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Easter is not just a happy ending to a tough challenge. It’s about the power of love to set us free from fear, free from the failure of our love, free from death’s power to control us. God has met all that separates us from God and from life in the cross, and still, always, gives us new life.
The “sacrifice” of Jesus’ blood is not a sacrifice to God to “pay ” for our sins. We’re not the ones who make the sacrifice, and it’s not to God. It’s God’s sacrifice for us: God’s love poured out for us even at the greatest cost, so that we may live overflowing with that same love.
The story of the passion is not about God requiring Jesus to die for our sins: our sin is already forgiven. The story is about two ways of facing the world: with fear, which leads to judgment, separation, violence and death; and love, which leads to forgiveness and life. Jesus shows us God’s love and also models the life of love we ourselves are to live.
Mary anoints Jesus in preparation for his suffering: a Compassionate One tends us in our struggles.
Jesus tells of a father who is prodigal (extravagantly generous) with love. God’s unconditional love fills us so that we can love one another and return to our kinship with each other in God.
When Jesus says “Repent or perish” he doesn’t mean “Obey or God will punish you,” he means, “Your way of life is killing you.” Repentance is letting God nourish us differently.
Christ empowers us to let go of the fear and violence of the culture around us, and embrace the peace of God. Jesus chooses to be a “mother hen” giving life to his people even under threat from Herod, “that fox.” We reflect on how to “stand firm,” with the help of George Ochieng Odalo from the slums of Nairobi.
Facing our temptations may include the unsavory work of being honest about our failings. But it is also the joyful process of allowing God to set us free from the tyranny of our fears and desires.