THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO GO

Jesus’ last words on the cross were his most important not only for us but even more so for himself. “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.” There are two parts to that sentence, both important as they are two parts of the same coin, if you will. They go together. We do not and cannot have one without the other.

Take the second half of that statement first: “because they do not know what they are doing.” The people who were putting Jesus to death truly did not know what they were doing. By that I mean that they did not know who Jesus was. But it was more than that. They did not understand the implication of what they were doing because their actions would have far-reaching consequences and effects.

So do ours. We, too, when we do something we know we should not be doing, truly do not know what we are doing. Yes, we know that when we say something to hurt another person, we know what we are doing. And when we deliberately hurt another person, we know what we are doing. However, as with the case with those who were putting Jesus to death, so with us: we truly do not know the ramifications of our deliberate hurt. The always go far beyond the one we have hurt.

No sin is ever relegated to one other person even if that person is ourselves. When we do something to hurt ourselves, we also hurt those who love us because they have to deal with what we have done, with the consequences of our actions. The same is true when we hurt another. Those who love the one we have hurt have to deal with the one who has now been hurt, to minister to that person in love. And while they are ministering to the one we hurt, those others who are dependent on their time and talent will have to put their needs on hold. And those who are now on hold will have to put those waiting on them on hold as well, and so on down the line.

Thus, we really never truly and fully know what we are doing when we sin. If we did, if we could somehow in some way fathom the consequences of that sin, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant that sin is, we would never walk down that path. We would avoid it at all costs.

But we do walk down that path. That is why those who unjustly, and knowing that they were doing an injustice, put Jesus to death needed to be forgiven not only for their sake but for Jesus’ own sake as well. Jesus would not allow himself to die with an unforgiving heart. Whether his words of forgiveness healed or helped heal those who were putting him to death, whether those words transformed them, we do not know. But they were transforming to Jesus and allowed him to go from this life to the next in peace.

Forgiveness is the only way to go in this life as well. We have to forgive those who hurt us and we have to forgive others for hurting us and we have to forgive ourselves for hurting ourselves if we want to fully and faithfully live in this life. There is no other way than the way of forgiveness as difficult as that way is all too often, in fact, all of the time. Forgiveness is akin to being crucified: it is painful but it is the only way to go.