Forgiveness

As Jesus was on the cross splayed on his back and having nails driven into his palms, He prays.

He did that a lot.

He was a prime example of the way we should be. But that's not my message today.

As Jesus prays He asks His Father in Heaven to forgive the people who are driving these stake like nails into his living flesh and through into the wooden crucifix behind Him.

"Forgive them Father, they know not what they do."

They know not what they do...

They....

Who are they?

The floggers? The Romans? The Jews?

The apostles? The people in the crowd for not stopping it? Man in general?

You see, Jesus saw something during his life, He saw we are all the problem.

But we aren't falling to our own devices. Intelligence without order causes destruction. Havoc ensues.

Jesus saw that the real problem is the fact that we don't have any clue what we are doing anymore. So, how this faith of a Christlike relationship with God has lasted so long is a miracle in itself and warrants noting.

That moment on the ground laying on that cross and he is lifted, is a realization point for Him. Satan came to Him in the desert and Jesus realized through it all, that Satan had been right there following His every move. And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was because He is God. It's because He is human. Satan afflicted everyone... still does. Satan planted a seed of doubt among the entirety of the story, for no other reason than because that's what He's done from the beginning.

And the whole world buys into it, because God is hard to deal with. We are control freaks by our nature. We long for power, we long for the ultimate everything. We are victims of pride.

Pride is a broad term: vanity, lust, malice, fear. These are pride.

Vanity: The excessive focus on one's reputation via looks and achievements.
Lust: A passionate or overmastering desire or craving of control and power.
Malice: The desire to cause damage to others seeded from impulse or premeditated resentment.
Fear: A distress of impending violence, consequence or heartbreak, whether real or imaginary.

From these spirits, come the downfall of man. Pride is a generalized term for them all.

Jesus knew that.

Jesus saw that people loved religion more than they loved the God they were worshipping. God saw that the people of that time were so blind that they couldn't raise themselves out of their pride, so He spent years going through the towns of Judea and confronting Satan at every pass. Whether it be with conquering the spirit of death, or the spirit of sickness, or the spirit of infection or the spirits of lust or spirits of malice or spirits of vanity and even the spirits of fear. Christ empowered them to do so. And that's because He was able to show just how powerful God actually is. And how exciting God can be and He exists beyond and man-made perimeters.

Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.

We don't listen to God and God alone. And if we did, if we went out on faith maybe some real change could happen.