ODE TO IRRESPONSIBILITY

ODE TO IRRESPONSIBILITY…

Adam ate the apple he ought not to eat. 

Called to account, he pointed at Eve.

"I did not do it my Lord, Eve did!"

Heaven’s Gate was shut unless they repent.

Eve, why? Will Eve be penitent?

"I did not do it my Lord, the serpent did!"

To Adam and Eve’s descendants the Holy One showed the Way.

But they hated, rejected and murdered the Way!

"We didn’t slay You dear Lord," they insist; "the prophecies did!"

This day shalt thou be in Paradise

This is another proclamation of the Son of God from the cross on that unforgettable Friday afternoon when two thieves were crucified along with Him. One of them said to Christ, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us! The second rebuked the first saying: Do you not fear God? ...we are receiving the due reward of our deeds, but Jesus has done nothing wrong. This penitent thief then pleaded: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Let's label them the wise and foolish thieves. I am of course drawing here from the Parable of Jesus on the wise & foolish virgins!

We can liken the 2 thieves to the two types of believers on earth today. All are thieves in that all have sinned. We are all in need of salvation and redemption.

Just like the foolish thief, a part of present day believers do not have the true faith. Such believers hold that Jesus can do the unnatural for example - suddenly coming down physically and unaided from the cross. What these people desire or better said, what they demand from their Saviour are arbitrary acts they call “miracles”. They expect to be delivered suddenly from all kinds of earthly difficulties that they themselves have brought about through their stubbornness and reckless behaviour. These types of believers always approach the Most High with a shopping list whenever they pray to Him. Some have even stepped over all boundaries by attempting to “command” their Creator, asking Him to prove Himself by doing this or that for them! This attitude reminds one of the insults of the foolish thief who said “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us”.

The wise thief on the other hand (epitomising the attitude of a true believer) recognised humbly and declared openly that he was in the wrong and was paying for his wrongful behaviour. He did not demand any quick fix to his problem nor seek a temporary earthly advantage: e.g. possible release from his pains on the cross just like the expectation of the foolish thief. Instead, he longed for the Heavenly Kingdom reminding us of one of the admonitions of Jesus that we seek first the Kingdom of Heaven. Similarly, true believers recognising that they are responsible for their thoughts words and deeds continually strive to give purity to their thoughts. They bear within them the firm volition for what is good.

In the end, the foolish thief got no visible advantage while the wise thief got a firm promise of a place in paradise! One can decide the path to follow. It is either the path of those who make self-serving earthly demands and expect arbitrary actions from the Creator, or the path of repentance that pleads humbly for God's forgiveness and strength for spiritual ascent. May we have the strength to choose the path of repentance which leads to salvation and redemption.  Amen

FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO (addendum)

Let it be said that the crucifixion was an outrage against the Father Who sent Jesus. That was what necessitated this prayer.

You may now ask: If the crucifixion does not redeem us then how is man saved?  This question takes us to the meaning of the Cross. While the type of cross used for torturing Jesus remains an executioner’s tool and has nothing to do with the redemption of mankind, the real Cross of Redemption is an equal armed cross. It is the sign and the living form of Divine Truth! The Cross of Truth stood behind Jesus radiantly during His life on earth. It clung to Him inwardly and outwardly in a living form because He was a Bringer of Divine Truth and came from the Truth. Even some of us have seen paintings that show the Son of God with the equal armed Cross shining around His head. Where this Radiant Cross is, there also is Truth, since the Cross and the Truth are one.

Furthermore, since man can only be saved and come to know about his Creator through the Truth, it follows that the Cross of Truth is also the Cross of Redemption. Truth comes from God, His Holy Word is Truth and if we adhere to this Word of God or this Truth, we will be redeemed out of our present derangement and error. The Truth frees us from the shackles of sin and leads us back to our Creator. Our salvation and redemption therefore lies solely in our accepting and abiding by the Truth.

For that reason the Son of God told men to take up the Cross and follow Him, which means to accept the Truth and to live accordingly! This simple and clear instruction has been wrongly interpreted to mean that following Christ also implies that we are to embrace suffering and that suffering is part of serving the Almighty. This doctrine of suffering is a fallacy desired neither by God nor the Son of God. In fact, in the scriptures we read words to the effect that Jesus called out to men who are heavy laden to come to him to find rest but not to add to their burden.

What is required from us therefore is to accept the Truth as it issues from Christ and adhere to His Teaching faithfully.  We would then have taken up the Cross which will lead us to joy instead of suffering. Ultimately, the way of the Redeeming Cross of Truth (which in all simplicity means obedience to God’s Laws) leads to our salvation and redemption!

  

FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO (PART 3 & CONCLUSION)

In conclusion, please permit me to share with you some of the things that happened during the crucifixion. Some people present at the event mocked and laughed maliciously uttering insults such as - Now prove that you are the Son of God come down from the cross – If you are the Son of God, help yourself and so on.   As they were saying this, unseen hands were chaining them in spirit to this world. Many of them were thereafter compelled to reincarnate several times on earth stigmatized and thus clearly branded for all discerning ones to see!    

