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In Luke 23: 34 as the soldiers nailed him to the cross Jesus cried out, "God, Forgive Them for they Know not what they Do!"
You can’t turn on the news these days without hearing about missing children. Many kids can’t even play in the own front yards without worrying about drive-by shootings, abductions or drugs being offered to them. You can tell a lot about a society by watching how the children are treated. Are they valued? Do we, as adults, support them financially and emotionally? Do we, as adults, protect their rights? We have failed as a society when children grow up in poverty.
When children around the globe go to bed hungry. We have failed as a society when we have thousands lingering in foster care systems around the country and courts that won’t allow our G/L/B/T people to adopt children. We have failed to teach our children that every person is valuable and lovable in the eyes of God. Scripture tells us that, in order, to enter the kindom of God we are to “become like little children.” Children are innocent, playful, curious, and sweet. Children long to give and receive love. We must look for the divine spark of Christ that resides deep within each child’s heart.
We, through our apathy, hammer a nail into the fabric of our society when we neglect the children. When we fail our children, God, FORGIVE US FOR WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE DO! THE SECOND WORD
In Luke 23:43 after one of the criminals hanging beside Jesus asks him to go with him, Jesus says, "You will be with me in Paradise."
Wars encourage us to forget the humanity of our opponent. They harden us to the reality that all of us are created in God’s image and likeness. All people long to be free and to have the resources they need to lead fulfilling lives. Jesus did not judge the criminal hanging next to him. In fact, quite the opposite, he extended the grace of God to him. Come into the inner circle, be with me in paradise and know the love of God. Knowing the love of God is at the center of our call as Christians. Being conveyers of the love of God means that we rise above political rhetoric and look to the human hearts involved in a conflict.
Desperate people take desperate actions. Consider the scene, the innocent Christ hanging next to a guilty criminal. Yet, unlike some of his own disciples, the criminal recognized Jesus as Savior. Help us, Lord, not to shut out those who suffer, those who break the rules, and those who behave in ways we do not understand.
We hammer a nail in our relationships with others when we fail to acknowledge our common humanity, both its wonder and its capacity for harm. Blessed Lord, Forgive us when we become self-centered and fail to recognize the human need around us.
THE THIRD WORD
In John 19:26, Jesus is surrounded by his family and his beloved disciple and knowing that his death is near says, "Woman, Here is your Son Jesus." He was about to die a violent death, but thought about his mother. She would heartbroken and in need of care. He remembered his beloved disciple and knew that a grief shared is a grief lessened. We are called to witness to one another’s pain and be committed to journeying with others.
Our culture encourages us to run from pain and loss. We rarely make time process change in our midst, yet, changes happen constantly. Jesus, remind us, as you did your beloved disciple and mother, that you know our challenges in coping with change.
Love is the basis of family not biology. We, each of us, have here, among us, people for whom we are family and people who are family to us. Let us embrace one another. We hammer a nail into our community when we forget that Christ gave us another as resources of support and love. Forgive us when we fail to journey with our brothers and sisters.
THE FOURTH WORD
In both Mark and Matthew's Passion stories as he breathes his last words Jesus says, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"
Surely, there has been a moment in your life when you were convinced that God has forsaken you. Jesus, hanging on the cross, allows momentarily for his human doubt to express itself. It is not bad to doubt. What does it mean to have faith if doubt is not allowed to exist? If there is no doubt, there would be no need for faith.
Take us back, Lord, to the moment's when we have felt forsaken. Did we cry out to you? Jesus did and it was an act of faith to know that he could express his doubt. You are with us in all things. You are with us in the difficult questions and the elusive answers.
Faith is a journey not a destination. You are the guide but we must let you know when we have lost our way. We hammer another nail in our faith journey when we lock out the tough questions, the room for doubt and the human need for reassurance. Forgive us when we falter from the faith that your love is bigger than any doubt we might have.
THE FIFTH WORD
In John 19:28 Jesus, in order to fulfill scripture said, "I Thirst." Thirst, a need for a refreshing drink of water, is familiar to all of us. We enjoy a wide variety of options that are readily accessible to us when we are thirsty. Unfortunately, for much of the world, the same wealth is not a reality. Thirst is a persistent sensation, one that signals that survival is at stake.
Jesus expresses a human vulnerability, the need for a drink. He is met with a bitter shock…something sour and nasty. Do we, in our day–to-day lives, meet human vulnerability with a life-giving and refreshing response or a bitter and death dealing response?
We thirst spiritually for closeness to God and connection with one another. We are called, as a Christian community, to dip into the well that will never run dry for one another. We are called to pay attention to the thirsty among us.
We hammer another nail into our connection with God and one another when we fail to provide the living water. Forgive us when we fail to meet the thirsting brother or sister with a ladle of fresh water, your unconditional love.
THE SIXTH WORD
In John 19:30 after he received the wine he bowed his head and said, "It is Finished !"
“It is finished!” How it must have felt to know in that moment that his work was done! Are we focused on our own unique divine purpose? Will we be able to say, “It is finished.” Do we know from our insides out that God has a mission for each one of us?
Jesus taught us that life is about the evolution of a soul towards God, not simply, about the physical beating of a heart. There is surrender and completeness being expressed by Christ, an assurance that his life and death would mean something long after he was gone.
Only when we live in communion with God through prayer and meditation can we become clear about our divine purpose. “It is finished” becomes a milestone, a goal, rather than a statement of defeat. Life has meaning only in relationship to death. It is the presence of absence that brings us closer to the spiritual truths with which God shapes our lives. We hammer a nail into the meaning of our lives when we fail to determine our divine purpose. Forgive us when we turn away from you and deny the divine purpose of our lives.
THE SEVENTH WORD
In Luke 23:46 Jesus uttered his last words, "Into your Hands I Commend my Spirit."
When a terminally ill person asked me to explain death I struggled to find the words. I prayed that Christ’s spirit, the words of “into your hands I commend my Spirit” guided my reflection: DYING
Death is a transition from a physical state to a spiritual one. We, who consider ourselves Christian, are given all of the spiritual tools we need to move from one plane to another. Death means many “goodbyes.” We say “goodbye” to loved ones, the simple pleasures of life as we experience them in our bodies, the daily tasks and challenges of life. When we are focused on “the goodbyes” we are firmly planted in life.
Death is also a “divine hello” experience. We can enter into the embrace of God in a way that we can’t really imagine. We are saying “hello” to life everlasting without the limitations of our bodies, and life’s struggles. In death, we enter the light of Christ; we know the peace of the Holy Spirit and the love of God. We live beyond words, in an unknown zone. For most of us, as we teeter above the abyss of death, we can only imagine ourselves falling into it. The spiritual flight that is about to take place escapes us. We are still focused on what we know about this life. Death defies logic and physics, material reality and pain. We slip, ever so gently, into a consciousness of God that overshadows all previous experiences of God. There is an everlasting peace and freedom that we know awaits us. In this irrefutable spiritual truth we find our peace and strength.We hammer a nail into the meaning of our lives if we fail to greet you face to face, Lord.
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