Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Luke 23 and Psalm 39

³³ When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals – one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’

I imagine being arrested in the dead of night, abandoned by all my friends, hauled in front of a kangaroo court, falsely accused, publicly mocked, brutally beaten, given an unjust death sentence, humiliated in a public walk of shame through the city streets, with people jeering at me … and finally I’m nailed to a Cross to hang there in public until dead.

What would Jesus want me to say to my persecutors?

Well, He told me in Luke 6:27-28,

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you.”

How could I possibly do that?

How was it possible that in that very moment Jesus said with utter conviction and compassion, “‘Father, forgive them“?

My sense is that this outrageous grace is an irrefutable sign of Jesus’ divinity – of the truth of every title assigned to Him that cruel day. Truly He is the Son of Man (22:69), the Son of God (22:70), Messiah (23:2), the king (23:42). Truly, this Man is truly God.

And every person who ever extends grace and forgiveness to those who wrong them, curse them, hate them and ill-treat them, is revealing something of divine beauty and is being strengthened to do so by the Spirit of the LORD. There can surely be no other way.

Life Application: Unspeakably tough as it may be, ask the Lord Jesus to strengthen you to extend grace and forgiveness to anyone who harms you, angers you, or treats you cruelly today. Reveal the beauty of Jesus by extending the wonder of forgiveness and release.