Greater Love has no man than This.
As we approach Holy Week, there is one image that sits in my mind. I see it when I close my eyes and I see it when my eyes are open, looking towards what is coming. Our Lord on the Cross…an image that allows us to imagine, remember, and celebrate who our God is. And who He has designed us to be.
Because of His death, there is no life that isn’t sacred. Because of His death, there is no person who isn’t loved. Because of His death, we know He desires life for all of humanity. Because of His death, we must give our lives for others. And we know what it means to be human because of the way He lived.
Because of His life, no one should ever be alone. Because of His life, all of humanity should be a “we”. Because of His life, all people are friends, not strangers. Because of His life, we are each beautifully different, but never separate. And we know what it means to be human because of the way He gave His life for all of humanity.
We have a Lord who welcomed those who were cast away. He brought light to places of darkness, sickness, and suffering. It’s amazing to think about how He walked this earth as a living sacrifice…dying before He died. His death is the image of what it is to be God and what it is to be man. Every effort we make in this life should be to exhaust ourselves trying to create this ideal existence of unity that the Lord calls us to. We must strive to see everyone as He does and serve everyone as He did.
When we think of any person, it is an opportunity to remember that the Lord went to the Cross for them. We must recognize the humanity of each…the pain of each…the cry of each. We must work and work to replace non-compassionate thoughts with compassionate ones, seeing the story of each, not the wrongs of each.
In the Lord’s ideal world, there is nothing that can separate us…because the Kingdom is at hand. It’s within us. And the Bridegroom is coming. As the Lord lived, so must we…dying before we die. Offering ourselves in every moment, putting our wants to death at every opportunity to truly live…especially when it’s hard, especially when we’re interrupted, especially for strangers, and especially for someone we have judged. For the sake of ALL, for the healing of ALL, for the life of ALL.
Greater love has no man than This.
