When we recline at the table with Jesus we will learn that the recovery of passion is intimately connected with the discovery of the passion of Jesus.
An extraordinary transaction takes place between Jesus and Peter on the Tiberian seashore. The most plaintive words ever spoken take the form of a heart-stopping question: "Do you love Me?" As we lay aside our fuzzy distractions and actively listen, we hear the suffereing cry of a God never heard of before. What is going on here? No deity of any world religion has ever condescended to inquire how we feel about that god. The pagan gods fired thunderbolts to remind people who was in charge. The Rabbi in whom infinity dwells asks if we care about Him. The Jesus who died a bloody, God-forsaken death that we might live, is asking if we love Him!
The etymological root of "passion" is the Latin verb 'passere', or 'to suffer.' The passion of Jesus in his dialogue with Peter is "the voluntary laying of oneself open to another and allowing oneself to be intimately affected by him; that is to say the suffering of passionate love."
The vulnerability of God in permitting Himself to be affected by our response, the heartbreak of Jesus as He wept over Jerusalem for not receiving Him, are utterly astounding. Christianity consists primarily not in what we do for God but in what God does for us - the great, wondrous things that God dreamed up and achieved for us in Christ Jesus. When God comes streaming into our lives in the power of His Word, all He asks is that we be stunned and surprised, let our mouths hang open, and begin to breathe deeply.
The recovery of passion is intimately connected with astonishment. We are swept up by the overwhelming force of mystery. Self-consciousness evaporates in the presence of what Rudolph Otto called "mysterium tremendum." The transcendent God overtakes us and overcomes us. Such an experience may wash over our consciousness like a gentle tide, saturatiing the mind and heart in a tranquil spirit of profound adoration. Awe, wonder, and amazement induce speechless humility. We have a brief glimpse of the God we never dreamed existed.
Or, we may be hammered by what the Hebrew tradition calls the "Kabod Yahweh", the crushing majesty of God. A deep, chilling stillness invades the inner sanctum of the soul. The awareness dawns that God is totally Other. The gulf between Creator and creature is unbridgeable. We are specks of sand on a beach of infinite expanse. We are in the magisterial presense of God. Stripped of our credentials of independence, our executive swagger disappears. Living in the wisdom of accepted tenderness is no longer adequate. God's name is Mercy.
Faith stirs, and our fear and trembling find their voice once more. In worship we move into the tremendous poverty that is the adoration of God. We have moved from the Upper Room where John laid his head on the breast of Jesus to the book of Revelation where the beloved disciple feel prostrate before the Lamb of God.
Wise men and women have long held that happiness lies in being yourself without inhibitions. Let the Great Rabbi hold you silently against His heart. In learning who He is, you will find out who you are: Abba's Child in Christ our Lord.
- Brennan Manning
Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging
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