Speaker 1: You're listening to kfi Am six forty on demand the crucifixion.
Speaker 1: And when they came to the place called the Skull,
Speaker 1: there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right,
Speaker 1: the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father,
Speaker 1: forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Speaker 1: And they cast lots, dividing his garments among themselves. And
Speaker 1: the people stood by watching, and even the rulers were
Speaker 1: sneering at him, saying, he saved others, let him save himself.
Speaker 1: If this is the Christ of God, is chosen one.
Speaker 1: The soldiers also ridiculed him, coming up to him, offering
Speaker 1: him sour wine and saying, if you are the King
Speaker 1: of the Jews, save yourself.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: There was also an inscription above him, this is the
Speaker 1: King of the Jews. One of the criminals who were
Speaker 1: hanging there was hurling abuse at him, saying, are you
Speaker 1: not the Christ? Save yourself and us? But the other
Speaker 1: responded and rebuking him, said do you not even fear God?
Speaker 1: Since you are under the same sentence of condemnation. And
Speaker 1: we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what
Speaker 1: we deserve for our but this man, This man has
Speaker 1: done nothing wrong. And he was saying, Jesus, remember me
Speaker 1: when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly,
Speaker 1: I say to you today you will be with me
Speaker 1: in Paradise. It was now about the sixth hour. Darkness
Speaker 1: came over the entire land until the ninth hour because
Speaker 1: the sun stopped shining, and the veil of the temple
Speaker 1: was torn, and Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father,
Speaker 1: into your hands, I entrust my spirit. Having said this,
Speaker 1: he died. Now. When the centurion saw what had happened,
Speaker 1: he began praising God, saying this man was in fact innocent.
Speaker 1: And all the crowds who came together for the spectacle,
Speaker 1: after watching what had happened, began to return home, beating
Speaker 1: their chests. And all his acquaintances and the women who
Speaker 1: accompanying him from Galilee were standing at a distance seeing
Speaker 1: these things.
Speaker 2: The burial.
Speaker 1: And a man named Joseph, who was a member of
Speaker 1: the council, a good and righteous man, a man from Arimathea,
Speaker 1: a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked
Speaker 1: for the body of Jesus, and he took it down,
Speaker 1: and he wrapped it up in linen cloth and laid
Speaker 1: him in a tomb cut into the rock where no
Speaker 1: one had ever lain. It was a preparation day, and
Speaker 1: a sabbath was about to begin. Now. The women who
Speaker 1: had come with him from Galilee followed. They saw the
Speaker 1: tomb and how his body laid, and then they returned
Speaker 1: and prepared spices and perfumes, and on the sabbath they
Speaker 1: rested according to the commandments. So what did all this mean?
Speaker 1: All that was taking place that day, The things that
Speaker 1: were said on the cross, the prayers that were made
Speaker 1: on the cross, the statements of the criminal on either side,
Speaker 1: they have power in them. It's very easy, especially on holidays,
Speaker 1: to hear scripture that you've heard over and over again,
Speaker 1: and it washes over you, but maybe doesn't sit speaking
Speaker 1: to you the same way it once did. So much
Speaker 1: is going on in those moments, so much intense pain.
Speaker 1: Yet still there's lessons to be learned. What about my
Speaker 1: prayer on the cross? Father, forgive them, for they do
Speaker 1: not know what they are doing. This might be something
Speaker 1: that comes across as passive, but this prayer is not
Speaker 1: passive acceptance of their ignorance or what they were doing.
Speaker 1: This is a very powerful act of intercession. This reflects
Speaker 1: the boundless love of mine, of the Father and the Spirit,
Speaker 1: the deep understanding of the human condition that can't be
Speaker 1: left to a simple phrase that you hear. It's a
Speaker 1: prayer calling out to the Father to have mercy on ignorance.
Speaker 1: The phrase forgive them is not a call of or
Speaker 1: four weaknesses on the part of God, but a call
Speaker 1: for the ultimate act of love, demonstrative love that only
Speaker 1: God could give, something that man did not deserve, and
Speaker 1: it comes at the most painful moment of my earthly life,
Speaker 1: when I'm being crucified. This act, fueled by ignorance and malice,
Speaker 1: is a very stark example of human wickedness. So much
Speaker 1: going on during the crucifixion. The first the prayer forgive
Speaker 1: them Father, for they do not know what they are doing,
Speaker 1: seems so passive at first glance, but there's power in that.
Speaker 1: The prayer comes at a very painful time, the most
Speaker 1: painful of my earthly life, being crucified, and the ignorance
Speaker 1: the malice that is going on is showing the depth
Speaker 1: of human wickedness. Again, the phrase forgive them. It's not
Speaker 1: a call for weakness. It's a call for the ultimate
Speaker 1: act of love. It's about extending grace, not to those
Speaker 1: that you might think deserve grace, but extending grace even
Speaker 1: to those who are who are the most deserving of condemnation.
