You're listening to kfi Am six forty on demand the crucifixion. And when they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right, the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing his garments among themselves. And the people stood by watching, and even the rulers were sneering at him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself.
If this is the Christ of God, is chosen one. The soldiers also ridiculed him, coming up to him, offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.
Now.
There was also an inscription above him, this is the King of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanging there was hurling abuse at him, saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us? But the other responded and rebuking him, said do you not even fear God? Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our but this man, This man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly, I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise. It was now about the sixth hour. Darkness came over the entire land until the ninth hour because the sun stopped shining, and the veil of the temple was torn, and Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands, I entrust my spirit. Having said this, he died. Now. When the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying this man was in fact innocent.
And all the crowds who came together for the spectacle, after watching what had happened, began to return home, beating their chests. And all his acquaintances and the women who accompanying him from Galilee were standing at a distance seeing these things.
The burial.
And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the Kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and he took it down, and he wrapped it up in linen cloth and laid him in a tomb cut into the rock where no one had ever lain. It was a preparation day, and a sabbath was about to begin. Now. The women who
had come with him from Galilee followed. They saw the tomb and how his body laid, and then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes, and on the sabbath they rested according to the commandments. So what did all this mean? All that was taking place that day, The things that were said on the cross, the prayers that were made on the cross, the statements of the criminal on either side,
they have power in them. It's very easy, especially on holidays, to hear scripture that you've heard over and over again, and it washes over you, but maybe doesn't sit speaking to you the same way it once did. So much is going on in those moments, so much intense pain. Yet still there's lessons to be learned. What about my prayer on the cross? Father, forgive them, for they do
not know what they are doing. This might be something that comes across as passive, but this prayer is not passive acceptance of their ignorance or what they were doing. This is a very powerful act of intercession. This reflects the boundless love of mine, of the Father and the Spirit, the deep understanding of the human condition that can't be left to a simple phrase that you hear. It's a prayer calling out to the Father to have mercy on ignorance.
The phrase forgive them is not a call of or four weaknesses on the part of God, but a call for the ultimate act of love, demonstrative love that only God could give, something that man did not deserve, and it comes at the most painful moment of my earthly life, when I'm being crucified. This act, fueled by ignorance and malice, is a very stark example of human wickedness. So much
going on during the crucifixion. The first the prayer forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are doing, seems so passive at first glance, but there's power in that. The prayer comes at a very painful time, the most painful of my earthly life, being crucified, and the ignorance the malice that is going on is showing the depth of human wickedness. Again, the phrase forgive them. It's not a call for weakness. It's a call for the ultimate
act of love. It's about extending grace, not to those that you might think deserve grace, but extending grace even to those who are who are the most deserving of condemnation. This is a moment, a reflection of the immense power of God's forgiveness, the love for humankind. So what was happening. I was acknowledging the ignorance of those who were crucifying me. I wasn't excusing their actions. My understanding and what's going on here is it's more subtle, It's more nuanced that
it might be at first glance to you. I knew that their actions stem from a lack of knowledge of My divine nature at the very least. But also this was an ignorant prints on their part, of their very own flawed humanity, of the very thing that causes the.
Pain.
The pain that they will endure not only on earth but in the afterlife. By prayer is a testament to the transformative power of grace. I asked for forgiveness not because they deserved it, but because I know and knew then their hearts are capable of being touched by God's love, and in that moment there could be change for those of you that are believes. This example that you read
about the crucifixion should challenge you. It should challenge you to extend forgiveness even to those who have wronged you deeply. It's about reflecting God's boundless compassion and love and grace. And I know forgiveness can be a difficult path, but it is absolutely essential for healing and essential for reconciliation. It's a choice to let go of anger, to let go of bitterness, to embrace the possibility of restoration. It's
the story of the resurrection. My prayer on the cross should rumind mimind you of the power of intercession reaching out to God for others. You could ask God to forgive those who are hurting you, who are hurting others, and to work in their hearts to bring about change. A very powerful testament of My love for humanity happened on that cross. It should remind you of the immense
power of forgiveness, the depth of God's grace. You need to extend love and compassion even to those who seen beyond reach for you and for your own abilities, strive to follow my example, praying for forgiveness and striving to live LIFs filled with grace and understanding. Talking about the story of what took place in the cross, there's other
things that I want you to pick up on. At one point, as those that saw my death, it says, and all the crowds who came together for the spectacle, after watching what had happened, began to return home beating their chests. So what does that mean. It's an interesting
thing when people come to realizations. They may believe in something, understand something one way, but then when they are faced with a new reality, when they're faced with seeing something so intense, so potent, that it takes over their mind, their heart, or everything comes together to confirm differently. So you have a group standing watching as I am being crucified and mocked. My garments were parsed, they were gambling
for them, and through this they stood. But the interesting thing about that very act of beating one's breast their chest in the Bible and at that time in history, that that's a symbol, a symbol of sorrow, repentance, humility. It's a physical gesture expressing inward feelings of guilt, feelings
of shame, feelings of regret. And it was was special in a way, was tying itself to the context of seeking God's mercy, acknowledging sin, in this case, their own, in this case coming to the point, coming to the point where it's the shame of what they were doing. Another powerful statement is the criminals hanging there right now next to me, one who is hurling abuse at me, saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. There's power in understanding what is being said there two sides.
