The earliest Christian symbols we have are the fish and the lamb, because, to early Christians, they spoke of those aspects of God that fed them and cared for them. Crucifixion was still in practice and to wear a cross around one's neck would be like you and me wearing an electric chair around ours.

So it took a few hundred years for the cross, which is prehistoric in origin, to be adopted by Christians as a significant symbol. It was just an empty cross, no image of Jesus on it, at least for a few centuries, and then the first images of Jesus appeared - which were of a spotless, healthy, and well-groomed, two-dimensional savior.

It was only a thousand years ago before we began to see something like a three-dimensional, honest portrayal of the grotesque suffering of Jesus. The crucifix, became very popular in Catholic and some Orthodox circles, as we began to look at Jesus not as a faraway example of divinity touching humanity, but as suffering being integral to God, because suffering is integral to love.

Holy Week, this week, is when we comb the dissonance between joy and suffering. And we discover that the closer we get to God, the closer suffering and happiness seem to coalesce. 

It's because we find that in our pain we discover empathy for people like us who are hurting - and we discover opportunities to be companions to others who suffer. 

Our empathy - our feeling what they’re feeling - our coming alongside others who are hurting - ironically then, produces fulfillment and even joy - because we are serving them with love and affection.

Friends, we are all going through some tough stuff - we’re all suffering to one degree or another. And it’s this week especially when Jesus comes alongside us to say - keep on keeping on -  it’s not meaningless - I’m up to something. I see your suffering as a window into companionship with others who are hurting - and in our care and concern - we can find the happiness of bring comfort to others.