Bear the cross of forgiveness

By Daniel Francis

A most powerful sermon was delivered at my home parish of Holy Cross, Santa Cruz two Sundays ago that had me so filled with the Spirit that I started writing this article on my phone while seated in my car before I left the church carpark. I think I may need to start walking with a notebook to church.

In the sermon, extensive details were delivered on the torturous nature of crucifixion. This information was not new to me, but it can be easy to be de-sensitised to what is right in front of you when you see it so often. We look at the statues and images of Jesus being crucified but we do not truly process what He went through.

I listened to the details as though it was the first time I had ever heard it. Both His shoulders were dislocated so that His arms could be fully stretched out as nails were driven into His hands, then His feet.

When the cross is placed upright the pain must be excruciating but that was not the true nature of the torture. To take one single breath Jesus had to pull Himself up to properly inhale. This meant that He had to pull on His hands which were fashioned to the cross with nails, press down on His feet which were also fashioned to the cross by nails, and pull from His dislocated shoulders. All for one breath.

Why am I bringing all this up? It never struck me before until I heard it in that sermon but even through all that excruciating pain and how poorly Jesus was treated His first words were, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

He bore the pain to pull Himself up to take His first breath to ask for forgiveness on our behalf. That is such a powerful act and it struck me how much love He has for us, and it got me thinking.

I thought back to the last time that someone wronged me. How upset I was at that moment. How nothing that they could say would make me want to forgive them. Their disregard for me made me think of the worst for them.

I then thought about how much Jesus suffered but He was still able in the moment to take a position of forgiveness. Yet what was done to Him was 1000 times worse than what was done to me. It is quite thought-provoking. No?

If Jesus can forgive in that moment, then what is it really for us to forgive those who wrong us?

Yes, they may know what they are doing but as people of faith, we know better. We are called to take the road less travelled and wouldn’t you know, the road less travelled takes more resilience.

It is not easy to forgive someone when they intentionally wrong you. It is not easy to let go of the hate that you harbour for them with what they did to you. But as much as you may think that the act of forgiveness is for them, it is more for you.

When you forgive, you are releasing all that pent-up anger. You have broken the chains of control that this person now has over you because you are not hung up on what they did to you.

That anger tends to act as an anchor tying us down to what was done to us. It slowly turns into poison and rots us from the inside out without us even noticing.

Follow the lead of Jesus and bear the cross of forgiveness in these situations.

When I get into these situations now, I think about what Jesus had to experience on the cross. I think about that first painful breath and what He chose to say at that moment.

It helps me to take a position of forgiveness and I would urge you to do the same the next time you find yourself in a position where you are harbouring ill will and cannot find it within yourself to forgive.

Daniel Francis is a millennial helping other millennials. He is a two-time author of the books The Millennial Mind and The Millennial Experience, and an entrepreneur. Over the past four years, he has served as a Personal Development Coach whose work targets Millennials and helps them tap into their full potential. He is also a self-publishing coach and has guided hundreds on self-publishing their book successfully.

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