Key Bible Verse: When we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it is all nonsense (1 Corinthians 1:23). Bonus Reading: Hebrews 2:17-3:1

Five weeks after The Passion of The Christ came out, I watched the movie with recovering addicts, alcoholics, and prostitutes from a halfway house. They were engaged in the torturous process of letting God get them back on their feet. As we sat in the darkened theater, I wondered what their reactions would be. I'd seen the movie twice before; the middle-class audiences had responded with stunned silence. Would these derelicts feel even guiltier over what they'd done to put Christ on the cross? The film ended, and we filed out into the lobby. But instead of tears of regret, I saw smiles of joy!

At first stunned by their reaction, I think I've since found the reason: While most of us saw Jesus as we'd never seen Him, my halfway house friends saw someone they knew. Most had ended up with only the clothes on their backs; they saw God with only one tunic to His name. Most had once lived under bridges; they saw the King of the Universe abandoned, neglected, and humiliated—just as they'd been. They didn't just see Someone able to save them from themselves and their circumstances. They saw a Brother.

—Jody Dean in Finding God in the Evening News

My Response: How do I respond to graphic images of Jesus' crucifixion?

Thought to Apply: The crucified is God's chosen: it is with the condemned that God identifies, in the company of the victim that God is to be found.—ROWAN WILLIAMS

Adapted from Finding God in the Evening News (Revell, 2004) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, this week help me grasp the agonizing ordeal Your Son endured to pay my penalty.

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