What is it about God’s love that we must crucify it?

Here He came, with nothing but unadorned affection for the Creation He had made out of his own hands and declared, ‘It is very good.’

He arrived in the most unassuming way, demanding neither taxes nor tribute – just the natural affection everyone has for a suckling infant.

He loved us unequivocally.

And we received Him with great joy. Flocking to hear His sermons, watch His miracles, and get healed from our most desperate afflictions.

We waved palm branches and cheered at His triumphal entry into our hearts – for we had never felt so secure, so loved, so complete.

Yet the over-abundance of love – non-judgmental and unearned – seemed to overwhelm us with possibility: how might we profit from this, financially, socially, politically?  And we paid little attention to love’s vehicle, which is also love – and our own inability to simply receive God’s love became apparent.

This is how we crucified love.

Perhaps our greatest struggle, then, is not with sin, but with accepting God’s love – receiving the love with which God loves us.

This Sunday, as we hear the Passion of the Christ unfold, we will ponder the notion that the cross is not simply the place where the darkness of sin is dealt with – but it is also the struggle we all have of unambiguously accepting God’s love for us. Sure, the cross is about redemption, but this is not our starting point: it is not, ‘For God so judged the world…’ it is ‘For God so loved the world…’

Reading

Choice, Desire, and the Will of God – David Runcorn

Seasons of Faith and Conscience – Bill Wylie Kellerman

Matterhorn – Karl Marlantes