Thoughts for another day

April 2, 2010

Today's verse: Lk. 23:34a. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

The night was terrible, the night they had the Passover meal. It seemed ordinary but every element around was eerie as if the atmosphere was suggesting a catastrophe. The earth shuddered while Jesus and His apostles sat in the upper room where He instituted the memorial offering; of bread and wine as His Own Body and Blood. The air in the room suggested dread and awe and sure, they had supper many other times, but this seemed unlike any. They remembered something like ‘the hour has come’ falling upon their ears and it weighed heavy on their hearts.

From the upper room they trudged to a place called Gethsemane at the foothills of the Mount of Olives. The apostles were craving their sleep as Jesus led them; and even as He moved a little ahead taking only Peter, James and John with Him, they were fast asleep. He went a few yards away and fell on His face before His Father, weeping agonizingly. Though from the foundation of the world, this moment was on the anvil, the mere thought of separation from the Father was a scary thought, a desperate time for Jesus. He knew He would suffer in His body, but His soul dreaded the forsaking by His Father and it cut Him terribly. But He allowed the will of the Father to pass.

Then began the drama of His arrest and the farcical session of the Sanhedrin which lead to trial by the Roman Proconsul, Pilate. In accordance with scripture, Jesus was first scourged terribly (as Pilate thought the Jews upon seeing His mutilated body, would allow Him to live) and then crucified (because Pilate through scourging had failed to evoke any sympathy from them to release Jesus). The whole process caused a tremor in the heart of the bravest man and rendered unto Jesus a body, broken by the ‘flagellum’ a whip known to cause devastation on the body; the mocking, and spitting upon His Divine persona, notwithstanding.

Then the punishment reserved for hardened criminals was given Him, He was crucified for no fault. On the Cross, completely torn in the heart, Jesus yet looked down upon His tormentors and said, ‘Father forgive …’ But was it only for those who were physically present that day; was it not for us too, who today for reason of paltry grain, whether physical or psychological, deny and offend Him? Who at the drop of a hat, do not fail to sin? He knew exactly what we would be and it is for us that He asked forgiveness from His Father so that we who completely ill-treated Him and shunned Him and heaped insults on Him, might be saved. He did it simply because He loved us and wants to spend eternity with us.