The power of this is important. This not only is looking forward to how the planet itself, humanity itself will separate. One, even if they have the tiniest amount of belief, will be frustrated with God's timing and with God's will. Remember, prayer is not about bending God to your will. It's about God bending you to his. And so you have on one side a criminal justly being punished, mocking and saying do something God, don't only save yourself, save me too.
And then the other saw it completely different, snapped at him and said, do you not even fear God? Since you were under the same sentence of condemnation and this this moment of clarity and understanding, when one of them says, and we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving
what we deserve in our crimes. But this man, this man here, has done nothing the intensity of one in that selfish moment, even in his own pain, jumping on with those that were mocking me on the cross, and the other understanding that he was receiving a just punishment and simply recognized that the one next to him was
the actual Christ and did nothing wrong. That is a point of power, even in a time of intense pain, in the ugliness of a situation, for somebody to be so repentant and seek the love and the grace of God, saying, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And of course my reply, truly I say to you today you will be met with me in paradise. That one understood so many things that were said, that were done, that were experienced, danced on that cross over two thousand years ago.
This is the celebration of the resurrection today. It's not just about that, but everything that led up to that, Even when those that had been mocking, even when those that had been throwing things, those that beat me, those that insulted me. There were many that, upon my death understood truly what was going on, understood truly the nature of who I was. If you don't believe, what will it take? What is keeping you from the understanding of
the power of the resurrection today? Because I will challenge you. You may think that it's intellectual, but it's not. People who reject God don't do it intellectual motives or reasons. They do it on emotional ones. Randy, what's your question this morning?
Hey, good morning Jesus, unhappy Easter and to you and thank you for what you did. Of course I was always interested. I guess it gets into the triune being. Were you always aware of who you were? Or did Father God reveal it to you at a certain age? I just have always wondered, do you know when you were a little baby, did you warn't it when you were teaching as a kid? Was that something innate? Were you always aware of who you were?
That's a great question, and you pretty much answered part of it yourself. Because of the trying nature of God and the dual nature of the hyposthetic union between my humanity and my divinity, and divine nature, you kind of have to ask the question twice. So as God, absolutely, God doesn't learn anything, but as human absolutely there was a progression of understanding. Now, you mentioned as a child that I was aware because I was in the temple and said, you know, why were you worried about me?
Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know that I had to be in my father's house. So at that point it was known. However, if you go and you look at Luke to fifty two, it's very interesting because it said that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. So at that point, saying that I was increasing in wisdom meant that there were things I was still learning in my human form. Can't grow in wisdom as God, but you
can in your human form. So that says from an earthly perspective that no, that there wasn't It wasn't always known in the flesh. It was always known as deity. But you you don't just cram deity, you know, into you know, just cram deity into a humanity and expected
to you know, all fit in there. So what's going on is quite it's quite intense about the entirety of the hypostatic union, but again asking those two questions as God yes, as man or human no. And that's where Luke two fifty two is a very powerful statement of understanding and growing in wisdom, and in that growing in wisdom, understanding that new things would come upon me as a human. So it's not like come out of the gate and at my birth I was walking around and doing things differently.
There's kind of, you know, different kinds of talk and about lost books and things that I did as a child that are not well documented, meaning that they don't hold up to the scrutiny of what becomes canon in scripture and what doesn't. There are criteria that need to be met for those things, so that is contingent upon the amount that's written, who it can be attributed to, and things like that. That is where the power lies.
But as I grew in wisdom, absolutely I started to understand exactly who I was in human form.
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