Surrounded by people who are blind or who cannot walk, Jesus prays for their healing. Amid this humble need, the accompanying text is a passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, in which Christ’s divine majesty is seen most clearly in his embrace of lowliness and humility (Philippians 2:6-8).

This holy reversal of God present and active in places, lives, and experiences marked by shame and need rather than splendor provided the basis for Martin Luther’s “theology of the cross.” Luther developed this teaching in 1518 works like the Heidelberg Disputation and his Explanations to the 95 Theses:

A theologian of the cross (that is, one who speaks of the crucified and hidden God), teaches that punishments, crosses, and death are the most precious treasury of all and the most acred relics which the Lord of this theology himself has consecrated and blessed, not alone by the touch of his most holy flesh but also by the embrace of his exceedingly holy and divine will, and he has left these relics here to be kissed, sought after, and embraced.

In this “theology of the cross,” Jesus is revealed through his healing of the sick. The issue of Jesus’ identity is pictured here through the person—maybe Peter—who points to Jesus, as Peter first confessed his belief that Jesus was the messiah in Matthew 16:16. Similarly, in Luke 7 disciples of John the Baptist went to find out if Jesus was the holy one they were waiting for. Jesus replied, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:22-23). This image depicts Jesus’ holy identity precisely in his compassion for those in need.