A Dramatic unfolding of divine love

Holy Week is the most sacred span of days in the Christian year—a pilgrimage through the deepest mysteries of our faith. It is a journey from joyous shouts of “Hosanna!” to the treacherous cries of "Crucify him!" to  the awe-filled proclamation of “He is risen!” Each step of the journey—from palm branches laid before a humble donkey to the linen cloths left behind in an empty tomb—is saturated with sacred significance and drenched in Divine Love.

We're accustomed to hearing the message of the cross framed in terms of our sin and Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. But the events of Holy Week give us an even deeper, wider scope of the story—one that reveals the heart of God beating with an unwavering yes to humanity. At its core, this week is a dramatic unfolding of Divine Love.

• Love that enters fully into our human experience with all its beauty and brokenness. 
• Love that confronts the systems of injustice and seeks to restore what is good, true, and right. 
• Love that stoops low to wash the dust from the feet of friends—even the feet of friends who would betray and deny Jesus.
• Love that prays with tears and trembling in the garden.
• Love that does not turn away from humiliation, abandonment, or pain.
• Love that bears the weight of suffering, not out of obligation or anger but out of boundless compassion. 
• Love that willingly embraces death in order to open the door to life. 
• And, ultimately, Love that breaks the silence of the tomb and rises in radiant hope.

Jesus did not go to the cross to shame or condemn us but to meet us exactly where we are—in our suffering, in our weakness, in our doubts and despair. He entered into our humanity not to declare our unworthiness but to declare our inestimable worth. He took on our pain, not because we are failures but because we are cherished beyond measure. In his death, he broke the power of sin and death; in his resurrection, he opened the way to new and abundant life.

As you walk through the sacred days of this Holy Week, let this be your meditation:
 
The cross is not a symbol of how bad we are—it is a declaration of how deeply we are loved.

And the resurrection? It is the exclamation point at the end of that love story—a triumphant, joy-filled affirmation that love has the final word!