Extravagant Love

 

By Christ's blood we were redeemed,
our sins forgiven
through extravagant love.
(Ephesians 1:7)
This verse has meant a lot to me each week when I pray it and is especially meaningful on this Good Friday.
"Extravagant Love" expresses so well what Jesus is all about. Some time ago I read that the story of the Prodigal Son should be called "The Prodigal Father" because God is so wasteful, so extravagant in loving and forgiving us.
John begins the second part of his Gospel, which is often called "The Book of Glory," with the words: "It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to pass over from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love."(13:1) There follows the Last Supper, the Passion and Death of Jesus, and his Resurrection. In his first mention of Jesus' love for his followers, John makes it clear that it is love that informs all the events that follow.
It is Love that hangs on the Cross. In his beautiful and unusual painting "Christ of Saint John of the Cross," Salvador Dali presents the crucified Jesus as if viewed from above by God the Father. The Cross seems to unite heaven and earth.
The outstretched arms of Jesus reach out to us in a loving embrace. A famous 12th century hymn of lamentation, which was often sung in Passion plays, has the line: "Rush to the embrace! While he hangs on the tree of the cross, he offers himself with outstretched arms to the loving for a mutual embrace."
Jesus holds us in his warm embrace forever.