Walking the Way of Love

By walking the way of life and love, his place of true belonging, Jesus walked as his authentic self, love incarnate, toward suffering and death. —Jenifer Gamber

The Passion narrative in Luke is a collision of love and betrayal, faithfulness and fear, grace and violence. It exposes the best and worst in us—Peter’s denial, the mob’s cruelty, the women’s unwavering presence, and Jesus’ radical grace. “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
The crowd unsettles us because we see ourselves in it. One moment, they hail Jesus; the next, they demand his death. Fear is contagious. Silence feels safer. So, we too, turn away when love asks too much. We choose self-preservation over courage. We fail to see Christ in suffering.
But Jesus does not meet our failures with condemnation. He meets them with grace. The cross is not just an act of suffering; it is the ultimate act of staying. He stays when the crowd turns. He stays when the disciples flee. He stays when all signs point to despair. And this is the scandal of the gospel: grace is for the deserters, the betrayers, the executioners. It is for us.
This is the paradox of the cross. The site of deepest suffering becomes the site of deepest love. Absolute failure becomes ultimate redemption. In Jesus, the story of the crowd is rewritten—not as a tragedy of fickle allegiance, but as a revelation of grace that refuses to let go.

·       Where do you see yourself in the Passion story?

·       When have you chosen self-preservation over courage?

·       How does seeing yourself in the crowd change how you think about   
        grace?

Prayer: Almighty and ever living God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.