Thinking this morning about the astonishing grace of Jesus
who, as a Roman soldier knelt beside his broken body stretched onto that cross,
hammering in the iron nails, prayed, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know
what they are doing.’
I look at our world with dismay and anger but am challenged
by my Saviour’s lavish love. In extreme pain I can only vaguely imagine, and
with love in his heart I can only aspire to, he saw the enemy’s face up close. The
soldier was following orders, doing what he had to do for his own sake. Maybe he
was sweating doing it. Maybe he was recoiling with every hammer blow, or maybe
he had grown blasé to the pain of others. Maybe he didn’t really care.
Jesus saw his heart, and whatever he saw, he loved him
still.
Prayer is powerful. Prayer for one’s enemies, while under
attack by them, is most powerful. By the time Jesus had died, one of the
soldiers, at least, had recognised that ‘truly this was the Son of God’. Jesus’
prayer in extremis was answered.
‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only
Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting love.’
John 3:16
Father, help me to abide in Jesus as I pray today. Especially
as I pray for those I see as enemies. Father, forgive them, for they don’t know
what they are doing.
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