Jesus was this kind of giver. He is the greatest sign to us that life need not be dreary, need not be saved, but can be, must be, entirely spent.

It is fear that makes us hold on to life or to what represents life’s meaning for us. The cross marked the place in history where a superb victory over fear was won, the public fear in religion and politics, the private fear within the individual’s insecurities.

The proof of that is simply the verdict of time, that at the cross it is clear that life is represented by the man who died there and death by the people who put him there.

from Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy