The Passion account connects directly with our lives. This is what it’s like for Jesus to carry the burden of our sinful humanity.

The Passion story is the greatest drama spread across the Christian imagination. It breaks into our assembly every year with a shivering, overwhelming impact. It is so large and yet so familiar that we can scarcely take it in.

It was Friday afternoon at 2:30 when I took my place on a street corner in front of the Federal courthouse. The temperature was 32 degrees and the sky was grey as snow flurried around us. I came to join a small group in a vigil protesting federal executions. I held a sign that said: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

When it was released back in 2004, everyone seemed to be talking about the movie The Passion of the Christ. It was an apropos title on so many levels, inciting passionate comments from many.

As our Lord Jesus Christ prayed to the Father, we pray for our salvation.

Let us go together to meet Christ on the Mount of Olives. . . . Let us spread before his feet, not garments or . . . olive branches . . . but ourselves, clothed in his grace. We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before him.