Most of us need Love fleshed out, not just an abstract concept.  That’s why Jesus means so much to many.  We not only see the crucified Jesus as ultimate Love, in fact the Love of God made visible for us, but we see him showing us the WAY for us to also become love. 

We watch him walk through the Scriptures: learning kindness from his mother, outgrowing making law into a God, outgrowing thinking his group had a monopoly on God, outgrowing loving just neighbors who are like himself, but even the enemy, struggling to outgrow human fears to make the choice to not only accept physical suffering, but the loss of everything that made him who he was, and forgiving not only his friends who abandoned him, but even the enemies who tortured and killed him, and finally even when he felt abandoned by God, choosing to trust.

Whether we like it or not, this is not only his WAY, it is also the WAY for us, just as it was for his first disciples. This is the WAY of giving, growing, healing, forgiving, letting go of pride and power, accepting suffering, loving even enemies, and trusting God in the darkness of the unknown at the end of life.