Passion: Interview with Mike McKinley

Today on The Good Book Blog, Carl Laferton speaks to Mike McKinley about his new book, Passion.

Passion is a book about the last day of Jesus' life, leading up to the cross. There are A LOT of books about the cross! Why is this one different?
Well, Passion certainly doesn't break any startling new ground. I think that's probably a good thing! But there are three features of the book's approach that I hope make it particularly helpful: First, it’s expositional. The book is rooted in the text of Luke. I hope that by the time the reader is finished with the book, they have a fresh grasp of the what the Scriptures tell us about the suffering of our Lord. Second, it’s applicational (if that’s a word!). The writers of the New Testament saw the cross of Christ (alongside his resurrection) as one of the foundational realities of the Christian life. The cross applies to our lives right now; we are meant to live and love and believe in light of what Jesus did for us there. Third, it’s slow.There is a lot of action packed into Luke's account of that day. My goal in Passion was to slow down and look carefully at all of those events and what they mean to us.

OK, so give us an example of a bit of Luke's Gospel that we often "speed over", and which you think changes the way we live as Christians today.
Here's one example. In Luke 23 v 27-31 we read about Jesus' interaction with some women who were weeping for him as he walked towards the cross. I don't know about you, but I usually just read over that and don't think about it twice. But when you stop to look carefully at what Jesus says to them (and factor in that Luke thought it was important enough to include in his account), there's actually a sobering warning there about living now in light of God's coming judgment.

Yes—it's amazing how an account we think we know so well still has so much to teach us, often because we've never paused at those places before. So is this a book mainly for people who know the Easter account well?
No, I hope not. Since the book aims to engage with Luke's text, it should be useful to anyone who wants to better understand Jesus' suffering. I'd hope that it would be useful to people who are investigating Christianity, new believers, and people who have been following Jesus for a long time.

Pretty much everyone, then! One thing that really struck me in your Introduction is where you say: "Many Christians are still missing something important when they think about the cross. We tend to think about the final hours of Jesus' life only in terms of the future, in terms of our eternal destiny … But this book is about the present. It's about how Christ's final day transforms our every day". So in Passion, you're trying to show how the cross makes a difference to me today and tomorrow as well as the day I die. What do you think we lose as Christians if we see the cross "only in terms of the future"?
Well, I think we lose a couple of things. On one hand, we lose a powerful example for how we ought to live. When Paul wanted to instruct Christian husbands how to love their wives, his thoughts went to the cross (Ephesians 5:25). When Peter wanted to encourage believers to endure in times persecution, he pointed to the sufferings of our Lord (I Peter 3:17-18). When Jesus himself wanted his disciples to be humble servant leaders, he taught them in terms of his own death (Mark 10:45). If we want to have the same mind that Jesus had when he died for us (Philippians 2:5-8), we need to understand the cross of Christ well in terms of its impact on our daily lives.

But when we only think of the cross in terms of a future salvation, we also lose the power and confidence that we should have in our daily lives. I can't be a godly husband, a humble servant, or a patient sufferer on my own. But because of the cross all of my selfishness and laziness and pride and weakness has been paid for. I am now God's child, completely forgiven and freed from slavery to sin. Because of the cross, I have received the new birth and the Spirit of Christ to give nerve to my daily life. That's a lot that we miss out on if we only think of the cross in terms of a future inheritance in heaven!

For me, that's one of the best things about Passion. You constantly excite and challenge the reader to see how really appreciating what Christ did on that day will flow out in all kinds of ways in our daily lives. What's the one biggest way in which working on this book has made a difference to your daily life?
In a word: worship. Working on this book really stirred up fresh love for Christ in my heart. When you see how much Jesus loved his people, how much he suffered, how willingly he underwent that ordeal... you can't help but be moved in your soul. I think I see more of my daily life as an opportunity for worship since writing the book. If I sin, I am reminded of what Christ did so that I might be forgiven. If I am inconvenienced, I am moved by the reminder that Christ left the glories of heaven to suffer death on the cross.

I think that's been my experience, too—this book didn't merely increase my head knowledge, it moved my heart. I'm not sure I read a lot of books which really do that (which is more of a comment on me than it is the books). You tell us in the book that your prayer for readers is that "Jesus' Passion will inspire your passion for Him"—it sounds like its done that for you and me, so that's two people for whom your prayer's been answered. Mike, one last question—we know how you're praying for all those who read Passion… but give us a couple of ways we could be praying for you.
Thanks Carl. Please pray that God would give me the strength and love necessary to be a faithful minister of the gospel both to my family and to the congregation that I serve. It's a precious thing that has been entrusted to me (under Christ, of course) and I am daily aware of my inadequacy for the task apart from the help of God's Spirit.