From the Desk of Valson Abraham

The true character of a person is most revealed in what he says and does in a crisis.

Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus helped people when they were helpless. By emptying Himself of glory and becoming human, Jesus became helpless on the cross.

Now, he was despised and rejected. His own people spurned Him. Even the religious and moral leaders who should have recognized His purity hated Him. Even His closest disciples (including Peter) deserted Him in His hour of need.

In India, people ignorant of Jesus’ story see these events unfold on the Jesus Film, leading up to His crucifixion, and they moan, weep and shriek in anger and despair. Instinctively, they know that a terrible injustice is taking place.

Up to now, these people have seen only goodness in Jesus. If anyone deserves the highest karma, or the right to lead His people, it is Jesus. But now, even the greatest moral leaders of the day demand the unjust death of a just man.

These repulsive facts make Jesus’ first words on the cross most astonishing to an Indian audience: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” For most Indian people raised to believe in karma, forgiveness is not even thinkable much less possible.

Jesus is placed between two thieves. Like the mob, one thief, deserving of death, mercilessly curses at Jesus, who is totally innocent.

Silently, Jesus bears this wretched humiliation until the other thief recognizes the absurdity of this situation. Probably uttering a profanity, the second thief rebukes the first thief. “We receive the due reward of our deeds,” he scolds him, “but this man has done nothing wrong.”

He turns to Jesus to say, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Even in His deep agony, Jesus recognizes the heart of repentance in this hell-bound thief and again utters unthinkable words of redemption: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

A third time, Jesus demonstrates His selfless love when He sees His mother, Mary, at the foot of the cross. His disciple, John, has overcome his cowardice to join Mary.

Concerned for the welfare of the one who obediently bore Him, only to now know the arrows of despair, He says to her, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He turns to John and says, “Behold your mother!” From that hour, we are told, John met Mary’s needs.

Only after He has looked to the needs of others does Jesus cry out the awful question we all face when life’s absurdities overwhelm us: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

None of us escapes the senseless trials of life. Neither did Jesus. As Isaiah said, “Surely He has borne our grief and carried our sorrows…He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Only once does the taunting mob speak the truth: “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself.” If Jesus had come off the cross (as He could have done) and struck His mockers dead (as He had every right to do,) every one of us would know only eternal death and hopelessness.

Even in this moment, when God turned His back on His Son, He was thinking of you and me.

What greater message does anyone have for the hopeless? Let us make sure they get that message.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray. Their prayer, popularly known as The Lord’s
Prayer, reveals how we should regard God and power and grace to accomplish
important things in our own lives and the lives of others.

The Lord’s Prayer also reveals us for who we are when Jesus prays, “Forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors.”

We all tend toward idolatry. We want to define God’s holiness in terms of our
own. We want to define heaven in terms of earth. We want to make our own kingdom
come in our own way and call it “heaven.” This habit silently creeps into all our lives
like weeds in a garden, devastating us and the lives of those who depend upon us.

That is why Jesus makes a place in His prayer to ask our heavenly Father for
forgiveness. We cannot experience the coming of God’s kingdom into our earthly lives
when we do not confess our sins before Him. Unconfessed sin and lack of repentance
block God from working His kingdom into our lives. Unconfessed sin prevents us from
experiencing His greatest blessings.

Because God is gracious to forgive us, He expects us to forgive others, sharing the
grace we receive from Him.

Jesus also knows our tendency to yield to temptation. Jesus’ prayer reminds us
that God never leads us into temptation, but He delivers us from evil. This may sound
simpleminded, but temptations are tempting. They are so attractive to us, we simply
cannot give them up on our own. Since they are beyond our power, we must depend
upon Him to deliver us from this evil. The fact that Jesus tells us to pray for this
deliverance means that He will do it.

In our pride and self-sufficiency, we often find it difficult to ask for help. This is
why we are reminded at the end of the Lord’s Prayer as at the beginning—everything
begins and ends with God. Just as the Lord’s Prayer begins with praise, it ends with
praise: “For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.”

Even as believers, we are inclined to say, “Mine is the kingdom, the power and the
glory.” Praise is not something that comes naturally to us. True praise does not involve
words merely uttered by our lips but by our hearts. True praise is learned progressively as
life’s lessons teach us the truth of what we say.

All true prayer recognizes God’s right to rule this earth. It recognizes God’s
right to rule our lives. It recognizes our need to submit to Him as king of our bodies,
our behavior, our plans, our church, our families, our work, our school and
our possessions.

All true prayer recognizes God’s right to extend His rule into every corner of the
earth and every corner of every heart. That is why we must continue to take the gospel
to those who are still trying to define God’s kingdom in their own way.

Millions of people in India yearn for God’s kingdom but do not yet know the
One who has made it available to them. Let us respond to God’s call to give them the
Good News.