The sky turned black like ink. You could hardly see the three men nailed to wood on the hill. You certainly couldn't see the lines of blood on their backs or the thick pieces of iron which cut through hands and feet and kept them stuck to the crosses. The one in the middle had thorns pushed into his skull.

He was the one crying, almost screaming, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The soldiers had stopped gambling. It was too dark to see the money. One of them soaked a sponge in sour wine and thrust it up to the crying man's mouth, perhaps out of annoyance, maybe out of pity. "Leave him alone," they said. "Elijah will save him." But the man stayed on the cross and cried even louder to the heavens.

Then he was silent, his screams cut off by death.

Christ’s crucifixion was the central event of human history. Its brutality and anguish prompts me to ask my fellow Christians whether our love for Christ matches the gravity of his sacrifice. Hand me a pile of pink devotional books and slap an "I heart Jesus" bumper sticker on your car. Is that what love means? Has Christ’s sacrifice and our response to that sacrifice really been reduced to such saccharine sweetness? So the well-intentioned evangelist says, "Tell me, please, of your love life with the man on the cross. I'll give you three sentences to describe why God Almighty humiliated Himself on a cross and was crucified for you, of all people. Have you fallen in love with Him yet? Have you become more intimate with the man screaming to the heavens? Do you know Jesus loves you?"

Jesus loves you. You, of all people. Do you understand what those three words mean? Can you explain to me how you ever deserved a love that would bring itself lower than anyone else and then die a criminal's death – flogged, humiliated and then pinned on wood to die? Can you tell me that you love Him? Do you love Him enough to let iron nails tear through your wrists and ankles and into wood?

Love is patient. Love is kind, but not always nice. Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud because it has depth and strength. Love is not flippant with others, it is sincere and sober. Love is selfless, not seeking a therapeutic comfort. Love is benevolent, not easily angered. Love does not keep track of wrongs, nor does it enjoy wickedness. Love loves the truth. It protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. Our love for Christ should strive to match Christ’s love for us. Our love should protect his dignity, trust his sovereignty, hope in his assurance, and persevere through suffering.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (I Corinthians 13: 4-7)

The love which Christ has for us is one of humiliation, death, and sacrifice in its cruelest forms. His love is illogical, un-provable and unreasonable. As Miss Havisham once said in Great Expectations, "I'll tell you ... what real love is. It is ... utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul!"

So, by all means, tell me you love Jesus. Go stick bumper stickers all over your car if you want. Read as many devotional books as you can. But before you do all that, remember that the greatest action of love was when the sky turned black and a man, covered in blood, screamed at the heavens and died for you.