Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
We were having a heated debate on ‘forgiveness’ in a seminar and I vividly remember as a bold, fiery youngster many years ago bravely arguing for my stand. It was on how would you react if you were to judge a rapist, I loudly and emotionally said, “he deserves to be hanged”. I never knew about forgiveness until Jesus stepped into my life. The transformation that Jesus brings into our life is just phenomenal and break-taking.
One afternoon, a woman from our neighborhood came to see me with her fingers bandaged. She said that her drunkard husband beat her up mercilessly, dragged her out of the house, pulled her saree and then further chased her on the road. By then this lady ‘s fingers were cut and she was bleeding. This man’s thirst for blood did not stop though, he said, “now wipe the blood stains on the floor with your own hurting fingers”. She came running to me and said, “sister, because you spoke of the love of Jesus, I tolerated this man this long, but this morning I had to go to the police, please forgive me for disobeying you.” Dear friend, how would you react to this? Believe me, I silently cried with her, prayed for her and sent her home. As a teacher of the Bible, I had to guide her wisely. Every day I hear of atrocities done to women and the way they suffer. But when they walk to a servant of God and come for counseling, they walk with HOPE IN JESUS; because transformation is possible with Jesus and Jesus also gives His children the tolerance to endure pain and pray patiently for the person; because Jesus Himself prayed forgiveness for the people who tortured and tormented Him which words cannot describe.
Very often we find it difficult to pray for someone when they’ve wronged us, we like to hang on to the pain for a while, and if at all we pray, it may be after we cool off. But here Jesus prays in the heat of that moment. How could Jesus pray like that in the heat of the battle? We can receive this power through the grace of God. Hallelujah! FRIEND, WE NEED TO TELL THE WORLD THAT THERE IS HOPE FOR US THROUGH JESUS WHO WENT ON THE CROSS FOR US. We don’t have to be sad on ‘Good Friday’, but we need to meditate on the cross and be glad that we have redemption and forgiveness through His death.
The last words of Saddam Hussein were ''Down with the traitors, the Americans, the spies and the Persians.'' But the last words of our Redeemer Jesus were “forgive them”; this is the mark of the love of Jesus.
Jesus’ final words were not recorded just for popularity, but for a purpose, so that we would pray for our enemies, than holding a grudge.
GOD BLESS YOU!
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