God loves us, and He loves us madly, as one of the saints used to say. God’s love appears to be madness. He loves us: “God loved the world so much that He gave us His only son” (Jn 3:16). And He sent Him to die on the cross. And every time that we look at the cross, we find this love. The crucifix is truly the great book of God’s love. It is not an object to put here or to place there, beautiful, not so beautiful, an antique, or modern, no. It is truly an expression of God’s love. God loved us so much that He sent His Son, who annihilated Himself to the point of death on the cross, out of love. “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (see v. 16).
How many people, how many Christians spend time gazing at the crucifix? There they find everything, because they have understood, the Holy Spirit makes them understand that all knowledge, all God’s love, all Christian wisdom is there. Paul speaks about this, explaining that all his human reasoning served him up to a certain point, but the true reasoning, the most beautiful way of thinking, but also that which explains everything, is Christ’s cross: it is a scandal (see I Cor 1:23), it is folly, but it is the way. And this is God’s love. “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son”. And why? “So that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life”. The love of God, who wants His children to be with Him.
To look at the Cross in silence, to look at the wounds, to look at the heart of Jesus, to look at it all: Christ crucified, the Son of God, annihilated, humiliated… out of love.
Image: Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash
