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Luke 23:34
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do
not know what they are doing."
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December
20
Forgiveness of Christ
Jesus taught a lot about forgiveness. He
said that we are not to forgive seven times but
77 times or seventy times seven. Jesus
told us not to retaliate when someone strikes us
but to turn the other cheek.
Of course Jesus set the example for forgiveness
when dying on the cross. He asked for
forgiveness for those who had persecuted Him and
crucified Him.
In the Lord's Prayer Jesus teaches us how to
pray. We are told to pray, "Forgive us our
debts as we also have forgiven our debtors."
To pray this prayer means to be forgiven in the
way that we forgive others.
If we are unwilling to forgive others, we have
no right to ask God to forgive us. God has
forgiven us of all of our sins. We have no
right to hold something over someone who has
done us wrong.
Of course not only did Jesus set the example of
forgiveness, He made forgiveness possible in the
first place. Without Jesus' death and
resurrection we have no right to ask for
forgiveness. But because of it we need to
follow Jesus' example and forgive others even
when it is hard to do so. |
