Jesus on the cross. Nails vs Love

Dear Soni

1. Keep Him on the cross. hmmm.... is He still there? He has died, He is risen. I'm thinking of some cross have corpus on it, some don't, and some Christian denomination doesn't use cross at all. Are those little details must reflect our understanding to our faith?

> I believe since early christianity the crosses have always had the corpus. In a way for me it points to three things. Our faith lies not on the wood, bur rather on the person who is Jesus. We look at Jesus always and never let our eyes off from Him. The second is that our faith is about love and true love can be seen on the cross. It's about a person who gave his life for the other. I'ts not about nice feelings or romance (hey, Happy valentine's day btw!). But love consists of commitment, faithfulness, and sacrifices. The third is that our faith is not something abstract. It's not in the sky, it's not some philisophical God. It's the God who became flesh so that we who are flesh might be like Him :)

2. Love did. Yes, He really show us how much He loves us by the calvary. It's a culmination point of His love. Does it means He love us more at that point of time? Is He capable of loving us less than that? Is His love is always the same? Well... if i look around me, love is an up and down curve, and sadly, emotionally, sometimes i felt His love is like that too.

> Intriguing question. hehehe. I believe His love is constant. If God is Love, can God be less then God himself. Just like can Oka be less than Oka? It seems not. God is love and He will always be Love. In fact, when we talk about change, it is simply  a concept of time. But if God is not bounded by time, then he does not change, he is eternal. And so His love is. Ah but that's rather philosophical arguments from someone who does not learn philosophy hehehe (should consult Basil first next time). Anyway, history reveals that God never fails to love us. From the Bible, we read how God is always faitful to keep his covenant. Through the bad things and human frailties, God's plan continues and even fulfilled. If God can be faithful to love for the past thousands of years, I am sure he will be faithful in loving me within these few years. But just as the israelites in the Old testament, have they ever felt that God does not love them anymore? Often, I believe. The most difficult maybe when they were in exiled and the temple was destroyed. I guess we too sometimes feel like that. And yet, if we trust in Him, we will see the fullfilement and the constancy of His love.

From my own life, I realize that his love is constant, though mine is not. And yet God is at the same time a person. He has His own characters, He is dynamic at the some time as never change, somehow. I knew him more and more. I came to encounter differently of Him. And yet, it is the same Person. It is His constancy of Love that teaches me to be constant with my love to the people around me. It is the one that taught me to be constant in reading the Bible, in serving Him, in loving Maya, and my family. His constant love is a sure hope and source of inspiration. If God's love is not constant, what hope can we put in human's love?

3. Nail vs love. Which one is correct? I think both are correct. Nail = scientifically, love = theologically. Do we need to start a debate on this?

> I think the person writing this statement is reflecting on the insult given by someone in the scripture. It was written that someone asked Jesus, "if you really are the Son of God, then free yourself." But Jesus kept hanging there. Can Jesus free himself on that time? hehehe. Anyway, in one of the bible study for the Gospel of John, there was one detail that was discussed from the movie Passion of Christ. It was when the Cross was flipped and it banged the ground with Jesus bodies in between the ground and the cross. In the movie, it was shown that Jesus' body never hit the ground though the cross banged him to the ground. The priest in the lecture for the Gospel of John said it was taken from a vision by one of the saints. He mentioned that to show that God is still in control and to show His divinity. I don't know why only this part that was miraculous. Maybe to fulfill the scripture that none of His bone shall be broken? hehe. I don't know.

But anyway, I heard someone gave this reflection about the glory of God. We thought that God's glory is when he did miracles and do great things. But God's glory lies on the cross. In being small, in being empty. It is so easy to show being powerful for men. But it is just so difficult to be small and nothing. But that is what the Cross shows us. God who became small. God who became nothing. This is true greatness because He who is great chose to be nothing to raise others up. Compare with our tendency who tend to lower others so that I may become great. What littleness! So  I believe Jesus kept hanging on the Cross because it is who He is. So this is the way I read it, Nails didn't keep Him on the cross...He himself did, because He is Love.

4. I can never reflect on this truth enough. I like this comment by valent :) when can u say, u understand enough? When u say that, u will stop learning, that means u think u already know everything. that means... i think if i continue it will be blasphemous :)

> hehe, I think it is very true. We can never reflect enough how much he loves us. But the question that I often asked myself is, have I ever spent time to reflect on it? To be frank, not as often as I would. Maybe Lent is a good time for me to do it again. Thanks for sharing :)