In the cross, Jesus has become a message of hope for all people, regardless of our background or circumstances. In this final lesson of the series, Mark shows how Jesus makes peace with God possible for everyone.

Jesus paid the ultimate price so that the power of Sin over us would be lifted. The best way to honor this costly gift of redemption is to live a life that demonstrates our gratitude for the freedom we have in Christ.

Where wrong has occurred, tribalism and scapegoating are natural responses, but they often only lead to the escalation of pain. Jesus absorbed the full force of human scapegoating to demonstrate the bankruptcy of such practices, and to provide us a better path, calling on us to live lives of truth and truth-telling with a spirit of Christ-shaped love. In the presence of radical love and honesty, we find our best possibility of both justice and positive change.

Jesus died so that we could live, and provided the church as a safe place of protection.

On the cross, Jesus provided the ultimate act of healing. The result of sin’s power in the world is the sickness and death that affect us all. Jesus took our sin sickness upon himself. By his wounds, we find healing. His servant-hearted way as the Great Physician inspires us to likewise help carry each other’s burdens.

From the moment he was born, Jesus has been our inspiration for the ideal human life. In the final moments leading up to his death on the cross, he provided us with a compass to direct our hearts toward things that deeply matter to God, and should therefore matter to us.

In what he accomplished on the cross, Jesus is our champion. He overthrew the power that Sin, Death, and the Devil tried to hold over us so that we can live into the present and coming reign of Jesus our Lord.

To appreciate the beauty of the cross, we must first come to understand the power of sin. Sin affects us not only as the weight of the choices we’ve made. In fact, Sin is a power at work in the world around us which Jesus came to overthrow through what he accomplished on the cross. This lesson sets up the series, providing a framework through which to understand what the Cross means.

You never know how your adversity now might strengthen you for greater possibilities later. We can live life without regrets when we ask God boldly for what we need, stand up again when we’ve been knocked down, and fully commit to a life of faithfulness.

Jesus taught that we are to be like salt so that others may “taste” and see that the Lord is good. In order to reach out effectively, we must be available, authentic, and willing to give others room to grow. In the end, all mission is God’s mission. Our responsibility is to help create spaces where God can make an impact.