JESUS WAS WRONG

Whenever I read the Bible, there are lots of verses that I have trouble with and wish they were not there, verses like telling me that if I want to follow Jesus, I need to turn the other cheek and walk the extra mile and be kind to those who are not kind to me – stuff like that. I suspect that I am not alone in having such feelings. Following Jesus can be quite uncomfortable and quite demanding at times.

Of course, the truth is that whether we like it or not, we know this to be true; and even though we fail more often that we would like to, certainly more that we would like to admit either to ourselves or to others, we do make a very good effort every day to take what Jesus has to say very seriously and make a very serious effort to comply. It is not always, if ever, to be a Christian.

Even as much as I know Jesus is absolutely correct in what he says, there is one verse in Scripture, one utterance of Jesus, with which I take umbrage and think Jesus was wrong. That is the verse where he is hanging on the cross in sheer pain and agony and looks at those who are putting him to death and then asks God the Father to forgive them because, he says, “they do not know what they are doing.”

Baloney! They knew exactly what they were doing. They were putting to death an innocent man for some very selfish motives. And to make matters worse, they did not care. Jesus was making their lives, the lives of the Jewish leaders who orchestrated his condemnation, very difficult if not downright miserable. Better to shut him up permanently than to change their ways even if they had to come up with some trumped up charges. As for Pilate, he could not have cared less about Jesus’ guilt or innocence.

No, they all knew perfectly well what they were doing. And Jesus knew they knew even if he vocally, for his executioners to hear, said otherwise. They knew. But, and here’s the kicker, he forgave them anyway. Can you imagine that? Jesus, dying in excruciating pain, raises up on that cross and up and forgives them. That must have been a real kick in the pants when they heard his words. Or it should have been!

But, then, it is a real kick in the pants for me and, I suspect for all of us. The truth is, maybe the issue is not that Jesus was wrong in saying that those who were putting him to death did not know what they were doing. Maybe the real truth is that we have a difficult time coming to grips with the first part of Jesus’ utterance: “Father, forgive them.” Let’s be honest, were we in Jesus position, the last thought on our mind and the last words we would utter would be words of forgiveness.

There are a lot of things Jesus said we had to do if we wanted to follow him. Almost all of them we sometimes begrudgingly accept yet try as best we can to fulfill and follow. It is this issue of forgiving unconditionally those who knowingly and willingly hurt us with which we have a great deal of difficulty and would rather not. That said, the bottom line, the unvarnished truth and the greatest kick in the pants, is knowing that God also forgives me when I knowingly and willing do that which I should not.