For thirty-three years, Jesus gave us his activity, his life. He was always active, always doing—teaching, healing, advocating, feeding, freeing, including, comforting, noticing, inviting, hoping, instructing, loving. His final twenty-four hours represented a distinct shift, obvious to every close observer. Beginning with his arrest in Gethsemane, Jesus gave us his passivity, his death. Every gospel author’s description of Jesus takes an obvious grammatical turn at that point—all the verbs become passive. He is led away. He is questioned. He is tortured. He is whipped. He is mocked. He is
...more
