Honestly, there are some things here that are difficult to understand for many of us. Just how can hate penetrate so deeply that, even as someone hangs, suffocating and in significant pain, people could still feel disdain enough to mock them? Even if we try and imagine our worst enemy in such a place, would you mock them? Maybe you would. Let’s suppose they hurt your child or parent or someone else you loved. Then maybe we could imagine such mockery.
But we don’t know that Jesus did any such hurt toward anyone. Anyone mocking him in his pain would really only be doing it out of jealousy, religious fervor, or some other deep, dark human corner of the soul.
So we are capable of such things, even if we can’t imagine it. In our current state of being, perhaps it would be good to put measures in our lives to prevent such hate.
Perspective.
Wisdom.
Forbearance.
Holiness.
Love.
Matthew 27:32-44
As they were going out, they found Simon, a man from Cyrene. They forced him to carry his cross. When they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place, they gave Jesus wine mixed with vinegar to drink. But after tasting it, he didn’t want to drink it. After they crucified him, they divided up his clothes among them by drawing lots. They sat there, guarding him. They placed above his head the charge against him. It read, “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” They crucified with him two outlaws, one on his right side and one on his left.
Those who were walking by insulted Jesus, shaking their heads and saying, “So you were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, were you? Save yourself! If you are God’s Son, come down from the cross.”
In the same way, the chief priests, along with the legal experts and the elders, were making fun of him, saying, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. He’s the king of Israel, so let him come down from the cross now. Then we’ll believe in him. He trusts in God, so let God deliver him now if he wants to. He said, ‘I’m God’s Son.’” The outlaws who were crucified with him insulted him in the same way.
Prayer
God,
Keep me from hate. I mean, I don’t want others to hate me, but even more, I don’t want to hate others. So help me, God.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.