I never cease to be amazed by the endless possibilities for contemplating the cross.

I received this image the other day in an email meditation from Henri Nouwen, focused on encouraging us to receive the love of God.

I wonder if sometimes we get so caught up in what Jesus gives on the cross, however we name it–
(mercy
love
forgiveness
atonement (at one-ment)
justification… the list is unending, the meanings themselves beyond confine…)

that we miss the dimension of what Jesus receives on the cross, his arms open wide. He receives God’s love and forgiveness for all people, for all time. He in his woundedness, not pushing through by the strength of his moral compass, but broken, bruised, despised, rejected–
thirsty, abandoned, finished.

Ready to receive the love of God. Ready in his dying body to make manifest whatever is left in the universe when human hope has utterly died. Losing his life to be found. Only Jesus, who remains free from the lie of separateness from God, can lose it all.

Arms stretched open, he embodies the non-distinction between giving and receiving. He is the Way, a way beyond the bounds of certainty and security. And justification:
not to be holding on to the “right” thing at that moment of dissolution, not to be holding on at all–
to receive and be received by the One who Is beyond what I am.