It’s the kind of book that at first glance doesn’t seem to engage.

It sure does upon the second one.

It’s called No Greater Love, and in it, Edward Sri takes you on a biblical walk through Christ’s Passion — every single part and word of it, it sometimes seems, analyzing those moments in a unique, interesting, and ultimately edifying way.

A spur to Lenten devotion, especially leading up to Holy Week, for sure.

Translation: the author brings the Passion to life with new understandings.

For example: why Peter, James, and John? Why did these apostles at times seem singled out?

As Sri points out, those three were with him on the Mount during the Transfiguration and, then, at the end, on another highland: the Mount of Olives at the climax of Christ’s ministry in Jerusalem, where they witnessed His agony.

Other questions address: Why did Judas betray Jesus? When in our lives are we like Herod? What about Pilate and his wife’s dream?

As regards Pilate’s wife: Sri explains that she served as testimony to Christ’s innocence, while the Sanhedrin played the role of prosecutors. One can only imagine the conversations she had with her husband in private, if he allowed her to speak.

And then there is that curious question from Pilate himself, who at Christ’s “trial” asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38).

“It is crucial that we understand the weight of what Plate is saying here,” writes Sri, a theologian. “For it is his understanding of the truth — or perhaps it is more accurate to say, his lack of understanding the truth — that paves the way for the innocent Jesus to be crucified.

“For Pilate, real truth — objective truth that is true for everyone — is not important. Pilate knows Jesus is innocent. He knows the facts. Jesus is not a real threat to Roman rule. He also knows this trial is really about the chief priest’s envy and their desire to maintain power.

“But if there is no truth — if truth is relative — none of those facts matter.

“Pilate has his own ‘truth.’ He is left to his own self-interest on this difficult day.”

Meanwhile, one might wonder, what was scourging at the pillar all about?

We learn in detail that a scouring involved leather thongs with sharp pieces of bones or metal that tore deeply into the skin, leaving skin hanging from the back in bloody strips (“stripes”) and sometimes causing muscles and bones to be exposed!

“By his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:55).

With that washing of his hands, did Pilate really succeed in clearing his conscience?

What about Simon of Cyrene: what more can we know about him?

And the veil of the temple?

(That, it seems, symbolized God ending the sacrifices that took place there — replaced by the sacrifice of Jesus, asserts the book.)

And so forth.

What did Jesus mean when He said to the women, “Do not weep” (Luke 7:13).

“Weep rather for yourselves and for your children”?

Jesus knew the future, conjectures Sri, which included the rebellion of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and the suffering that would ensue when those kids became adults, and one might add, the sufferings, when Christ is denied, in all subsequent generations.

[resources: No Greater Love]