Passion.

Passion.

It’s what led every single step.

It’s what forced Him to continue when everything in Him wanted to turn back, get out and quit.

But quitting was never an option.

At least not for Him.

It was never going to be an option to take the easy road, to do what was convenient, to settle for satisfying self over surrendering to soul’s call.

Face like flint, He looked. He looked at those who were eagerly expecting greatness and triumph of some kind as though the whole suffering servant thing had been some kind of joke.

There was nothing funny about that final dinner with the disciples. But there was passion. Passion enough to sit in suspense across from the one who essentially spat in His face. All the while knowing and not showing.

He spoke of betrayal but didn’t point the finger. Because what did a name matter when what was done, was done?

This wasn’t a sudden flurry of false humility and a desire to mark His martyrdom so that he could score higher on the suffering scale than the rest. This was just what it was and passion kept Him.

“But God SO loved…”

A matchless love like no other for the lost and the least.

For me. For you.

A love which didn’t see a shortcut or a quick fix.

A love which wanted to taste and see everything because this was the will of His father and it was good.

At least, it was meant to be. But if there was ever a time to say that someone looked as though they were carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, it was now. And He was.

Where has passion led YOU?

When was the last time you were so persuaded by passion that it held you accountable to saying ‘no matter what’ and really meaning it?

Contrary to popular belief, it won’t always be easy to follow passion. Often, in fact, it will hurt.

But God.

Although this week is often referred to as ‘Holy Week’, it’s also commonly spoken of as ‘Passion Week, which I think is pretty apt.

It was passion which led Him, held Him and kept Him until it was finished.

And even then, passion had really only just begun.