-11, Luke 19:36-44, John 12:16-19

Palm Sunday is the Trojan horse of the church year. You remember the story from Greek mythology: a huge, splendid wooden horse was accepted by the Trojans as a present from the Greeks (so it really ou...

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When the Fire Goes Out

Author

Albert Schweitzer

Keywords

The missionary doctor Albert Schweitzer wrote in his memoir, “In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should...

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