The Cross

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/lenten_series_father_forgive_them.htm

Jesus’ choice of the word, Father, reveals his closeness to God. As in all of Jesus’ prayers, he never addressed God as Lord, King of the Universe, Omnipotent Ruler of the Heavens. The distinctiveness of Jesus’ prayer life was to call God intimately by name, by the word, Father. One Biblical scholar says that Jesus’ whole life can be summarized by that one intimate word, Father.


Our prayer life is to be the same. We too are to pray intimately to God in all circumstances, especially when we are in pain. When the pain is the worst, that is when we often pray the most. Jesus did the same. When we are in our worst pain, we call out to God to help us handle this situation we are in.


The second word from the cross is the word, “forgive.” Rather than calling on God to damn and punish those people below who were crucifying and killing him, Jesus’ heart was full of compassion for them, rather than rage. The normal thing was to swear, curse, use foul language at his tormenters but Jesus’ heart was just the opposite. Jesus called out for God to forgive his tormenters rather then to punish them.


But it is not easy to forgive your enemies and those people who kill you. That was not easy for Jesus. But that is what Jesus did from the cross. Jesus loved those who were hurting him and killing him. That is what is amazing.


A translation of the word, forgiveness, is to “let go.” Jesus forgives our sins; Jesus lets go of our sins. There is a story about how to trap monkeys. A trapper of monkeys sets coconuts at the bottom of the coconut tree, but those coconuts have holes drilled in them, holes about the size of a monkey’s fist. In other to get the white meat in the coconut, the monkey squeezes his hands down into a fist and slips his squeezed fist into the hole in the coconut and when his fist is inside the coconut, the monkey’s hand expands and grabs the white coconut inside. The hand is now full of coconut meat. The only way a monkey becomes free is to let go of the coconut. The only way we as human beings ever become free in life is to let go… to let go of the way our parents have hurt us in childhood, let go of the pain of our marriage, to let go of all the mistakes we have made. The only, and there are no exceptions, the only way to freedom is to let go of all the hatred and anger inside about wrongs I have done in the past or wrongs others have done to me. From the cross, God lets go of our sins.


Jesus’ forgiveness and love from the cross was pure grace, was freely given, as a gift to people who did not deserve the gift. And so it is with us.

The first word of the cross is pure grace for you and me and the world: Father, forgives us, for we know not what we do.”

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, `I repent,' forgive him." Luke 17:3-4