For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you - not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

How great is the love of God! All that Jesus suffered was for the purpose of bringing you and me back to God. And then, after his death, he "descended to the dead/into hell" (words from the Apostles' Creed) - he went to the spirits in prison, and his very presence proclaimed God's love to them. In Jesus, God crossed the divide between heaven and earth - the divide created by our selfish ways, our sin. And, even more, Jesus crossed the divide between the living and the dead. Our God is a God who constantly and in every way wants to be together with us.

An early American hymn sings the wonder of God becoming human and suffering all so that you and I could be brought close to God again:
"What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul! What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
"What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
"To bear the dreadful curse for my soul?"

During this 40-day season called Lent, may the knowledge of God's love for you reach to your very core. May that knowledge become wonder and gratitude. And may that wonder and gratitude breed a spirit of forgiveness in your life.