“Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.”

Obviously.

After a long history of either rejecting God or perverting His truth, now they were killing Him.

Beaten. Mocked. Nailed. Hanging. Suffocating. Exhausted. Dying.

He speaks. Not words of anger. Not condemnation.

Mercy. Grace. Peace.

It goes beyond my understanding. But it has another effect.

Perspective. In trouble, persecution, danger. I’m never separated from God’s love in Jesus Christ.

And I have also never been more wronged than Him. We all like to feel like the victim sometimes, and sometimes we really are.

But not like that; not like Jesus. Not innocent. Not sinless.

What if the best attributes people could describe about you and me were, “They are forgiven and forgiving.” Grace-filled in the model of Jesus.

That would be really good.

(Lent 32/40)