Theological term
Passion
3 sermons · All terms
The Demonstration of Servanthood
John 13:4–17 presents the foot washing not merely as an act of hospitality but as an emblem pointing simultaneously to the incarnation, the passion, regeneration, justification, and sanctification. The Son of God who stoops to wash the dirty feet of dirty men is the same Son of God who goes to the cross to wash the dirty hearts of dirty sinners. Peter's initial refusal and subsequent capitulation illustrate the sinner's need for union with Christ — a union granted only through being washed, born again, and cleansed by the blood of Christ. Disciples who have received this washing are therefore obligated to go and serve others in humility, self-sacrifice, and love as the means by which they advance the gospel.
The Anointing at Bethany
Matthew 26:6–13 records the anointing of Jesus at Bethany by Mary, sister of Lazarus, who poured a flask of costly spikenard worth a year's wages upon his head. Matthew places this account between the conspiracy of the chief priests and the betrayal by Judas for deliberate theological reasons: where the cross is associated with treachery on every side, it must also be associated with wholehearted worship and adoration. The disciples' indignant charge of 'waste' is exposed as both a direct insult to Mary and an indirect slight upon the dignity of Christ himself, while Jesus' fourfold response vindicates her act as a beautiful thing, a prophetic preparation for his burial, and a deed to be proclaimed wherever the gospel is preached. The sermon calls believers to imitate Mary's extravagant, undivided devotion to Christ, resisting the tendency to reduce Christian faithfulness to either social concern or piety alone.
The First Prediction of the Passion
Matthew 16:21 records Christ's first formal prediction of his passion — his necessary suffering, death, and resurrection in Jerusalem. The word 'must' (Greek dei) expresses not mere probability but the absolute necessity of the atonement, grounded in the immutable decree of God, the covenant of redemption, and the prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures. The sermon traces three observations in verses 21–23: the declaration of the divine plan, its rejection by Peter, and its affirmation by Christ. The application presses the exclusivity of the cross as the sole ground of salvation and calls hearers to look to Christ in faith, trusting not in moral reform but in his perfect obedience, atoning death, and bodily resurrection.