What a blessing to come together with you this morning as our friend Pastor Steve continued our series looking at Jesus' final days in Mark 14:43-63. In the passages, we see Jesus experience the deep human pain of betrayal and abandonment. Judas betrays Jesus. All of Jesus' disciples, despite having declared their love and loyalty to Jesus, fall away and leave Jesus to go to the cross beaten, violated, naked, abandoned, and alone. 

Jesus takes the betrayal he experiences, the pain he experiences, absorbs the trauma into his body and takes it to the cross where everything that he takes there gets transformed. Jesus chooses love over bitterness, vulnerability over protection, and forgiveness over retaliation. Because of Jesus, because of His great sacrifice, and the power of His resurrection, we have a promise that in our places of deepest hurt, healing is possible.

Whatever we bring to the Cross of Jesus, He is able to heal, redeem, restore, transform, and give it new life. We can bring all of our emotions, our burdens, our hurts, and entrust them to Jesus. Pastor Steve gave us three practical steps we can take to begin this healing process.

1. Bring your full self to the cross today. Bring everything you're carrying to Jesus, every wound, every fear, every worry, and bring it to the one who covers it all.
2. Don't give up on community. Welcome one another, encourage one another, forgive one another, show hospitality to one another.
3. Take a step towards healing. Some hurts require help from others. A local resource is the Christian Counseling Center (cccsanjose.com).