Years ago God invited me to take His hand and uncover the great depths of His love. I was considering contemplating the Passion of Christ but I was afraid to meditate on the great sufferings of Our Lord. To encourage me God spoke two words in my heart and those two words were “Honour me”. It wasn’t an order, just a gentle invitation to take a walk with Him to the place where He gave up everything.

Today I want to encourage you to come on this walk to honour Jesus, but first let me tell you what I discovered and I think you will see that I am giving you a “treasure map” that will allow you to discover the great love of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The Passion journey begins in the Garden of Gethsemane.

It was there that the Passion of Our Lord begins. Jesus enters a dark garden requesting that His apostles, Peter, James and John stay awake, except  they fall asleep as Jesus becomes deeply distressed contemplating the great suffering He would have to endure. Our Holy Lord begins to sweat drops of blood as He calls out loudly to the Father:  “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.” Mark 14: 36

As we contemplate the suffering of Our Lord in the garden the Holy Spirit will reveal to each of us some special spiritual treasure that we must hold in our heart and reflect upon. As I enter the garden with Jesus I wonder how many times and in how many places Our Lord suffers alone. We are the disciples of Jesus, His Body on earth, yet how often are we asleep to the suffering of our neighbours around the world. They like Jesus must be praying for their suffering to pass. In some cases we are in a position to alleviate their pain, but what prevents us from doing that?

In this garden I reflect upon the humanity of Our Lord that called out for comfort and consolation while the divinity of Our Lord resolved to prove to us how much He loves us. An angel from heaven comes to console Jesus. What can we do to console God and one another?

How brave You are Holy Jesus! How much I want to console You by helping in every way possible.

I see Our Holy Lord being arrested, innocent of any crime, being treated like a criminal. “He was harshly treated, yet he submitted and did not open his mouth. He was silent like a lamb led to the slaughter…” Isaiah 53:7

Jesus is scourged for our sins. What horrible brutality! I see Our Holy Lord with tears in His eyes enduring all for our salvation! Consider this …“He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:3-5

I grieve my sins Holy Lord and the pain they have caused You. I want to honour You and help You to save souls. As I stand with You at the pillar meditating upon this brutal scourging I grieve all the sins of mankind and I pray that all my Christian brothers and sisters will join me in reflecting daily on Your Passion, praying for the salvation of all souls.

As I continue my reflection I see Jesus, the Prince of Peace, being crowned with thorns and mocked and spat upon. What horrible humiliation! What pain! What courage you had Holy Lord and what infinite love You demonstrated. Please forgive me for the times I have been so impatient enduring humiliation. I offer You my life, my suffering, my joy, my resolve to do all things for Your glory.

I have recently purchased a book on the Passion of Christ with images from the film Passion of The Christ coupled with Scripture from the Bible. If you have never seen this movie, I encourage you to watch it. The film and the book portray the anguish Our Holy Lord endured and I believe we must have a picture in our minds of how much Our Saviour suffered for our salvation.   We must never forget what Jesus endured for our redemption. If we persevere in taking this walk to Calvary we will be humbled by the infinite power of God’s love and we will be changed by it.

When you see the scourged, beaten Jesus carrying His Cross up the hill to Calvary and realize He is doing this for you, to create a place for you in Paradise, you will be changed. I see Jesus being disrobed, lying down on the Cross to be crucified and profound silence, reference and awe comes over me. I wish Jesus chose to save the world in another way, because I hate thinking of Him suffering, but I have resolved to never let a day go by without meditating upon what He endured for our salvation.

I am doing what I can to encourage all Christians to stop and remember the Passion of Christ, if but for a few moments, at the Sacred Time 3 pm, in their local time zones. Three o’clock is the time Jesus changed the world. It was at three o’clock that Jesus died on the Cross for you and me and all souls.

Let’s honour Jesus by remembering His Passion everyday. I know you will discover that the Way to Calvary is a treasure map and the treasure to be found will change your heart and your mind and your life!

“…where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21