A God Who Bleeds

I just finished a six day solo pilgrimage walk on the Camino de Santiago. My watch tells me I have traveled 93 miles, 200,000 steps, and climbed 176 fights of stairs. My feet are telling me the same! I have been trying to pay attention and soak in the experience, and what has struck me so far is that all the crucifixes are not empty. Each day as I wander into churches or see the monuments in city squares I see Jesus hanging on the cross. 

Growing up Protestant in the United States I was not used to seeing Jesus on the cross. The cross was always empty symbolizing that Jesus had won the victory. Hope and joy could be ours because Christ has risen. But here, the cross still holds the weight of suffering. It reminds me that we have a God who not only died for us but also suffers with us. I picked up an Americanized faith where I prefer a God who wins, and not one who weeps, bleeds, or dies. But these days, surrounded by images of the Crucified One, I’m being invited to look again. 

Faith doesn’t always have to be about triumph and victory. I  am longing for a God who wants to be with me and who understands my human condition. I need a God who gets me, a God who doesn’t avoid the cross but enters in and stays there with us until love has done its work.

Yes, I still believe in resurrection, but I am comforted by a God who knows me, loves me, and gets me. Jesus is a God who suffers with us.

I have been praying for many of you as I walk and I would be delighted to add others to my list. Just click the box below.