“‘And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” -Zechariah 12:10 Take a moment to pause and focus. There is something about stopping and really looking that changes everything. Not just knowing what happened, not just hearing it again, but actually pausing long enough to see it for what it is. To see the cost. To realize that it wasn’t distant, it wasn’t abstract, it wasn’t just part of a story. It was personal. And when we truly look, the only right response is to mourn what our sin required…and to stand in awe of the grace that was given anyway. First we look to Jesus, then we mourn for our sins. Looking to Jesus must come first. It was our sins that nailed him to that cross, but it was his grace and mercy that gave us the gift of life. ...