My dear brothers and sisters, we have just listened to one of the most traumatic, harrowing and sacred stories ever told – Jesus betrayed, Jesus denied, Jesus brutalised and Jesus crucified.

Let me ask you this: What kind of God allows this to happen? And why would you call this story the Good News?

Because here, in the broken body of Jesus, something is revealed that religion alone cannot teach us. We cannot fathom this – something raw, something real and utterly revolutionary, that God does not save us by escaping suffering but by entering in fully. And God saves not through domination, not from a distance but by presence, by showing up in the most forsaken places of our world and most forsaken places of our hearts. And this is not a new theme.

In the First Reading we see Isaiah depending on God. We are reminded of God’s saving work throughout. And this saving work is a journey, a path of struggle, of trust and of transformation.

My dear brothers and sisters, the Passion is not just a tale of pain. It is a confrontation with the kind of love that refuses to retaliate. A kind of truth that exposes power. The kind of mercy that even in death whispers ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.‘

Imagine that. That is the kind of love – No retaliation, exposing the power and so much mercy.

So today, it is not just about looking at Jesus. It is about seeing clearly who God is. And what that means for who we, all of us, must become.

And as we begin Holy Week, the church places this story right at the threshold. Not to repeat what we will hear again in a few days’ time but to prepare our hearts to walk with Jesus all the way to the end.

Because this week is not just about remembering events. It is about being drawn into a deeper mystery – The Mystery, the Paschal Mystery. Therefore the Passion is not the end of the story. It is a doorway, the doorway into God’s heart. The doorway into transformation.

And Saint Paul’s words today reminds us of this heart of God. Perhaps it is alien to us. The words of Saint Paul today:

Though He was in the form of God, He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being obedient to death, even death on a cross.

And this is the scandal of our faith, the revolution of our faith. God kneels. And that is what the Reading tells us. And that is what we know of this God – He kneels before us.

God does not demands, He serves.
God does not dominate, He surrenders.
God does not hide from suffering, He enters into it completely.
And Jesus does not just die for us. He dies with us and as one of us.

Fr Richard Rohr says this:

Jesus did not come to change God’s mind about humanity. He came to change humanity’s mind about God.

He came to change our mind about God.

On the Cross, we see the clearest image of who God is. Not a God of vengeance or control but a God who loves us unto death, who refuses to use violence to achieve peace.

And this love, this love of God is not passive. It is powerful. It is the power that empties itself for the sake of others. It is the power that forgives even from the cross. It is the power that reveals a deeper truth – that we are all, all of us, are called to share in God’s very life.

Saint Athanasius once said:

God became human so that we might become divine.

And we can. That is our calling, my dear brothers and sisters. We were not just saved, we were invited to be transformed. That is the crux of it. It is not just salvation like that from sin. We are called, we are saved to be transformed, to grow into people who are like Christ – Humble, courageous, forgiving, and utterly grounded in love.

But how do we live this way in the real world? How do we live this way?

Last week if you were here for Mass, I gave you a stone, right? This week I want you to take the Cross (not giving you each a cross). This week, seriously, I invite you to dare to gaze at the Cross, not just as a religious object but as the mirror of our world.

Why? Because the Cross it not only in the past. It is here, it is today, it is among us. Look and see the Crucified Christ. As you gaze on this Cross this week,