Forgiveness From The Cross

Last updated on: April 15, 2022 at 2:49 am by Henry Karlson

Forgiveness From The Cross 2022-04-15T02:49:17-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

No Artist Listed: The Crucifixion / pxfuel

“The logos is about to say something, and I say that Christ sought God with the hands, on behalf of the whole cosmos, stretching them on the wood and making them fast so that, at that time, he would pray to him with stretching hands and when the whole body and soul were stretched together, not ever the body, but over the whole cosmos, on behalf of the whole cosmos.” [1] The Logos, Jesus, spoke of forgiveness from the cross; let us listen and understand what he meant when he said: “And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’” (Lk. 23:34a RSV). We are accustomed to think that he said this about the soldiers and all others who worked to crucify him, and of course, he did. But he said this for more than them, but for all of us. We are all connected and united together in our sins, and the soldiers only represented and manifested that combined evil. And so on the cross, Jesus emptied himself in such a way to let humanity express its worst side, its sin, its unlove, its injustice and to do so, showing the height of its malice, thrusting the full fury of its hate upon him.

We cannot separate the cross from the rest of the incarnation. We should see it as a sign and expression of the incarnation itself. For with the incarnation we have the self-emptying of the Word of God, the Logos, Jesus. Jesus embraced such self-emptying, such kenosis, so as to reveal his love for us and all creation, a love which would have him go as far as to death and hell itself.

Humanity as a whole was ignorant of all it had done. Often, though we did things in the world which we thought were good and just, we often embraced some evil in the midst of such activity, allowing the good which we intended to become corrupted. In this manner, even when we desired to do what was good, our ignorance allowed us to embrace some evil and harm others or ourselves with our sins. Jesus embraced humanity with his love; he willing accepted whatever we would do to him, and this is what we find his words from the cross really mean. In the middle of his passion, in the middle of all the pain and suffering he was experiencing, he expressed his heart’s desire for us by speaking of our forgiveness.

Having come to know what he said from the cross, having come to see the love which he had, a love which allowed him to go as far as hell in order to show us that nothing we could do would have him no longer love us, we no longer need to continue in our ignorance. We should no longer act in and with the unlove which led to his death, the unlove which only leads to pain and suffering (for ourselves as well as with others). Instead, we should embrace love and join in with Jesus, becoming representatives his love who, with grace, transform the world and make it better without letting the evil of unlove corrupt what we do.

In this way, it can be said what happened on and with the cross encapsulate Jesus’ earthly message, making it the culmination of his earthly ministry. Throughout his preaching, he told us various ways to change, to do better, to live our lives following the example of God. But with his willingness to embrace the cross he showed us that he was not just telling us what to do without living out those words himself, but rather, he lived them out to the fullest. He gave us himself as an example, showing that what he preached can be and should be put into action:

You have heard that it was said, `An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you (Matt. 5:38-42 RSV).

Jesus did not resist when he faced the hate of sin manifested in those who desired to have him executed; rather, he went with them, letting them show forth their malice. Along the way, unlove, the evil which contaminates and destroys humanity, indeed, the evil which contaminates and destroys creation, did all it could do to him, ridiculing and dishonoring him the best it could before taking his life away. In this way, evil shows us what it desires to do whenever it finds some good getting in its way. The prophet Isaiah indicated that this would happen, that the righteous one would be beaten and abused while he would not strike back at his abusers: “The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting (Isa. 50:5-6 RSV).

Jesus, in his humanity, lived the just life, showing what is expected for us is indeed possible, and in that way, prepared the way not only for his own vindication (in the resurrection which was to come), but ours as well (because we share the same humanity with him, our humanity is vindicated in and through him; he has opened up the way so we can join with him and receive that vindication for ourselves). And in this way, because we were weak, Christ died for us to vindicate us, to vindicate creation before God and show how just and good it is in its nature. All the enmity between God and creation, established by what we have done (and so, not by God), is overturned by Christ; though we acted as enemies and treated Christ with our unlove, he still loved us and died for us, allowing us to do all we want to do to him while forgiving it all. With that forgiveness, we do not have to be stuck with the consequences of our hate. We can transcend them, and in such a way, we can join ourselves with Christ in the glory of his resurrection. “Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation” (Rom. 5:9-11 RSV). Truly, Jesus on the cross works to undermine our evil, and in doing so, overcome the consequences of such evil, poetically called the wrath of God, so that we – and all creation – can have our evil forgiven. That is, now, thanks to what he has done, we can find our natural friendship and union with God restored and made greater than it ever was.

