Lenten Live Series 2026 #5 – Spiritual Formation
by Anne, ARK
We talked about relationships on Earth and the fact that they can be transactional and conditional. We compared that to the relationship with Christ which is unconditional and not transactional, but grounded in love.
We looked at the changeable nature of feelings and explored the idea of commitment and sacrifice drawing people through challenges to human relationships. We looked at how Jesus loved on Earth and how he loved unconditionally through challenges to his relationships. He served through hurt, disappointment, even denial from his friends.
For example, his love for the women meant that he treated them fairly, with dignity, and healed a woman who touched his garment. He did not stop to ask if it was the Father’s plan. He allowed the Father’s plan to expand to include the needs and sufferings of the people around him, for that woman, based solely on her need.
His love for the apostles helped him to forgive every mistake they made, Peter’s denial of him, and their bickering about who was most loved, their falling asleep, etc. He focused instead on their hearts, which tried so hard to be faithful to him, and the Father’s plan through him.
His love for his mother made him flexible as he adjusted his plan and gave way to the maternal love she had for the couple at the wedding. Her love for all of God’s children ensured that she would intervene for people when they needed her help. Mary, the Lord’s human mother, shows us how to intercede for others and how the plan of the Father can expand to absorb our needs and healing for our pain, and also our requests for assistance for the people around us. Jesus made it clear that the pleas from his mother would be heeded.
His love for his Father helped him to cross over the bridge from fear and terrible human dread and land in total abandonment to the Father’s plan for the redemption of humanity. Humiliation, torture, ridicule, and even death were negotiated through love all the way to the end of his life.
True love asks for sacrifice and flexibility. True love absorbs the inconsistencies of humanity and remains faithful. We can always look to the example of Christ in Scripture for inspiration and answers but we must remember that God wants us to participate in his plan through our ideas and hopes for ourselves and others.
Does our religion bring us closer to others? The Lord’s faith made him a humble servant, not someone who abused power, emotionally or practically. His faith made him a servant. We must give way to his idea of love, not the world’s.
‘Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them’ (Isaiah 9:2).
This can only come to be if we love the way Jesus loved.
