<div dir="ltr">
<b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-weight:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-size:18px;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:normal;font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-size:18px;font-style:normal;text-align:start"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"><b style="margin:0px;outline:medium none currentcolor;padding:0px;font-weight:normal"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Friends,
<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>in today’s Gospel Jesus prophesies his crucifixion and his Father’s
role in his coming death</b></span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>What enabled the first Christians to hold up
the cross, to sing its praises, to wear it as a
decoration is the fact that God raised up and ratified precisely this
crucified Jesus. </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“You killed him, but God raised him up.</b></span>” <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Therefore, God
was involved in <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">this terrible thing;</span> God was there, working out his
salvific purposes.</b></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">But
what does this mean? There have been numerous attempts throughout the
Christian centuries to name the salvific nature of the cross. Let me
offer just one take on it. It became clear to the first Christians that
somehow, on that terrible cross, sin had been dealt with. <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>The curse of
sin</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>had been removed, taken care of</b></span>. <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>On that terrible cross</b></span>, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Jesus
functioned as the
“lamb of God,” sacrificed for </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>sin.</b></span></span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal"> </span><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:18px;font-weight:400;line-height:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;font-family:georgia,"times new roman";font-style:normal">Does
this mean God the Father is a cruel taskmaster, demanding a bloody
sacrifice so that his anger might be appeased? No, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Jesus’ crucifixion
was the opening up of the divine heart so that we could see that no <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">sin
of ours could finally separate</span> us <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">from</span> the love of God.</b></span></span></b></span></b></b></b></b></b></b>
<br></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br> <table style="border-top:1px solid #d3d4de">
<tr>
<td style="width:55px;padding-top:18px"><a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank"><img src="https://ipmcdn.avast.com/images/icons/icon-envelope-tick-round-orange-animated-no-repeat-v1.gif" alt="" width="46" height="29" style="width: 46px; height: 29px;"></a></td>
<td style="width:470px;padding-top:17px;color:#41424e;font-size:13px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;line-height:18px">Mentes a vírusoktól. <a href="https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail" target="_blank" style="color:#4453ea">www.avast.com</a> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<a href="#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2" width="1" height="1"></a></div>