To be technical, one may not consider the last words of Jesus as a prayer. However, He was addressing His father, so I would call it a prayer:
There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:32-34
All the words and teachings of Jesus Christ are powerful, but none give me chills as much as the words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” He was tortured in a way none of us can fathom, humiliated, broken hearted, and yet, He could look down at the men that had committed such acts and ask His heavenly Father to forgive them? It did not take Him months or years to work through His issues of abandonment, no He was able tot forgive his abusers and forsakers, which included friends and family, that same day! I know we have all heard many sermons preached on this subject, but can we ever hear it enough?
Jesus knew his abusers and betrayers were filling prophecy as well as fulfilling His destiny. They were acting according to the plan of God the Father. They may not have realized they were murdering the Son of God and did not understand how their acts had to happen, but they must have known that causing another human being so much pain was wrong! Jesus knew their hearts and I am sure He saw the blackness there, and yet, He still asked God to forgive them! Let me emphasize it again: He did not have to go through years of counseling to get over a rejection complex, He did not have to wait years for His memories to soften the hurt. No, Jesus was able to forgive them while the splinters of the cross dug into his deep wounds in his back they had caused with their cruel whips. Even while in agonizing pain from the huge nails driven into his hands and feet and the thick thorns sticking into his skull, He could see His torturers in danger of Hellfire and feel compassion for them.
And yet, when someone hurts our feelings, we brood over it for weeks, maybe even months or years? Can we really be so weak and shallow? We need to start praying that the Holy Spirit will enable us to see our fellow men through the eyes of Jesus Christ. I have been praying, "God, please increase my compassion and decrease my criticism." The more we can see people as souls in danger of Hell, and people hurting and in need of a Savior, the less we will hold onto our pride and hurt feelings.
Remember in my previous blog I said that Jesus' last words to His disciples were to remind them to love one another. We need to etch Jesus' words and teachings into our hearts. The next time we want to curse a bad driver, or get angry when someone doesn't do a like on one of our Facebook posts, or doesn't say thank you, or some other trivial issue, picture Jesus humbly praying for His tormenters' souls, and maybe we can finally start learning to be less petty! We need to forgive all sins committed against us and move on, even the more serious offenses. We need to follow the example of the One who forgave the unforgiveable.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:26
There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:32-34
All the words and teachings of Jesus Christ are powerful, but none give me chills as much as the words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” He was tortured in a way none of us can fathom, humiliated, broken hearted, and yet, He could look down at the men that had committed such acts and ask His heavenly Father to forgive them? It did not take Him months or years to work through His issues of abandonment, no He was able tot forgive his abusers and forsakers, which included friends and family, that same day! I know we have all heard many sermons preached on this subject, but can we ever hear it enough?
Jesus knew his abusers and betrayers were filling prophecy as well as fulfilling His destiny. They were acting according to the plan of God the Father. They may not have realized they were murdering the Son of God and did not understand how their acts had to happen, but they must have known that causing another human being so much pain was wrong! Jesus knew their hearts and I am sure He saw the blackness there, and yet, He still asked God to forgive them! Let me emphasize it again: He did not have to go through years of counseling to get over a rejection complex, He did not have to wait years for His memories to soften the hurt. No, Jesus was able to forgive them while the splinters of the cross dug into his deep wounds in his back they had caused with their cruel whips. Even while in agonizing pain from the huge nails driven into his hands and feet and the thick thorns sticking into his skull, He could see His torturers in danger of Hellfire and feel compassion for them.
And yet, when someone hurts our feelings, we brood over it for weeks, maybe even months or years? Can we really be so weak and shallow? We need to start praying that the Holy Spirit will enable us to see our fellow men through the eyes of Jesus Christ. I have been praying, "God, please increase my compassion and decrease my criticism." The more we can see people as souls in danger of Hell, and people hurting and in need of a Savior, the less we will hold onto our pride and hurt feelings.
Remember in my previous blog I said that Jesus' last words to His disciples were to remind them to love one another. We need to etch Jesus' words and teachings into our hearts. The next time we want to curse a bad driver, or get angry when someone doesn't do a like on one of our Facebook posts, or doesn't say thank you, or some other trivial issue, picture Jesus humbly praying for His tormenters' souls, and maybe we can finally start learning to be less petty! We need to forgive all sins committed against us and move on, even the more serious offenses. We need to follow the example of the One who forgave the unforgiveable.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:26
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:28-30
There are some people that love to misinterpret Jesus' last words on the cross (yes, one could also possibly call this a prayer). They will tell you, "It is Finished" means we don't have anything more to do. That the blood of Jesus was enough and we never have to repent. Jude, one of the half-brothers of Jesus Christ has this to say about such people who preach such a false message:
For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude, Verse 4
And Jesus, Himself, tells us in Matthew 5:20, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." Notice, He says, "your righteousness?"
In my blog, "Where will you build your house?" https://thankful-julie.blogspot.com/2020/05/where-will-you-build-your-house.html I wrote, "Think of it this way: When you have a job, do you just stay home, or do you go to work to earn a paycheck? Have you ever called your boss and said, "I really don't feel like working, can you do all my work for me and still give me a paycheck?" Of course not, you would be fired! Then why would you believe Jesus' righteousness alone is enough to join Him in Paradise? Do you really think Jesus will do all the work for you and still let you into His Kingdom? Even parents give their children jobs to do in order to earn an allowance. The love and grace of Jesus and salvation are free gifts. Jesus will never stop loving us (Romans 8:39) but we can lose our salvation when we treat it carelessly. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)! We must stand on the rock of Truth to keep from toppling over when the waves hit."
When Jesus said, "It is Finished," He was referring to His time on earth as a man. He had fulfilled what He had come to fulfill. His final act as a man was finished. Instead if using the words of Jesus Christ, the sacrificial lamb as an excuse to sin (Read all of Romans 6) we should be praising Him for such an amazing love. We can never truly fathom how much He loves His children! We should be on our faces in awe of such a love, not trying to wiggle our ways out of ignoring the 10 commandments (Exodus 20) and the sins of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17)!
Praise God He gave His Son to endure such a brutal death so we can choose to live righteously and have eternal life with Him! Praise Jesus for such a heart full of compassion that He still asks for forgiveness for those that had abuse Him - you and me! Praise the blessed Trinity that Jesus' acts on earth are finished, and yet have scarcely begun! Someday we will be able to thank Him in person for such an awesome sacrifice and blessed future to come!
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