I can see Jesus, in my mind’s eye, nailed to the cross. Feeling the splinters in a back awash in blood, the pain of the nails urging Him to scream. Can you imagine what His eyes captured? The hatred on faces whose lips hurled insults. “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
A body ravaged by pain. A heart hanging under an emotional beating. His response was not an outburst of anger. A blanket of curses. A word to unleash the fury of angels.
His response recorded in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (NIV)
His response was the reason He came in the first place.
If like me, you’ve walked with Him for years, it’s easy to look around society, at the chaos and commotion, and think, wow, we don’t know what we are doing. And, I include myself in that messy thought.
Jesus clearly knew that the people didn’t know what they were doing. He loved them so much, He wanted to bridge them back to God. He was willing to do what God authored: be that perfect, blameless, sinless sacrifice for all those (including us) who fell short of the glory of God. He wanted to reunite us with God. But someone had to compensate for our sin so we could come into God’s presence.
So Jesus.
Jesus did just that.
Today He knows we don’t know what we are doing. Oh, we probably think we do. I know I have. But how often I find I was wrong. Maybe you’ve been there too.
While we should feel genuine remorse and sorrow and shame, Jesus doesn’t want us to wallow there. That’s not why He chose the cross.
His end goal was that we would again come to God, not only upon death, but chose to walk with Him in our daily life here on earth. He knew we don’t fully know what we are doing. We think we know, we think we are in control, but Jesus knows the truth.
And when we see the truth, the truth can set us free. We taste freedom by opening our eyes fully, admitting our wrongs, and asking for a forgiveness we didn’t earn, yet Jesus freely offers.
His love is so great He could overlook the emotional insults and bodily torture.
He saw the truth of where we were: we didn’t know. And He chose to offer us a way out.
Unimaginable! Yet, that is His love on display.
He wants each of us to experience that deep love, that multidimensional forgiveness, that unimaginable freedom. All we need to do is ask. Will you join me in doing just that?
Prayer: Dear Lord, Thank You that You pursued me while I was still confidently lost. I never realized how desperately I needed You. Thank You for not giving up on me. Thank You for choosing the cross, when You didn’t deserve it. Thank You for offering me such blatant, blanket forgiveness. I am deeply sorry for my short-sightedness. Forgive me Lord. Teach me how to walk with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.