I recently heard a pastor friend preach on Luke 23:32-43. This is the story of Jesus being crucified along with the two criminals. Verse 35 says, "And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!"
Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt when he was hanging on the cross and the leaders were making fun of him? They were questioning his very identity as the Messiah. Jesus, who lived a perfect, sinless life, and did nothing to deserve this was not only submitting to God's will, but was asking God TO FORGIVE THEM! Put yourself in Jesus' shoes. What would your response be?
I can tell you that mine would probably not be one of submission and forgiveness. My tendency would be to lash out and defend myself. And in doing so, I would fall into the trap of inadvertently ridiculing and judging the other person. I have never had anyone mock or ridicule me like they did Jesus, but there have been people in my like that have said things that are mean and hurtful. What has been my response?
As my pastor friend was preaching, I realized that not only did I need to ask God to forgive these people that have said mean and hurtful things - but I am in need of forgiveness since my response hasn't always been Christ-like. And because Jesus showed his love by asking the Father to forgive, I can press on in my journey with the help of the Holy Spirit and have this same attitude toward others.
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