Hurt
Throughout the teaching life of Christ, He found many who loved Him and many who only hurt Him. Many heard His teachings, heard the truth and chose not to follow Him. They questioned His credibility, mocked Him for who He was. They made mistakes, lied, stole, sought revenge, weren’t fair despite Christ’s teaching to love their neighbor, their enemies, and to forgive not 7 times but 77. Jesus always stood firm in truth, never backed off from what He taught. The truth made many uncomfortable knowing they lived in sin and needed to change. Many couldn't handle or accept the truth He taught.They saw the face of God but chose not to love Him anyways. Christ shook the dust from His shoes and kept going spreading the truth. From the Agony in the Garden to His death on the cross, Christ took on the pain caused by all of our sins and mistakes past present and future. He felt loss, betrayal, abandonment, hurts caused by anger, despair, and loneliness. As He carried His cross many of His followers fled in fear or turned against Him. One of His closest friends betrayed Him and all but one abandoned Him in His greatest time of need.
Christ only responded with love and forgiveness. The night of His arrest He didn't attempt to correct those who wrongly accused Him or deffend Himself. Luke 23:34:
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. How many times
do we cause each other pain through our indifference, our anger, when we take
things out of proportion, when we act without thinking, make mistakes, betray
trust and not even realize the hurt we cause another?
Christ found
some solace in the good thief who recognized his own imperfections and Christ’s
innocence. Christ desired to forgive Him and because this thief expressed His
desire for Christ, he was promised Heaven.
Luke 23:43: Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. Christ
had no fault in Him, but are we able to acknowledge our own faults and imperfections?
Are we as quick to unconditionally forgive those who ask our forgiveness no
matter how much pain they have caused?
Abandoned and
hurt, betrayed, alone, mocked and spit upon. What has He done to deserve our
anger? What is this hurt He has caused you? He still doesn’t retaliate or try
to save Himself. Matthew 27:46: My God,
My God, why have you forsaken me? Have you ever felt the pain of someone
unjustly upset with you? Christ has felt it. Is our anger ever justified or is
there more to it that we fail to recognize or choose to not see?
All Christ
desires is everyone’s love. At His final moments on the cross He desires to
give of Himself completely to everyone, yet hardly any are there to return this
love. He wasn’t just physically thirsty, Christ thirsted for our souls. John 19:28: I thirst. Do we quench
Christ’s thirst? Do we choose to love
Him in loving our neighbors, our enemies, or do we withhold our hearts from Him
as we with hold forgiveness and love from those who have wronged us? Do we
allow our souls to receive all of Him in Holy Eucharist or do we selfishly with
hold our souls from His greatest most intimate act of love?
The final
moment has come. Christ is ready to let go of Himself completely offering Himself
as the only pure sacrifice to save us from the eternal punishment due to us for
all our sin. John 19:30: It is finished. Are
we able to let go of ourselves and take the hurt? Are we able to stand back and
take on another’s hurt rather than defend ourselves or seek for them to hurt
the way we do?
Christ gives it
all, His life over to God. He takes upon our judgment and sufferings which He
doesn’t deserve. Luke 23:46: Father, into
your hands I commit my spirit. Are we able to let things go, release the
grudges and hurts and place it in God’s hands? Do we place the people involved,
or the situations into God’s hands?
We’re
imperfect, we make mistakes, we don’t think, we act stupidly, we choose to do
what we already know is wrong. In all this we keep on hurting each other
causing unnecessary pain to be inflicted on our enemies and our neighbors. When
we act without thinking there’s a chance someone will get hurt. When we betray another’s
trust we hurt them. When we make stupid
mistakes it causes hurt. When we knowingly choose do something that is wrong,
we cause hurt. When someone wrongs us we want them to suffer too, we want them
to know how we hurt so we cause them to hurt too by withholding our
forgiveness. When we react trying to defend ourselves we may add to the hurt
already in the situation. Why must we keep hurting, being hurt, and causing
hurt? What does this accomplish? Why can’t we stop? We ultimately hurt Christ
as we deny His love from others and choose not to let it rest within our own
hearts. Christ is still going to take on the pain for us, still going to
forgive us and love us if we seek Him. Christ asks us to forgive not 7 but 77
times, to love our neighbors as well as our enemies, to turn the other cheek.
Hurt: Johnny Cash & Nine Inch Nails
