What Was Christ So Passionate About?

By Dr. Patrick Johnston, D.O.

As I gazed at the horrifying realism of the brutal and sadistic beatings, torture, and crucifixion of the Son of God, my heart pounded, my hands grew numb, and my mind was filled with rage. Oh, the hate! The heartless cruelty! The excruciating abuse of the Son of man by the bloodthirsty Jewish mob and the complicit tyrannical Roman rulers! I could barely contain myself.

I found myself pleading for the scourging to stop, hoping that someone would offer pity, praying for His relief from the unspeakable anguish. It seems as if I was taken back in time, and made to observe the Passion of Christ from the sidelines of the Via Dolorosa. If I were there, how I would have longed to lay my body across his back and absorb some of those beatings to give my dear Savior a moment's repose. How I would have loved to lift that rugged cross off His shoulders and shield him from the blows of the mob of God-haters and merciless Roman beasts. How I would have loved to draw swords with Peter to rescue the King of Kings from the pitiless barrage of whips, clubs, fists, and spittle?

At any moment, however, Jesus could have obtained relief. At any moment, Jesus could have halted the scourging and taken vengeance against his false accusers and heartless captors. At any moment, He could have been escorted from earth to the comforts of heaven. He told Peter, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" He wasn't helpless there on the whipping post, he chose to be there and he could have chosen to leave. Jesus said that no man taketh His life, but rather, "I lay it down of myself." (John 10:17-18)

Imagine if it were you that were cuffed to the whipping post and scourged with a cat-o-nine tails until your "visage was marred more than any man", and you only had to ask God to be rescued and the pain would stop - would you have endured or would you have escaped the misery? What if it were you laid down naked on the cross while spikes were driven through your extremities into the wood, while the mockers laughed and dared you to come down from the cross if you could? Would you have taken the path of instant relief from the pain and asked God to rescue you?

I bit my lip and clenched my fist in rage for most of the movie. The rage, however, melted in one scene, when they pounded the spikes through His feet and Jesus cried out, "Father! Father! Forgive!" he cried out with each pound of the hammer, "Forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing!" My heart began to break as Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of His tormenters. How could he? But then I recalled: that's why He came, isn't it? He came not to condemn the world, but to save it, to offer forgiveness to sinners. When he prayed, "Father, forgive them," he wasn't just praying for the Roman soldiers and Jewish religious leaders. He was praying for me. It's so easy to point the finger when the Roman soldiers have the whips and when the Jewish leaders cried out, "Crucify Him!" but I was the one whose sins necessitated His crucifixion. The Romans tormenters were simply the means - my salvation from my sins was the end. He died so that my pardon could be purchased on condition of my repentance and faith. When Jesus turned and said to the repentant thief beside him, "Today, you'll be with me in paradise," my tears began to flow.

It was for my sins that He died. He was bruised for my transgressions. He was bruised for my lawlessness. He was chastised for my peace. My lust was the spit on his face. My hypocrisies were the rods swung against His bare back and legs. My pride was the cat-o-nine tails that ripped the flesh from his body in ribbons. My lies were the thorns pressed into his scalp. My theft was the spikes in his wrists. My backbiting and slander was the mocking from below.

Moreover, He suffered, bled, and died, not just to help me escape the consequences of my sins, but to escape my sins. Hear the Scriptures:

"God sent Jesus to bless you, in turning away every one of you from His iniquities." (Acts 3:26) Why did God send Jesus?

God sent "His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh... That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom.8:3-4) Why did God send His son?

"Having made peace through the blood of His cross... you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight; If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel." (Col.1:20-23) Why did He die?

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." (Heb.13:20-21) Why did He shed His blood?

"For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us for an example, that ye should follow in His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to Him that judgeth righteously: Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed." (I Pet.2:21-24) Why did he bear our sins in His own body on the tree?

Why? That we, being dead to sins, might live unto righteousness! Don't let His suffering for you be in vain! Die to sin, and live unto righteousness, that He might receive the reward of His sufferings! By faith in Him with your eyes on the cross, you can resist sin to the point of bloodshed. (Heb.12:1-4)

To save the world from sin, Christ's sufferings were not enough. Paul said, "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church." (Phil.1:29, NIV) More suffering is required today to redeem sinners and perfect the church.

I do not think that this passage in any way can be construed to mean that any other suffering is necessary to provide an atonement for all sin, but in a very real sense, we must fill up that which lacks of the afflictions of Christ. The call to become a Christian is a call to die to sin and self and to take up our own cross and follow Him (Matt.16:24-25) "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Phil.1:29) In a very tangible sense, we can lay our body over His, and help lift His cross, help Him complete His mission to save the world from sin. We can be a partaker of His sufferings. (Phil.3:10) His cross is not enough - we must take up our own. As we carry our cross to this sinful world, bearing the message of His passion, that which is lacking from His sufferings is completed.

"Weep not for me," Jesus told the women who mourned his wounds, "but weep for yourselves, and for your children." Then Jesus foretold the judgment that would come upon Israel for rejecting their Messiah. (Luke 23:27-31) The Jewish temple was destroyed, and the Israelites resorted to cannabalism when the Roman emperor Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. Their nation was ultimately destroyed, and survivors were taken captive to strange lands. Weep not for me, Christ would say to all Americans who lament the sufferings of Christ in The Passion of the Christ, but weep for your country. With our sodomy, our abortion, and our pride, we have rejected the humble Lamb who came on a donkey to save, and we will face the wrath of an angry King who returns on a white horse bearing a sword dripping with blood. Behold, the weeping Lamb will return to America as the roaring Lion, the Judge of nations.

I believe that the powerful, realistic depiction of the death and resurrection of Christ, and the Gospel message that is so clearly articulated in the script, can precipitate a spiritual awakening in our nation, if the men of God will rise to the occasion and reap the harvest of souls who have watched it and been moved by Christ's sufferings. Let us boldly take the message of repentance and faith and coming judgment to this nation, that America will turn to Christ, and that Christ will receive the reward of His sufferings.

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Dr. Johnston is a family practice physician in central Ohio. He is the father of four homeschooled children. He is also a street-preacher, abortion protester, founder of the Muskingum County Association of Pro-Life Physicians, and Vice Chairman of the Constitution Party of Ohio. His website is http://www.wherethetruthhurts.org/

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