Holy Week Reflections- Part 4

Scripture reading:Luke 23:32-38

 ³²Two others, both criminals, were taken along with him for execution.

   ³³When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

   ^{34 -35}Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing."

   Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, "He saved others. Let's see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!"

   ^{36 -37}The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him, making a game of it. They toasted him with sour wine: "So you're King of the Jews! Save yourself!"

   ³⁸Printed over him was a sign: this is the king of the Jews.    The Message

Reflection: Love in Forgiveness

They crucified him. They nailed him to pieces of wood with big metal spikes.  They lifted the cross upright so that the pain and the angle of his body would kill him…would asphyxiate him…would leave him with no breath. 

What does love look like in the middle of this?  In the middle of intentional pain and torture, with people throwing dice for the clothes he had been wearing, and others making faces and taunting him-  wanting him to prove his power… Jesus forgave them. They didn’t ask him to forgive.  He just did it.  His forgiveness of them wasn’t up to them at all…  it was his alone to give.  Acting out of love in a way we can scarcely comprehend,  Jesus forgave them—and us. 

Chief of Sinners Though I Be (vs. 1-3)By: William McComb

Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed his blood for me,
Died that I might live on high,
Lives that I might never die.
As the branch is to the vine,
I am his, and he is mine.
 
Oh, the height of Jesus’ love,
Higher than the heavens above,
Deeper than the depths of sea,
Lasting as eternity!
Love that found me wondrous thought
Found me when I sought him not.
 
Only Jesus can impart
Balm to heal the wounded heart,
Peace that flows from sin forgiven,
Joy that lifts the soul to heaven,
Faith and hope to walk with God
In the way that Enoch trod.