Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34

Nancy's toddler was a hitter.  He'd go to play-school for a couple of hours in the morning then come home to receive lunch and a nap.  When Nancy would pick him up at play-school the caretakers would tell her that they had had to put him into time-out twice because he hit another toddler.  They suggested that the mothers get the two toddlers together for an afternoon of play at one of the parent's homes.  An ingenious suggestion.   When the kids got together the hit happened.  One cried.  Then both cried.  The hitter finally understood hurt.

It's a dawn of understanding that comes to all of us, especially on a day like today.  We are in the midst of Lent, the 40 days before Easter not including Sundays.  We've crossed thru Ash Wednesday where we remind ourselves that our lives will not last forever.  We revisit and recognize that each day of Lent reminds us.  Christ experienced dying, like us, but His was on a cruel cross-- a place of humiliation as well as death.  It is a pain-filled ending.  He had given so much-- healing, teaching, loving, and raising from the dead.  Yet, there He was, fully hurting on the cross.


Our lives cannot be lived without pain and sorrow.  Jesus knows our hurt, pain, and sorrow because He has also felt these.  It is from the cross Christ tells us how to deal with hurt.  We are to find the way to forgive.  Through forgiveness there is healing, wholeness and hope.  When we extend forgiveness our faith widens.  Faith, found in the wideness of Christ's arms stretched out on the cross.