Jesus Gave Himself as a Sacrifice for Us

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father, forgive them because they do not understand what they are doing (Luke 23:34). Through the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross, as atonement and redemption for human sins, the blood of forgiveness was shed on all humanity. He first forgave the crucifiers and the scoffers.

And as a priest who offered himself as a sacrifice of forgiveness and reconciliation, he raised the prayer of invocation and intercession to his heavenly Father: “Father, forgive them, because they do not understand what they do” (Luke 23:34).

1. With the Greatness of His Love, Jesus Justified their Sin Through their Ignorance.

“They don’t understand what they’re doing.” Ignorance reduces their responsibility for sin and opens avenues for repentance. Thus, he gave a lesson to everyone that ignorance is the basis of every mistake a person commits. Because the administration works according to the dictates of reason. It is necessary to educate the mind with the truth to escape from ignorance.

Peter, in turn, justified the Lord’s killing by the ignorance of the people when he addressed them, saying: “You denied the Holy and Righteous One, and sought pardon for a murderer. So you killed the Lord of life, but God raised him from the dead, and we are witnesses to that… I know that you did that out of ignorance” (Acts 3: 14, 15, 17).

And the apostle Paul spoke of his personal ignorance of the mistake he committed in his past life. He wrote to his disciple Timothy: I, who was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, and violent, but I received mercy, because I was doing it out of ignorance, as I was not a believer, so the grace of our Lord overflowed upon me with Faith and love in Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 1:13-14).

Jesus Gave Himself as a Sacrifice for Us

2. Man misses out due to his ignorance of great divine truths and deeds.

This means that ignorance is a responsibility and a grave mistake in itself. It is not permissible to fall into it or stay in its condition. Rather, it is necessary to seek knowledge, educate the mind, and enlighten the conscience.

The Apostolic Exhortation The Church in the Middle East invites us to assume our responsibility as Christians, original and authentic citizens of our eastern countries. We are to proclaim the Gospel of God, the Gospel of truth, love, and peace, the gospel of universal brotherhood and justice among people.

The darkness of ignorance plunges our East into the darkness of violence, war, and terrorism. Let us have in us the zeal of the Apostle Paul and the spirit of responsibility that he expressed by saying: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.” 1) Cor 9:16). (See the Apostolic Exhortation, paragraphs 85-86).

3. The ignorant mockers of Jesus were of three classes.

The first is the group of passers-by who despised him for his inability: “O you who tear down the temple and build it in three days, save yourself and come down from the cross.” (Mark 15:29-30) But they did not know that at that hour the destruction of the temple was accomplished, and the new temple was being formed. The sign was that upon the death of Jesus, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom (Matthew 27:

51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). The splitting of the veil means two things: the first, the end of the era of the old temple and its sacrifices and symbols, and the beginning of achieving reconciliation with God through the crucified Christ.

The second is the openness of crossing to God, whose infinite love was manifested in his divine Son, who was crucified because the veil of the inner temple used to veil God’s face from the people. The archbishop used to enter it once a year.:

4. The second category consists of members of the Council.

Priests, scribes, and elders. These were mocking and saying: “He saved others, and he cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel, so let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God, so let him save him now, if he is satisfied with him. He said: “I am the Son of God” (Matthew 27). :41-43)

But they did not understand that in his outward inability it was revealed that he was the Son of God. In their sarcasm, the truth of the mystery of Jesus Christ was revealed. And God Himself would save him in a way different from his descending from the cross. And in the Resurrection, He would free him from death and proclaim his divine sonship.

5. The third category consists of the two thieves who were crucified with him.

They were criminals, but Jesus was innocent. One of them realized the truth of Jesus’ innocence and realized that he reveals the face of God and that he is the Son of God. He prayed: “Jesus, remind me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 32:42). And he realized, through the cause of his crucifixion, written above his head: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19), that he is in fact the real awaited King.

So he asked to be near him in his glory, as he is near him on the cross. In fact, the inscription “King of the Jews” is a declaration of his kingship before world history. Jesus was raised on the throne of the cross, and he will draw everyone to him with his infinite love from the place of his greatest gift of himself. Jesus Gave Himself as a Sacrifice for Us

Jesus’ answer: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) shows that Jesus knew that he was entering directly into fellowship with the Father, and could promise the thief of the right to Paradise from the hour ago. He knew that he would return man to the paradise from which he had fallen, to that fellowship with God where man’s true happiness is.

This good thief became in the history of Christianity the image of hope, the comforting certainty that God’s mercy can be obtained at the last moment; The certainty that, after a lost and sinful life, prayer for the goodness of God remains effective. We pray in the liturgy: “You who answered the thief, you also gave me hope.”:

6. Behind the ignorance of crusaders and mockers

His bride, the Church, was born from Christ’s pain and death on the cross as if she had been taken away from him, just as God took Eve from the rib of a sleeping Adam (Genesis 2:21-22).

The Church was represented in the person of the “woman” Mary, and her sons and daughters in the person of John: “Woman, this is your son! Oh John, this is your mother.” (John 19:26-27). The church was actually born when a soldier stabbed him with a spear, while he was dead. So blood and water ran from him, a sign of baptism and sacrifice.

The woman – the church John will see in his vision “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a wreath of twelve stars, and she is pregnant and cries from the pain of labor.” A large dragon appeared.

God saved her with his care. The dragon became angry and went to fight the offspring of the woman who keeps the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus Christ. He stood on the sand of the sea” (Revelation 12: 1-18). It is the Church, with its sons, daughters, and institutions, persecuted by the dragon of evil, but “the powers of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16: 18).

7. When Jesus reached the height of his love for the world, by giving Himself as a sacrifice

By making reconciliation between God and people, and by ensuring the continuity of His eternal saving presence in His Mystical Body which is the Church, and by making Mary His Mother in the flesh, the Mother of grace for the Church.

He said: I love to the end (John 19:30), I love to the end (John 19:30) 13). : 1). And at three o’clock in the afternoon, he prayed the prayer of Psalm 31: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:6; Mark 31:6) and gave up the spirit.

Jesus’ death on the cross is a cosmic and liturgical event. It is a cosmic event, because the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and some of the dead rose, according to the evangelists’ narration.

And it was a liturgical event, because the centurion who oversaw the crucifixion believed and confessed, saying: “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39). His faith was the beginning of the church’s openness to the pagans.

Thus, starting from the Cross, the Lord wants to gather all people into a new community, the universal Church. And at the hour when Jesus died, the Passover lambs that had no bones were sacrificed in the temple, according to the Law of Moses (see Exodus 12:46). Jesus appears the true, pure, and complete Passover lamb, for whom no bone was broken, but was stabbed with a spear in his heart, and forgiveness ran out to the world with the new life.

He is in fact “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), as foretold by John the Baptist, following his baptism in the Jordan River. To Him, we raise our thoughts and our hearts, seeking from His love the forgiveness of our sins, and our reconciliation with God, self, and every human being.

To Him, we prostrate and give thanks, shouting: We worship you, O Christ, and we bless you. For with your cross you have redeemed the world.” Amen. (Google Translate)

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