"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do.''—Luke 23:34.
Many a death-struggle has been made to save a friend. A
dying Savior gathers up His expiring breath to plead for His foes! At the
climax of His own woe, and of human ingratitude—man-forsaken, and
God-deserted—His faltering voice mingles with the shout of His
murderers—"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!" Had the
faithless Peter been there, could he have wondered at the reply to a former
question—"Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive
him—until seven times?" Jesus said unto him, "I say not unto you, Until seven
times; but, until seventy times seven," (Matt. 18:21, 22).
Superiority to insult and disgrace, with some, proceeds
from a callous and indifferent temperament—a cold, phlegmatic, stoical
insensibility, alike to kindness or unkindness. It was not so with Jesus. The
tender sensibilities of His holy nature rendered Him keenly sensitive to
ingratitude and injury, whether this was manifested in the malice of
undisguised enmity, or the treachery of trusted friendship. Perhaps to a noble
nature the latter of these is the more deeply wounding. Many are inclined to
forgive an open and unmasked antagonist, who are not so willing to forget or
forgive heartless faithlessness, or unrequited love. But see, too, in this
respect, the conduct of the blessed Redeemer! Mark how He deals with His own
disciples who had basely forsaken Him and fled, and that, too, in the hour He
most needed their sympathy! No sooner does He rise from the dead than He
hastens to disarm their fears and to assure them of an unaltered and
unalterable affection. "Go tell my brethren," is the first message He
sends; "Peace be unto you," is the salutation at the first meeting;
"Children!" is the word with which He first greets them on the shores of
Tiberias. Even Joseph, (the Old Testament type and pattern of generous
forgiveness,) when he makes himself known to his brethren, recalls the bitter
thought, "Whom you sold into Egypt." The true Joseph, when He reveals
Himself to His disciples, buries in oblivion the memory of bygone
faithlessness. He meets them with a benediction. He leaves them
at His ascension with the same—"He lifted up His hands and blessed them!"
Reader! follow in all this the spirit of your Lord and
Master. In rising from the study of His holy example, seek to feel that with
you there should be no such name, no such word, as enemy! Harbor no
resentful thought, indulge in no bitter recrimination. Surrender yourself to
no sullen fretfulness. Let "the law of kindness" be in your heart. Put the
best construction on the failings of others. Make no injurious comments on
their frailties; no uncharitable insinuations. "Consider yourself, lest you
also be tempted." When disposed at any time to cherish an unforgiving spirit
towards a brother, think, if your God had retained His anger forever, where
would you have been? If He, the Infinite One, who might have spurned
you forever from His presence, has had patience with you, and forgiven you
all, will you, on account of some petty grievance which your calmer
moments would pronounce unworthy of a thought, indulge in the look of cold
estrangement, the unrelenting word, or unforgiving deed? "If any man has a
quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you."