12 - Jesus Dies on the Cross

Jesus said to St Paul:

2 Cor 12:9 "My power is at full strength in weakness"

This is the point at which His enemy and ours, the father of lies, the initiator of sin, knew the game was up.  He'd always known he couldn't win.  Only God is God, that's why His name is:

Exodus 3:14 "I AM WHO AM"

Jesus is God eternal, and as any child knows, you can't beat God.  But those who don't side with the truth, are free to delude themselves otherwise.  The Devil did, but here he couldn't.  Jesus the God-man who could have said stop at any point in the torture, held firm in obedience to His Father in Heaven, right up to giving His life.  Jesus paid the price for all sin: all sin that is, that is repented.

We must repent.  Without repentance, how can there be reconciliation?  The prodigal son had to turn back before he could come home.  And so must we, with every mortal sin.  And likewise, with even the lesser ones - for even they can add up over time, to weigh us down, and discourage us on our own rocky path of life.

Because in a relationship built on love, the sorrow of repentance is always the first step to making things right again, the artist has depicted Mary Magdalen at the foot of the cross, again wiping Jesus' feet with her tears and hair, as the Bible says she did earlier on in the Pharisee's house.  It serves to remind us that loving God is the surest way to a repentant heart.