So vulnerable (Wm. Barry/Sieger Köder)

   In Jesus, God saves us by becoming so vulnerable that we are able to kill him in a vile and humiliating way.  The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus assure us that God’s offer of friendship will never be withdrawn, no matter what we do.  If the cross did not result in the withdrawal of the offer, then nothing we do will lead to a change of God’s  heart.  We can, however, refuse the offer.  Friendship is a mutual relationship, and a person has to accept the offer; he or she cannot be coerced or tricked into it.  And any human being’s final refusal of God’s friendship breaks God’s heart.  Still, God does not turn away from such a person in anger and rage.  God lives eternally with a broken heart.  That’s how vulnerable God wants to be. 

--William A. Barry, S.J., 

Lenten Meditations:  

Growing in Friendship with God

To view Sieger Köder’s complete set of extraordinary paintings of the Stations of the Cross (shown in miniature below), click here, or click on the images below to enlarge them:

Image source (top):  Sieger Köder, Holocaust, from the Stations of the Cross series entitled, The Folly of God,  https://thechallengesofauthenticfaith.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/73sk12.jpg

Köder's Stations of the Cross:  http://www.msgr.ca/msgr-7/stations_koder_main.htm

Quotation source