ne day while visiting the Garden of Gethsemane, artist Tom duBois took a picture of a beggar. He used that image of the beggar as a model for this man who reaches out to Jesus.

The last thing that Luther wrote before he died was, "I am a beggar." All people are spiritual beggars. They are sinful. They have no holiness of their own. They need to know the will of God. Christians admit all of these things. The Lord is gracious and forgives them. That kind of person makes the best missionary mercy and love.

All have sinned. However, Christ suffered for all of humanity’s sinfulness. God makes people holy and clean through faith in Christ. This is the heart of the Christian's thinking and doing.

Like this character, both the artist’s rendition and the beggar he photographed in the garden, we are all beggars of the mercy of Christ. We are undeserving. Yet, God’s grace changed that. The final journey of Jesus began on Palm Sunday, the first day of Passion Week and ended in suffering and death at the cross. The cross is the glory of God! For there, he revealed the depth of His lowliness and humility as the beggar for all of humanity. He sacrificed Himself to God. In Jesus’ words, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” the world saw the true spirit of servitude and love for all.