One among my favourite locations to go to within the Holy Land is a small patch of olive timber on one of many essential hills overlooking Jerusalem. 

These massive timber stand on a sacred web site historically believed to be the Backyard of Gethsemane — the place the place Jesus got here to hope the evening earlier than he died. The olive timber there are about 900 years outdated, however what’s most fascinating is how their root programs might return all the way in which to the time of Jesus. So, these small sacred grounds on the Mount of Olives, tucked away amid the noisy, busy streets of modern-day Jerusalem, stay one of many few areas within the metropolis that offers us a small glimpse into the holy metropolis of Jesus’ day. 

I prefer to take pilgrims right here as a result of, once we draw close to to those olive timber, we are available in contact with one thing from the lifetime of Jesus. We stand on the identical mountain the place Jesus started his ardour, and we will start to image the place the place he prayed in his agony.

Coming into the websites of Christ’s ardour like this is usually a profoundly transferring expertise. Instantly, we come to a deeper realization of how actual our religion is. Jesus isn’t just a doctrine, an image in my front room, a picture on a crucifix, or a determine from a e book written a very long time in the past. He’s an actual one that made actual selections and who got here proper right here to this place to start his ardour and quit his life for you and me. 

Whereas strolling these grounds, I discover myself standing the place he stood — the God who grew to become man. I’m strolling in his footsteps. He fell on his face and prayed in his agony right here. He sweat drops of blood right here. And he did all this for you and me. He did all this in order that we may be in a detailed friendship with him right now. 

It may be overwhelming to take all this in suddenly, and such an expertise usually sparks a renewed encounter with the residing Jesus.

 

A Biblical Pilgrimage By means of Christ’s Ardour

We should not have to go all the way in which to the Holy Land, nevertheless, to have such an expertise. We will encounter that very same Jesus via the impressed Scriptures whether or not we’re in Sydney, Dubai, New York, or small cities like Freemont, Nebraska, and Atchison, Kansas. And that’s what I hope you’ll expertise on this collection airing on EWTN beginning Monday — I hope you’ll are available in nearer contact with the residing Jesus by coming into deeper into the Gospel accounts of his ardour and loss of life. 

We will consider this collection as a biblical pilgrimage via the final hours of Christ’s life. We’re going to stroll step-by-step with Jesus on his journey from Gethsemane to the cross and unpack the biblical background — the historical past, the prophecies and, most particularly, the methods Jesus is inviting us to stroll extra carefully with him right now — seeing the very locations the place Christ’s ardour unfolded: from Gethsemane to Caiaphas’ home to the Method of the Cross to Calvary. 

However it’s the phrase of God that might be our information. In a way, I need to take you in a “time machine” again to that first-century Jewish world of Jesus. We all know Jesus agonized within the backyard, was scourged at a pillar and nailed to a cross — out of affection for us. However think about should you had by no means heard these tales earlier than. Think about should you had been a Jew within the first century listening to these tales for the primary time. Think about should you had been Peter or John or one of many different apostles encountering these occasions as they initially unfolded. What would these experiences have meant to you? 

 

Christ’s Ardour: Each Element Issues

St. John Paul II taught that the Ardour accounts give us the fullest revelation of God’s love. God is love, and God grew to become man in Jesus. So his complete life is unveiling to us the love of God. However it’s in these closing hours of Christ’s life that we encounter the fullest revelation of his love. There, we encounter the reality of what Pope Benedict as soon as mentioned: “God is a lover with all the fervour of a real love.”

We are going to see that each element within the Ardour Narratives is filled with profound which means. Each phrase, each description is there for a cause. 

Don’t be fooled, considering small factors just like the “hyssop” used to carry Jesus his final drink of vinegary wine can’t be very important (see John 19:29). As we are going to see, that tiny reference could be large for the Jews within the first century, recalling the hyssop their ancestors utilized in Egypt to mark their doorposts with the blood of the Passover lambs. John’s Gospel mentions the “hyssop” at Calvary within the context of the Passover feast so as to proclaim that Jesus is the true Passover Lamb being sacrificed to avoid wasting us. 

Equally, don’t assume that the factors about Christ’s unbroken bones and his physique being pierced in his facet after which laid in a backyard tomb are insignificant background particulars to the story. Every level brings to thoughts varied prophecies within the Jewish Scriptures and the hopes that folks had for what God would come to do for them. 

Strolling via the narratives of Christ’s ardour brings out, each step of the way in which, Previous Testomony prophecies, Messianic expectations and connections to our Christian religion right now. 

We are going to see that virtually each phrase in these Gospel accounts of Christ’s ardour is charged with nice significance. Simply the names of assorted locations (akin to Mount of Olives, Gethsemane and Jerusalem) in addition to the names of assorted characters (akin to Barabbas, Joseph of Arimathea and Simon of Cyrene) give essential clues as to the function they play in God’s bigger plan of salvation. 

Even the point out of somebody’s posture is essential: The excessive priest standing up, Jesus falling down along with his face to the bottom, Jesus turning to have a look at Peter — every expresses key turning factors within the scene and serves as a window into the soul of the individual at that second.

This journey may even give us a deeper appreciation of what Jesus endured for our sake, from his agony within the backyard to his loss of life on Calvary. We may even handle a few of the puzzling phrases Jesus speaks throughout his ardour, akin to:

“Father, whether it is potential, let this cup go from me” (Matthew 26:39, NAB). (Was Jesus considering of backing out on the final minute?)

“Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, however weep for yourselves and in your youngsters” (Luke 23:28). (Doesn’t that appear a harsh factor to say to girls who’re compassionately weeping for him?)

“My God, my God why have you ever forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). (Was Jesus actually forsaken by the Father on Good Friday?)

“You will have mentioned so” (Matthew 26:64). (What does that imply?) 

Most of all, as St. John Paul II wrote, the fervour of Christ is “the end result of the revelation of God’s love.” However this isn’t a tremendous love that’s merely meant to be admired from afar. Jesus doesn’t need our applause. He desires our hearts. He desires to remodel our hearts with this love. 

So, as we stroll via Christ’s ardour on this collection on EWTN, we are going to take into account how we will reside his instance of affection in our personal each day lives. In any case, these should not simply tales from a very long time in the past. Jesus desires us to make them our personal. He desires to relive the love story of his ardour in us. 

Once we permit Christ to try this, we uncover a better love than the world has ever recognized. Certainly, as Jesus himself mentioned:

“Better love has no man than this, {that a} man lay down his life for his mates” (John 15:13).

WATCH

This miniseries will air March 27-31 at 5:30pm ET.

 

READ

This text relies on Edward Sri’s e book and video collection, No Better Love: A Biblical Stroll By means of Christ’s Ardour (Ascension). 

 

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