Forgive Them

Hi everyone,

I come to you with this pre-Easter post with a conviction that hit me last night. I watched the Passion of the Christ at home for Good Friday. It has become a yearly ritual around Easter to watch it, as I can only handle it about once a year. If you have not seen it, I greatly encourage you to watch it. It will not be a movie that will make you comfortable as it is the most graphic depiction of Christ's suffering and death on the cross on film that I believe has ever been made, but it will give you clear perspective of what Christ went through. One of things that really stood out to me this time watching it was through all the unimaginable torture, mockery, humiliation and betrayal, Christ forgave. Even after being rejected by his own people, handed over like a criminal, scourged beyond what any ordinary man could survive, spit on, scorned, made to carry his own cross and nailed to it, He chose to plead on mankind's behalf: "And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'" Luke 23:34 (ESV) He had every right to be angry, to curse mankind, to wipe them all out then and there, but yet He chose to stay hung on that cross until it was accomplished because He loved  them and us that much. I cannot fathom it. The worst part for me is when they place the nails in Jesus's hands and feet. Every pound of the hammer is like a knife to the heart and yet in that moment I realize why Christ did what He did. He did it for me and He did it for you and every single person in this universe. I personally would have been probably fighting the whole way, and forgiveness would have been the farthest thing from my mind. But yet He took it all and even when He had every right to condemn everyone to eternal damnation, He chose to sacrifice Himself and give grace. He forgave all. 

This hit me hard this time because in different circumstances recently I have seen anger, hatred and disgust in people's lives, I have seen the spitefulness in this country's people towards one another. I think of all the massacres, the evil people in this world...and I remember that Christ died for all. He offers forgiveness to all. Sin is sin to Him and we all have sinned. None of us are more deserving of His forgiveness than the other. And because He has offered grace to all, even to those who nailed Him to the cross how can it not be possible for me to forgive my own enemies? If He can forgive those who hated Him, and ask the Father to not hold their evil doings against them, then how much more should I be able to forgive those that persecute me? If Christ can forgive me of my wrongdoings, of my sins that nailed Him to that cross, how can I not forgive someone else of theirs? There are people out in this world that we would maybe call our enemies, or maybe a thorn in our side, or people we simply do not get along with. There may be people out there who have wronged us, spoken or written untrue things about us, who have hurt us or a family member, who have seeked to destroy us. But we have to remember that Christ died for them too. He loves them too. And instead of bringing out the sin in us it should bring us sorrow that these people are so blind to God's love. People will have to answer for what they have done, but instead of simply saying that and waiting for that day to come, we should strive to save those people from that fate. It is hard to love those that give you pain and hatred back but if we return it, we are not showing Christ in our hearts. I have spoken words against not so nice people and I now realize that those words were not words of life, but rather of condemnation. And in light of Jesus suffering, bleeding, and dying for me, that is not the way I want to live my life.  Yes we need to speak against evil people and expose their evil deeds but we need to do so not with the wish to see them burn, but compassion to see them saved. I want to have the ability to forgive all spite from others and give back love. I want to show them a God who loved them enough to forgive their every sin. And honestly that is the only way people will change. Hatred breeds more hatred. Crimes bring on more crimes. Spiteful words create more spiteful words. Only until you break the cycle can things be different. That doesn't always mean that people will stop persecuting you or apologize. Christ still died on that cross and we are fortunate He did. We may still suffer at the hand of certain people but we must realize that if Christ could offer that forgiveness then we have a duty to do the same. "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matt. 6:14-15 Not all will choose forgiveness but who are we to decide who deserves it or who we withhold grace from? What if Christ decided because of those that choose to reject Him, He is going to refuse to forgive anyone?  Grace can not be for the select few, it is for all because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). We just have to simply decide to accept it. We simply have to choose to turn the other cheek. We simply have to choose to forgive. And when you look upon the cross don't just see yourself, see the person sitting beside you in church, the person in the checkout lane, the person on the street, the coworker, the criminal, the junkie, the drunk, the most evil person you can think of and remember that three nails held the Son of God who took it all upon Himself and loved despite it all. And it should break our hearts for all the people of this world that don't recognize it and be the driving point to which we show the grace that has been given to us. Don't let us live our lives thinking that because we have our salvation and that we can celebrate Easter that we are "good". We need to see our Savior on that cross and remember what grace is all about and that there is hope for everyone. We all can have a reason to rejoice and have our stains washed white as snow. For something this amazing why would we want to withhold it from anyone else if we had the possibility to help change their life around? 

Happy Easter!!

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Matthew 28:19