Rev. Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen
Ultimately, this Holy Week, this Passion Week, is all about life.
As we prepare for the celebration of the Triduum, the Great Three Days, I have been reflecting on one of my favorite Scriptural verses: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Even though the focus is on the cross this week, for Christians, death is always embraced, always surrounded, always enfolded in life.
Life that washes the feet of the neighbor, stranger, and friend.
Life that calls us friends, and makes us one family.
Life that welcomes all people to an abundant feast, where all are fed and nourished.
Life that opens its arms and welcomes the world into an everlasting embrace of forgiveness, grace and mercy.
Life that enters into hell to rescue and redeem those who are trapped there.
Life that tears asunder the bonds of sin, death and the devil.
Life that bursts forth from the tomb into the glorious eternal dawn of new beginnings.
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Jesus was born into this world, preached, taught and healed for life: the reconciled and redeemed life each of us has received in our baptism—Christ’s incarnate life of God’s passionate, lavish love for each and every one of us. Life: new life, restored life, communal life with God and with each other. Life abundant.
As you continue your walk to the cross with Jesus Christ, remember that Jesus’ death on the cross is, at its core, about life; and with him, we will pass through our own deaths—both literal and figurative—and come through on the other side, with his hand stretched out to pull us from the tomb.
