• "Passion Sunday - a Reminder of Who Jesus is and the Importance of His Sacrifice"
• Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Commonly Called Passion Sunday)
• March 13, 2005
• The Reverend Stephen C. Scarlett

The last two weeks of Lent are called "Passiontide" because the focus is on the passion or suffering of Christ. The Passion Sunday lessons remind us of who Jesus is and tell us the significance of his sacrifice.

Jesus ended the debate with his adversaries in the gospel today (John 8:46f.) by saying, "Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am." "I am" is the name God gave himself when he appeared to Moses at the burning bush. When Moses asked God for his name, God said to Moses, "I am who I am. Say to the children of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14). By claiming to be "I am" Jesus was saying, "I am the God who appeared to Moses at the burning bush."

His opponents understood exactly what he was saying. They picked up stones to throw at Jesus because claiming to be God was considered blasphemous and the punishment for blasphemy was stoning (cf. Leviticus 24:16). This is made doubly clear in another passage in John's gospel where his opponents reach for the stones. Jesus said, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of these works do you stone Me?" His opponents said, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God" (10:32-3 NKJV).

We affirm that Jesus is God every week when we say in the Nicene Creed that Jesus is "God of God, light of light, very God of very God; begotten not made; Being of one substance with the Father; By whom all things were made."

But this is not enough. Every religious leader who opposed Jesus also recited the creed of Deuteronomy 6. "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one Lord! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (6:4-5). They said this, but when the Lord came to them in the person of Jesus they called him a bastard and tried to stone him.

Outward professions of faith do not necessarily lead to converted hearts and new behavior. This is one of the dangers of religion. Those who opposed Jesus were religious people, but their practice of religion actually kept them from obeying the word of God. This can happen to people who profess Christian faith as well. It is possible to focus on religious forms and habits and so miss the point of faith and obedience.

This is why there was a Reformation. The religious practice of the Church had come to obscure the central message of the Gospel. Reformation was needed to shift the focus back to the Word of God. This is why we must each continually reform our practice of the faith to make sure that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of our religion.

This is an appropriate season of time to assess our practice of the faith. Does our practice of the faith lead us to hear the voice of the Son of God and respond with faith and obedience? Or does our practice of the faith serve to guard a disobedient, or lukewarm, status quo. As Hebrews says, "See that you do not refuse him who is speaking" (12:25). And as Psalm 95 says, "Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts."

But Jesus, as "I am," is not only about teaching authority. It is also about the efficacy of the sacrifice we focus on during Passiontide. If Jesus is not the "I am" who appeared to Moses, then the Passion is just another human tragedy. Jesus is just another good man whose death leaves us with thoughts of what might have been. Only One who is God can, in the act of dying, conquer death itself.

The epistle for today (Hebrews 9:11f.) tells us how the sacrifice of the Son of God is superior to the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament temple. The animal sacrifices were temporary; once killed, they could not atone for future sins. The sacrifice of Jesus is eternal. Because Jesus is God, he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven; his sacrifice is continually present before God. The crucified and risen Son of God, "the lamb as though it has been slain" (Rev. 4:6), now lives in the Holy of Holies in heaven to make perpetual intercession for us.

This is what we really need. We may think that our main problems in life are practical or physical or financial. We may think that we need some new philosophy to give us enlightenment or that we need a new political or social program to cure what ails us. The truth is that what we really need is the sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross so that we can be forgiven, reconciled with God and live new lives of faith, hope and charity.

We can see in the Passion Sunday lessons that the divinity of Christ both confronts and answers the human condition. When we see the glory of God in Jesus Christ, we recognize our own sin by contrast. The main reason people refuse to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God is that they are not willing to repent. This is the fault of the religious leaders who opposed Jesus. They debated and argued when they should have fallen on their knees in worship.

St. Paul was a religious leader who debated and argued with Jesus before he saw the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. After he saw Jesus, he fell to the ground and "trembling and astonished said, 'Lord what do you want me to do?'" (Acts 9:4-6). That is the appropriate response to Jesus the Son of God.

As God, Jesus confronts us with our sins so that we might be led to repentance. As God, Jesus died for our sins so that we might be forgiven-"Before Abraham was, I am." "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"