1. Apparently powerless Lord

Today is the last Lord day of the March and the Passion Sunday Service concludes the church year. Today we read about execution of the Cross from the Gospel by Luke 23. Jewish authority arrested, judged and sentenced Jesus to death. So soldiers brought him into the place called the Skull (Golgotha in Aramaic) where crucifixion was carried out. They nailed wrists and feet of Jesus on a cross then raised it on the earth. Jewish leaders sneered at Jesus in that posture and ; - They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."(Luke 23:35)

Roman soldiers also mocked him ; - and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself."(Luke 23:37)

Besides ; - One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"(Luke 23:39)

Those sneering words had messages, ‘if you are the savior you must save yourself,’ or ‘a man who cannot save oneself could not be the savior.’ In short, they concluded that Jesus must not be the savior. From earthy point of view, a man who did not even try to save oneself was powerless or stupid.

In secular sense, the people had wanted to see a powerful savior in Jesus . He should have been a glorious and strongly armed king. He should have defeated enemies with military forces. He should have been a savior deserving respect and admiration due to his fighting power for splendid future. Jesus healing acts and divine power which scattered demons misled the crowd. They were also impressed by preeminent teachings of Jesus which sounded full of God’s breath. Thus, they believed that he would give them a comfortable living bases by using divine power. But Jesus rejected those thinkings.
In consequence, the crowd were disappointed strongly, even felt betrayed by him. So they decided to take revenge on Jesus. iIn short, they wanted to make him crucified. Seeing Jesus put on the cross ; - They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One."(Luke 23:35)

And we should admit that we are similar to them. We might be on their side there. Majority of us had come to church by looking for earthy satisfaction. But Jesus compels us to follow him by being burdened with weight of the Cross. And many of us might think that it is absurd to take the Cross instead of happiness. Therefore some left and others lost expectancy inside the church. This way, we might be among them who sneered at Jesus.

Nonetheless, facing the mocking crowd, Jesus prayed, ; - “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."(Luke 23:34)
Instead of cursing the people who brought Jesus to the Cross, he prayed God for their forgiveness! The fact confuses us. Why and how could he conduct that way? Was it possible because he was the Son of God ?, normally we think.

However the Bible does not conceal his prayers which reveal fear and pain of facing the Cross. ; - “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me;"(Luke 22:42a)

Even Jesus, the Son of God, was reluctant to undergo the harsh destine. But he finished the prayer with this ; - yet not my will, but yours be done.(Luke 22:42b)

But Jesus prayed, ‘If it is so, I am ready to obey God’s will, death of humiliation.’ Luke describes internal conflicts of Jesus at the crucial moment, ; - And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.(Luke 22:44)

He arrived to overcome such a harsh trial and prayed for forgiveness of his aggressors.

2. One insults at, the other seeks mercy

‘Father, forgive them’ provoked other two criminals’ opposing reactions. The first is ; - One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"(Luke 23:39) The man was looking for in vain immediate emancipation from painful situation. So he was disappointed by Jesus who could not realize it for him.

In contrast, the second one thought ; - “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” So he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."(Luke 23:42-43)

The sentence of death is a sort of declaration that the convicted is useless for the society. But Jesus’ answer implied that even though human society considered him to be worthless, his existence was precious for God. Because God accepts and loves all humans.

We won’t read the story as a third party, not practically being involved in. It is true that we did not commit crimes which deserve death execution. Nonetheless it is also true that all of us are destined to die someday. Sooner or later, we arrive at the ultimate moment, the death. Being put under the similar situation, two criminals sought different exits. The former looked for temporary emancipation from death. The latter aspired to mercy of God beyond upcoming death. All of us are being asked which attitude we choose. We come to church to find salvation. But the salvation should not be solutions for present problems. Even if we successfully get lid of existent pains we will never be free from death, the ultimate suffering.

3. Miracle on the place of the Cross

Today’s invocation verse is 1 Corinthians 1:18 ; - For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Jesus prayed God on the Cross, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ Though we also pray under painful burdens, our prayers are to be set free from personal sufferings. In contrast, Jesus’ prayer was aiming at forgiveness for his aggressors. And the forgiveness is to lead sinners to get aware of their sin, without concealing them. The expression, ‘They do not know what they are doing,’ is pointing the nature of sin up. When we see others committing sins, generally we try to correct them with accusation. But, by dying on the Cross, Jesus tried to awake them to accord redemption. Through all human history, such a prayer was never prayed before.

And the very prayer led two persons to the conversion. The first one was the man who was on another cross next to Jesus.
He said to Jesus ; - We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."(Luke 23:41)

The man might be one of rebels, or Zealots, who rose up against Romans. He might be arrested and accused for his revolutionary act. And he recognized at that crucial moment that it was against God’s will to use violence to obtain freedom. Because, even if it was carried under God’s name, violence is violence. And any kind of violence won’t generate good result before God’s eyes. The recognition led him to say, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.(Luke 23:42)

We see that the prayer of Jesus on the Cross gave birth to an authentic christian who witnessed to Jesus. And Luke tells us further that there another new christian was born in the same scene, a Roman centurion. He, ; - ,seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man."(Luke 23:47)

The centurion found God through Jesus’ prayer for the aggressors and last words, ; - ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’(Luke 23:46)

At that very moment, the Cross, a horrible torturing tool, changed into the symbol of worship of God. Many of persons converted to Christianity by encountering resurrected Jesus. Many others witnessed to Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. But Luke revealed that there were two men who believed in Christ just on the Cross, before the Resurrection.

Paul said ; - the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.(1 Corinthians 1:18)
However, the reality of human world tells us that it was not so easy to forgive enemies.

For example, US president Obama said in his Nobel Peace Prize speech*:
: I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago - “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” ¡Ä I know there is nothing weak - nothing passive - nothing naïve - in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King. But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason :

What did make Obama’s stance different from that of M.L.King, Jr.? I say, the faith. Obama is a lawyer and politician. So he must grasp the reality of human society and fight against the evil by using secular methods. In contrast, King, Jr. was a clergyman and he thought righteousness was powerful enough to defeat the evil. He believed that God would turn the evil into the good. I think that Obama’s pragmatism is necessary to govern the country and he has no alternative as the political leader. But the Bible teaches us ; - Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.(Ephesians 5:1-20)

Christians should live by giving themselves up for the sake of others, as offerings and sacrifices to God. ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,’ is a divine prayer. And we will look for the glory of God, not that of the earthy world. And to find the glory of God we must pray for forgiveness of others. When we arrive to pray, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,’ instead of seeking revenge, the miracle in the place of the Cross will reoccur.

Our church experienced a schism 10 years ago. Pastor and deacons had severe conflicts against each other then. And, in consequence, many of church members left the church. But yet, if they had prayed like Jesus and repented of their intolerance they would not had had the sad result. Though it is hard to live like M.L.King, Jr. amid earthy reality, we must make efforts. We will preserve the belief ,’ the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’

The Gospels teaches us that the Salvation is not the emancipation from present pains. It should be spiritual peace in mind. As death is inevitable, pains are also inevitable in human life. We should not look over the reality. Majority of the Japanese think that diploma of hight ranked university and a good post in a big society guarantee their happiness. But such a concept of happiness is based without the notion of death. Therefore when they face death of their beloveds or contracted incurable diseases, they would be completely defeated. Therefore the scene of the Cross give us the message that we must recognize the reality of death in order to live in peace. And Jesus gave us two very important expressions just before his death; ‘’Father, forgive them,’ and ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ Keeping in our mind those precious words, we will try to establish the kingdom of spiritual peace, or the kingdom of God, in this neighborhood.

* Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34360743/page/2/