[1] Origen, Homilies on the Psalms: Codex Monacensis Graecus 314. Trans. Joseph W. Trigg (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 2020), 243-4 [Homily 1 on Psalm 76].

Stay in touch! Like A Little Bit of Nothing on Facebook.
If you liked what you read, please consider sharing it with your friends and family!

Previous Post

April 14, 2022

Holy Thursday And The Event Of The Mystical Supper

Next Post

April 17, 2022 Death And Sin Have Been Overcome

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abraham abuse Aesthetics AI Aliens Ambrose Ancestors and Everything Andrew Angels Animals Anne Anthony Antisemitism apologetics Apophatic Apostle John Aquinas Artificial Intelligence Asanga Ascension Asceticism Assumption Atheism Attachment Augustine Authority Avarice Balthasar Baptism Beauty Biden birthright citizenship Bishops Black History Books Buddhism Bulgakov Byzantine Calendar C.S. Lewis Calcidius Catholic Catholicism Catholicism Celibacy Charity Chastity children Chrismation Christ Christmas Christology Church Climate Change Common Good Communion Confession Confirmation Conscience Constantine conventions conversion councils Covid Creation Cross Dead Death Death Penalty Debate Deception Demagogues Demons Desert Monks Desert Mothers Desire destruction development Dialogue Dignity Dionsyius Dionysius Discipline Diversity Division Doctor Who doctrine dogma Dormition Dualism Easter Easter Series Ecumenical Councils Ecumenism Education Election Empathy Environment Error Eschatology eschaton Eternity Ethics Eucharist Evangelism Eve Evil evolution Faeries Faith Fear femininity Ficino Florence Florensky Folktale Fools Forgiveness Freedom Future gender Gentile Gentiles Glory Gnostic God gods Good Samaritan Goodness Gospel Government Grace Great Fast Guns Hate healing Health Heaven Hell Hellenism Heresy Hierarchy Hildegard Hinduism History Holiness Holy Spirit Holy Week Hope Horror Human rights humanity Humility hypocrisy ICE icon icons Identification Identity Idol II Nicea Immigration incarnation Individualism Informal Reflections Inklings Intention Inter-Religious Interfaith Internet Interpretation Intrinsic evil Irenaeus Islam Israel Jacob Jerome Jesus Jews John Chrysostom John of Damascus John the Baptist Joseph Judaism justice Justification kenosis Kindnesss Kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven Law Law of Moses Lazarus Leaf by Niggle Lent Lenten Reflection Liberation Theology Lies Life Listen Literature Liturgy locutions Logic Logos Love Marriage Martyrs Mary Mass Maximos The Confessor Meanness Meditation Mercy Middle Path Migrants Mind Miracles Miriam Morals Moses Movies Music Muslims Myths Names Nationalism Native Americans New Year Nicea Nicholas Nothing Novatian Obedience Occam's Razor Ordination Origen Original Sin Orthodox orthopraxis Pagans Palamas Palm Sunday Paradise Paschaltide Paul Peace Pentecost person Peter piety PKD Plato pluralism Plurality Poem Poetry Poiltics Politics Poor Pope Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV Post Office Prayer Pride Pro-life Prodigal Son propaganda Prophecy Prophets Providence Putin Racism Reading Reason Reflection Refugees Relationships Religion Religion Series Religious Liberty Repent Republicans Rest Resurrection Rich Rites Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation Salvian Santa Science Scripture Self-Giving Sexuality Sibyl Sick Silence Sin Singlehood Social Justice Society Sodom Solovyov Speculations Spiritual Reflection St. Cyril of Alexandria St. Justin Martyr Suffering Sunday of the Paralytic Man Sunday of the Samaritan Woman Superhero Supreme Court Teaching Technology Thanksgiving The Father the Universe Theological Reflection Theology Theosis Theotokos Thomas Timaeus Time Tolerenace Tolkien Tradition Transfiguration Trinity Trump Truth Uncategorized Unity Universities USCCB Value Vatican II Vegetarian Vices Violence Virtue Vocations War Water Welcome Wisdom Womanhood Women Work World View Worship Writing Zacchaeus

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz