The Seven Last Words 十架七言 - 2022.3.6

大齋期靈修 – 胡玉藩牧師

第一言：「父啊！赦免他們；因為他們所做的，他們不知道。」（路廿三 34）

耶穌來到世上，拯救祂所愛的人：「上帝愛世人，甚至將祂的獨生子賜給他們，叫一切信祂的，不致滅亡，反得永生」。然而，耶穌所經歷的卻是遭人厭棄、被門徒出賣，最後受苦，被釘死在十字架上。

耶穌「在十字架上」的第一句說話，是一個代求：「父啊！赦免他們；因為他們所做的，他們不知道。」在山上寶訓，耶穌曾經教導：「要愛你的仇敵，為那逼迫你們的禱告。」祂沒有單只說，真的做到了，為那逼迫祂的、釘死祂的人禱告。

耶穌曾經對一個癱子說，「孩子，放心吧，你的罪赦免了。」顯明人子有赦罪的權柄。所以，耶穌這個「代求」，其實代表祂已經赦免、寬恕得罪祂的人；耶穌竟將害祂的人「蓄意殺害」訴諸「無知過犯」；相反，我們呢？

弟兄姊妹，今天，我們會為誰代求？我們的父母？家人？好朋友？通常，我們只會為自己所愛的人祈禱（甚至只為自己求）。我們又怎會為自己所恨惡、曾經得罪自己的人祈求呢？

當我們「不接納」「不寬恕」，莫說是仇敵，就算是我們的好朋友、弟兄姊妹 、教會同工、工作上的同事、上司……甚至是自己的家人、父母，我們就是不願意去「接納」、「寬恕」；將別人那怕可能是「無心之失」，一概撥歸為「故意得罪」「有心中傷」，就可以合理化我們的「仇恨」。

「父啊！赦免他們；因為他們所做的，他們不知道。」

禱告：主啊，求你憐憫、赦免我們，憐憫我們的「不接納」；「赦免」我們的「不懂得寬恕」，阿們。

Lenten Devotion – The Rev. Angus Wu

First Word: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Jesus came to this world to save those He loves: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Yet what Jesus experienced was being despised by people, betrayed by his disciple, and finally suffered pain and was crucified on the cross.

Yet the first word by Jesus “on the cross” was a supplication: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” In the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” He not just said it, He truly did it, praying for those who persecuted and crucified Him.

Jesus has once said to a paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” This clearly shows that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins. Therefore, when Jesus made this

‘intercession’, it in fact shows that He has already forgiven those who had sinned against Him. He actually referred those who was trying to ‘intentionally kill’ Him as merely committing ‘ignorant

transgression’. On the contrary, what about us?

Brothers and sisters, who are we interceding for today? Our parents? Family? Good friend? Usually we only pray for those whom we love (or even only pray for ourselves). Would we pray for those whom we hate, those who had sinned against us?

When we ‘do not accept’, ‘do not forgive’ those who are our good friends, brothers or sisters, co-workers in church or at work, our supervisor... or even our family, not to mention our enemies,

we are not willing to ‘accept’ and ‘forgive’. To regard others’ perhaps ‘inadvertent transgressions’ as ‘intentional offence’ or ‘deliberate hurt’ against you, we rationalize our ‘hatred’ against

those people.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Prayer: O Lord, have mercy on us and forgive us, have mercy on our ‘do not accept’ and ‘forgive’ our ‘not knowing how to forgive’. Amen