One notable example of this phenomenon was recorded some decades ago. This was Therese Neumann who lived in a part of Europe. At a point in her life she developed stigmata. This means that she bore on her body wound marks similar to those borne by Jesus during His crucifixion. The wounds on the lady bleeds and she was sometimes drenched in her own blood while she lay on her bed in agony. The pains are aggravated when medicament are applied to the wounds. Many people came from far and wide on pilgrimage to where she stayed. During these periods she hears in spirit talk about the crucifixion in dialects of the language of that time to the amazement of language experts.

If you seek genuinely perhaps you will come to the recognition that the soul concerned here had been on earth before. She was in the past one of those that reviled Christ as He suffered on the cross. She had been permitted to come to the earth this time to settle accounts. Through reincarnation this soul was given another opportunity to recognize her faults and to ask for forgiveness, this being the only way to deliverance!

FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO (PART 2)

One may ask: why did Jesus utter this intercessory prayer? A plea for forgiveness earnestly directed to the Almighty is only relevant where a sin has been committed. Of course the execution of the sinless is what was happening at the time the prayer was uttered. Such wanton recklessness cannot be an act of righteousness or an act of worship or a sacrifice to God Who is Justice Himself. An earthly judge will not knowingly order the execution of an innocent man in the place of an offender and set the real offender free.    Neither will the Almighty Father demand such an abomination as a way to appease Himself - the Holiest! Since there will be absolutely no need to forgive a deed that is ordained by God, therefore the statement is a prayer to intercede for the shedding of the blood of the Son of God!

After the words “Father forgive them” comes the extremely severe words: “for they know not what they do”. These ominous words call for deep reflection. It means that if the people really know the full implications of laying their wicked and sinful hands on the Son of God, they would not have dared to act in such an irresponsible manner! It shows that what was being done was wrong and nothing but a grievous crime!

Being the Personification of Love, Jesus did not wish to hold this crime against the blind and wicked agitators. So He prayed for their forgiveness. However, while Jesus can forgive and pardon the wrongs done against Him, the Laws of God keeps on working and affects all who rejected the Teachings of Christ. The delivery of His Message of Truth from His Father is His real Mission!  For humanity as a whole, the rejection of Christ and His Mission has brought the results manifesting in the current world happenings. The guilt of Golgotha is now being resolved in the World Judgement currently in full swing! The effects of the Judgement is reflected in the present day confusion, frequent wars, riots, the arms race, political misunderstandings, economic difficulties, the unbelievable fate of individuals and masses, previously unheard of crimes, new diseases, the natural catastrophes and the unusual atmospheric conditions and temperatures across the globe!

FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO (PART 1)

When you ask most people who know about Jesus concerning His Mission, what you will be told in one form or the other is that He came to the earth to die for the sins of mankind. If one probes further they may explain that mankind have sinned against God and because the wages of sin is death, Jesus came to die in the place of sinners. The crucifixion of Jesus is explained as a propitiatory sacrifice meant to appease God. In fact, many seriously believe that man’s salvation is predicated on the sacrificial death of Christ! The adept will point to scriptures and interpret such to the effect that the Almighty Himself made all the provision for this sacrificial death of His Son as the best that can be pleasing and acceptable to Him!

This thinking which has prevailed for over 2000 years is questionable in the face of the statement made by Jesus as He was nailed to the cross. He said “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

The words “forgive them” can only imply that the event under reference is wrong at the least. But in reality the actions of that momentous Friday were sinful and an outrage against the Father Who sent Jesus. The whole process that led to the crucifixion was a show of hatred to a Person Who is Love Himself, mockery of justice culminating in a most gruesome murder! Love and Justice are two attributes of the Most High but the mindless hatred leading up to the mockery and trial of Jesus all show an opposition of men to God’s Love and Justice! By the acts of the majority of people, mankind shunned the Love that inclined to the earth in the Person of the Son of God. 

THE LAST WORDS OF THE SAVIOUR ON THE CROSS

As recorded in The Bible, the following were the Last Words spoken by Jesus as He endured the gruesome hours at Golgotha:

1.      Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).

2.      Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).

3.      Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26-27).

4.      Eli Eli lama sabachthani? ("My God, My God, why have you forsaken     

       me?”)  (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).

5.      I thirst (John 19:28).

6.      It is finished (John 19:30)

7.      Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46).

At the time of this special Easter Season, it may be a good time to contemplate these words. It may well be that we have taken these momentous words with apathy over time, not really recognising that they have deeper meanings and have tremendous impact from the moment they were spoken up to this moment!

I dare say that the very first one for example negates the popular belief about the significance of the crucifixion. However, these words point to the real Mission of Christ, His suffering in the hands of ungrateful men and the way that leads to salvation.