The most Holy Trinity dispatched the Son of God from heaven to earth to mitigate the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears.

He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours.

When you Hang as Jesus hung,
cling as Jesus clung,
love as Jesus loved.
Hold tight and refuse to let go
of love, suffering's invincible foe.

Love kicks suffering's ass.

Love is the grease that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the valley of tears.

The Son of God suggested that we deny our tendency to let love slip through our fingers Matthew 16:24 - to fumble the ball. He did not pitch his tent amongst us to make our passage through the valley of tears harder. He pitched his tent amongst us to make our passage through the valley of tears easier. One of the purposes of his mission to us was to show us how to mitigate the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears. He demonstrated the solution to the problem of suffering. As we tortured and killed him, he clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. Love, as Shaekespeare said, is twice blest. It blesses both the donor and the beneficiary. Love is the grease that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the valley of tears.

What is the greatest mistake that the interpreters of Christianity have made to date? What is their greatest error?

Is the Cross of Christ an invitation from Jesus to us to suffer with him or to cling as he clung to love? Too many mistakenly think and teach that the Cross of Christ is about suffering. It is not. It is about loving. He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, suffering's invincible foe. Jesus transported from heaven to earth the technology of applying love to the crosses that nail themselves to us as we pass through the valley of tears. Moreover, he is so confident in the efficacy of the technology that he demonstrated that the technology works by hanging from his Cross himself. He donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. With love, we can pick up our crosses and carry them so we can continue to proceed uninterrupted on our way to the promised land with God and his holy family. Without love, our crosses plant us in the toxic soil of the valley of tears. Our God is not a sadist who delights in doing evil to us. Don't confuse our God, our almighty lover, with the malignant serpent. The serpent is the sadist who delights in our suffering. Our God is a philanthropist not a sadist. The Cross of Christ is not the Son of God's recommendation or invitation to suffer. It is his recommendation to love. By filling our hearts to the brim with love, we fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ Colossians 1:24 . We imitate Jesus so others may be inspired to imitate him as well.

If you were God, how would mitigate the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears? Would you mitigate it at all? How? What is your solution?

Hint: Jesus transported from heaven to earth a tool to mitigate the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears as a gift to humanity. Not only did he transport it from heaven to earth himself, he demonstrated that it works by using it himself as he hung from his own Cross. He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours. He donned the jetpack and flew to show us that we too can fly. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, suffering's invincible foe. Love kicks suffering's ass.

Banding together into Communities of Love

To pass through the valley of tears, we band together into communities of love to rally en masse 'round the Cross. It is not safe to pass through the valley of tears alone Benjamin Franklin . The valley of tears is hostile territory. In response to our cries, sighs, mourning and weeping Hail Holy Queen, the most Holy Trinity took mercy on us and dispatched the Son of God to transport from heaven to earth technology to "grease" the wheels of our passage through the valley of tears. Jesus did not just deliver the technology of loving our way through the valley of tears. He was not just a delivery boy. He was the owner and inventor and promotor of the technology. His passion and death on the Cross were an advertisement promoting his technology of applying love to our crosses. He was so confident in the efficacy of the technology that he demonstrated that it works by using it himself. He donned the jetpack himself and flew to show us that we, too, can fly! Even though we tortured and killed him, he arose from the dead still alive and still in love with us. That he emerged from the dead still alive is the indisputable proof of his power. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us is the indisputable proof that our conception of divinity as power is incomplete. Divinity is also love. He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, suffering's invincible foe. In a community of love, we encourage each other to love our way through the valley of tears. Together in community, we stand shoulder to shoulder to oppose the enemies of love as the Greeks stood shoulder to shoulder together at Thermopylae Thermopylae against the invading Persians. Our crosses tend to transmogrify us into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts. They turn us into animals. Love stops the transmogrification dead in its tracks and reverses it. Love enables us to maintain the resemblance we bear to God. Love is the means by which we deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and carry them so we can continue to make progress through the valley of tears back to our home with God and his holy family in paradise. Without love, our crosses stop us dead in our tracks in the middle of hostile territory. We are vulnerable to attack when we stop in the middle of the valley of tears. The new exodus is making its escape from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh, through the valley of tears, to freedom with God and his holy family in the promised land. The modus operandi of the new exodus that distinguishes its pilgrims from the settlers who have put down roots in the valley of tears is its use of the technology of applying love to suffering. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" John 13:35 (KJV) .

The most Holy Trinity dispatched the Son of God from heaven to earth to reaquaint us with the sweetness of paradise. One of the valuable byproducts of his mission showed us how to mitigate the harshness of our passage through the valley of tears and suggested to us the possibility that we can do the same for our neighbors. Matthew 18:21-35 (KJV) [the Unmerciful Servant]

The Tool of Mitigation

Love of enemy is the tool of mitigation that Jesus brought from heaven to earth as a gift to humanity. Not only did he transport it from heaven to earth himself, he demonstrated that it works by hanging from his own Cross himself. He hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from ours. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, suffering's invincible foe. Love kicks the ass of our enemies.