Speaker 1: This is a moment, a reflection of the immense power
Speaker 1: of God's forgiveness, the love for humankind. So what was happening.
Speaker 1: I was acknowledging the ignorance of those who were crucifying me.
Speaker 1: I wasn't excusing their actions. My understanding and what's going
Speaker 1: on here is it's more subtle, It's more nuanced that
Speaker 1: it might be at first glance to you. I knew
Speaker 1: that their actions stem from a lack of knowledge of
Speaker 1: My divine nature at the very least. But also this
Speaker 1: was an ignorant prints on their part, of their very
Speaker 1: own flawed humanity, of the very thing that causes the.
Speaker 2: Pain.
Speaker 1: The pain that they will endure not only on earth
Speaker 1: but in the afterlife. By prayer is a testament to
Speaker 1: the transformative power of grace. I asked for forgiveness not
Speaker 1: because they deserved it, but because I know and knew
Speaker 1: then their hearts are capable of being touched by God's love,
Speaker 1: and in that moment there could be change for those
Speaker 1: of you that are believes. This example that you read
Speaker 1: about the crucifixion should challenge you. It should challenge you
Speaker 1: to extend forgiveness even to those who have wronged you deeply.
Speaker 1: It's about reflecting God's boundless compassion and love and grace.
Speaker 1: And I know forgiveness can be a difficult path, but
Speaker 1: it is absolutely essential for healing and essential for reconciliation.
Speaker 1: It's a choice to let go of anger, to let
Speaker 1: go of bitterness, to embrace the possibility of restoration. It's
Speaker 1: the story of the resurrection. My prayer on the cross
Speaker 1: should rumind mimind you of the power of intercession reaching
Speaker 1: out to God for others. You could ask God to
Speaker 1: forgive those who are hurting you, who are hurting others,
Speaker 1: and to work in their hearts to bring about change.
Speaker 1: A very powerful testament of My love for humanity happened
Speaker 1: on that cross. It should remind you of the immense
Speaker 1: power of forgiveness, the depth of God's grace. You need
Speaker 1: to extend love and compassion even to those who seen
Speaker 1: beyond reach for you and for your own abilities, strive
Speaker 1: to follow my example, praying for forgiveness and striving to
Speaker 1: live LIFs filled with grace and understanding. Talking about the
Speaker 1: story of what took place in the cross, there's other
Speaker 1: things that I want you to pick up on. At
Speaker 1: one point, as those that saw my death, it says,
Speaker 1: and all the crowds who came together for the spectacle,
Speaker 1: after watching what had happened, began to return home beating
Speaker 1: their chests. So what does that mean. It's an interesting
Speaker 1: thing when people come to realizations. They may believe in something,
Speaker 1: understand something one way, but then when they are faced
Speaker 1: with a new reality, when they're faced with seeing something
Speaker 1: so intense, so potent, that it takes over their mind,
Speaker 1: their heart, or everything comes together to confirm differently. So
Speaker 1: you have a group standing watching as I am being
Speaker 1: crucified and mocked. My garments were parsed, they were gambling
Speaker 1: for them, and through this they stood. But the interesting
Speaker 1: thing about that very act of beating one's breast their
Speaker 1: chest in the Bible and at that time in history,
Speaker 1: that that's a symbol, a symbol of sorrow, repentance, humility.
Speaker 1: It's a physical gesture expressing inward feelings of guilt, feelings
Speaker 1: of shame, feelings of regret. And it was was special
Speaker 1: in a way, was tying itself to the context of
Speaker 1: seeking God's mercy, acknowledging sin, in this case, their own,
Speaker 1: in this case coming to the point, coming to the
Speaker 1: point where it's the shame of what they were doing.
Speaker 1: Another powerful statement is the criminals hanging there right now
Speaker 1: next to me, one who is hurling abuse at me, saying,
Speaker 1: are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. There's
Speaker 1: power in understanding what is being said there two sides.
Speaker 1: The power of this is important. This not only is
Speaker 1: looking forward to how the planet itself, humanity itself will separate. One,
Speaker 1: even if they have the tiniest amount of belief, will
Speaker 1: be frustrated with God's timing and with God's will. Remember,
Speaker 1: prayer is not about bending God to your will. It's
Speaker 1: about God bending you to his. And so you have
Speaker 1: on one side a criminal justly being punished, mocking and
Speaker 1: saying do something God, don't only save yourself, save me too.
