Passion

Yesterday in worship we heard John's account of the Passion of Jesus.
Passion.
Passion?
Yes, passion!
I remember thinking as a kid, what a horrible word for the march towards a gruesome and horrible death. Passion meant lots of mushy kisses to me then.
Now, my thesaurus gives me both fervor and rage. Hmmm.
Jesus rarely showed anything but gentleness. Must be fervor then, but that seems misplaced too. Fervor denotes energy and, um ...passion. I'm sure someone will patiently explain to me that the word meant something different back-when or that the passion means something else. But I will think that the only way passion can make its way into the story at all, is through God's passion, his love, for us.