11/1- Forgiveness and All Saints

11/1- Saturday  Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Bonhoeffer: “Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother.  Looking at the Cross of Jesus, he knows the human heart.  He knows how utterly lost it is in sin and weakness…and he also knows that it is accepted in grace and mercy.”

Thoughts: This is just an amazing statement.  In some ways those who crucified Christ knew they were doing wrong.  Jesus was an innocent man (declared so by Pilate the judge).  Yet they perhaps did not fully know the evil they were doing.  In some ways, we never understand the full implications of the evil we do.  The ripples in the stream run wide and long.  The gracious thing is that God is able to forgive more evil than we can comprehend.  The amazing thing is that Jesus is willing to do this work of forgiveness even in the midst of our giving him torture and pain and sorrow.
       The communion of the saints is possible because of the grace and forgiveness of Christ  On this All Saints Day, we recognize that we will be with all the saints in heaven not because we deserve and earned our way there, but because He forgave us.  The great news is that Christ forgives us even when we know what we are doing- as long as we look to Him in faith to forgive us.  He also forgives us when we do not realize the full extent of our sin.  It is because He forgives that we can be one with each other.  It is His forgiveness that elicits forgiveness from us.  

Prayer: Lord, may I follow your wonderful example of forgiveness.  May I believe in the power to forgive.