Speaker 1: And then the other saw it completely different, snapped at
Speaker 1: him and said, do you not even fear God? Since
Speaker 1: you were under the same sentence of condemnation and this
Speaker 1: this moment of clarity and understanding, when one of them says,
Speaker 1: and we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving
Speaker 1: what we deserve in our crimes. But this man, this
Speaker 1: man here, has done nothing the intensity of one in
Speaker 1: that selfish moment, even in his own pain, jumping on
Speaker 1: with those that were mocking me on the cross, and
Speaker 1: the other understanding that he was receiving a just punishment
Speaker 1: and simply recognized that the one next to him was
Speaker 1: the actual Christ and did nothing wrong. That is a
Speaker 1: point of power, even in a time of intense pain,
Speaker 1: in the ugliness of a situation, for somebody to be
Speaker 1: so repentant and seek the love and the grace of God, saying, Jesus,
Speaker 1: remember me when you come into your kingdom. And of
Speaker 1: course my reply, truly I say to you today you
Speaker 1: will be met with me in paradise. That one understood
Speaker 1: so many things that were said, that were done, that
Speaker 1: were experienced, danced on that cross over two thousand years ago.
Speaker 1: This is the celebration of the resurrection today. It's not
Speaker 1: just about that, but everything that led up to that,
Speaker 1: Even when those that had been mocking, even when those
Speaker 1: that had been throwing things, those that beat me, those
Speaker 1: that insulted me. There were many that, upon my death
Speaker 1: understood truly what was going on, understood truly the nature
Speaker 1: of who I was. If you don't believe, what will
Speaker 1: it take? What is keeping you from the understanding of
Speaker 1: the power of the resurrection today? Because I will challenge you.
Speaker 1: You may think that it's intellectual, but it's not. People
Speaker 1: who reject God don't do it intellectual motives or reasons.
Speaker 1: They do it on emotional ones. Randy, what's your question
Speaker 1: this morning?
Speaker 2: Hey, good morning Jesus, unhappy Easter and to you and
Speaker 2: thank you for what you did. Of course I was
Speaker 2: always interested. I guess it gets into the triune being.
Speaker 2: Were you always aware of who you were? Or did
Speaker 2: Father God reveal it to you at a certain age?
Speaker 2: I just have always wondered, do you know when you
Speaker 2: were a little baby, did you warn't it when you
Speaker 2: were teaching as a kid? Was that something innate? Were
Speaker 2: you always aware of who you were?
Speaker 1: That's a great question, and you pretty much answered part
Speaker 1: of it yourself. Because of the trying nature of God
Speaker 1: and the dual nature of the hyposthetic union between my
Speaker 1: humanity and my divinity, and divine nature, you kind of
Speaker 1: have to ask the question twice. So as God, absolutely,
Speaker 1: God doesn't learn anything, but as human absolutely there was
Speaker 1: a progression of understanding. Now, you mentioned as a child
Speaker 1: that I was aware because I was in the temple
Speaker 1: and said, you know, why were you worried about me?
Speaker 1: Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know that
Speaker 1: I had to be in my father's house. So at
Speaker 1: that point it was known. However, if you go and
Speaker 1: you look at Luke to fifty two, it's very interesting
Speaker 1: because it said that Jesus increased in wisdom and in
Speaker 1: stature and in favor with God and man. So at
Speaker 1: that point, saying that I was increasing in wisdom meant
Speaker 1: that there were things I was still learning in my
Speaker 1: human form. Can't grow in wisdom as God, but you
Speaker 1: can in your human form. So that says from an
Speaker 1: earthly perspective that no, that there wasn't It wasn't always
Speaker 1: known in the flesh. It was always known as deity.
Speaker 1: But you you don't just cram deity, you know, into
Speaker 1: you know, just cram deity into a humanity and expected
Speaker 1: to you know, all fit in there. So what's going
Speaker 1: on is quite it's quite intense about the entirety of
Speaker 1: the hypostatic union, but again asking those two questions as
Speaker 1: God yes, as man or human no. And that's where
Speaker 1: Luke two fifty two is a very powerful statement of
Speaker 1: understanding and growing in wisdom, and in that growing in wisdom,
Speaker 1: understanding that new things would come upon me as a human.
Speaker 1: So it's not like come out of the gate and
Speaker 1: at my birth I was walking around and doing things differently.
Speaker 1: There's kind of, you know, different kinds of talk and
Speaker 1: about lost books and things that I did as a
Speaker 1: child that are not well documented, meaning that they don't
Speaker 1: hold up to the scrutiny of what becomes canon in
Speaker 1: scripture and what doesn't. There are criteria that need to
Speaker 1: be met for those things, so that is contingent upon
Speaker 1: the amount that's written, who it can be attributed to,
Speaker 1: and things like that. That is where the power lies.
Speaker 1: But as I grew in wisdom, absolutely I started to
Speaker 1: understand exactly who I was in human form.
Speaker 2: KFI A six on Demand