Day 22:Crucifixion and Burial

Luke 23:33-46, 50-56

 

"He submitted Himself, and they took Him and in mockery crowned Him with a crown of platted thorns and placed a purple robe on His back. Without mercy and with hatred vile and intemperate, they beat Him and scourged Him and cried out for His crucifixion. He had done no evil. He had done only good, and in greater measure than any man before Him had ever done. Yet they cried for His death. He staggered under the weight of the cross on which He was to hang.They nailed His quivering flesh to the unyielding wood. They mocked Him as He hung in agony. While suffering, He forgave them. He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Then He died for each of us. But in dying He brought about the redemption of mankind. None can fully comprehend the extent and wonder and majesty of that sacrifice in our behalf. Suffice it to say He became our Redeemer." - President Hinckley, The Empty Tomb Bore Testimony

 

Several times before I have mentioned the profound inspiration regarding the suffering of the Savior on the cross- how he repeated the suffering from Gethsemane and therein knows the pain of the repetition of trials and of sin. In fact, to quote myself-- "I absolutely know that he suffered for me, that he bore the weight of every sin, pain, sickness, weakness, and loneliness in those hours. I don't know if He did it all in the garden (versus finishing it on the cross), but I believe He did. So to realize that He went through those same pains and suffering a second time, helps me know that my Savior knows what it is to go through a trial more than once. He knows what it is to suffer and pray through something and finally overcome it...only to have the same trial come back another time. He knows exactly what is is like to suffer heartache, loneliness, and despair again and again and again. We don't just have each trial once just so we have them all- sometimes the very hardest of our trials are repeated. Sometimes a little differently, sometimes exactly the same. But I know that Christ suffered for the pain of that repetition as well."

 

And today, re-reading that quote by President Hinckley I was touched by the sentence-
"While suffering, He forgave them." What a miraculous show of character! It doesn't say that he forgave them before, knowing what would happen and granting forgiveness. Nor does it say that he forgave them after his resurrection when all the mortal pain and suffering had ceased. No. He forgave them while suffering. Is it not most difficult to show forth mercy and forgiveness while still suffering from the effects of others actions and from the pain they have inflicted? But in so doing, our forgiveness comes from Christlike charity and draws us even closer to Him.

 

President Eyring remarked in October of 2012, that, " Many of you, as I have, have felt fear in approaching someone you have offended or who has hurt you. And yet I have seen the Lord melt hearts time after time, including my own. And so I challenge you to go for the Lord to someone, despite any fear you may have, to extend love and forgiveness. I promise you that as you do, you will feel the love of the Savior for that person and His love for you, and it will not seem to come from a great distance. For you, that challenge may be in a family, it may be in a community, or it may be across a nation.

 

But if you go for the Lord to bless others, He will see and reward it. If you do this often enough and long enough, you will feel a change in your very nature through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Not only will you feel closer to Him, but you will also feel more and more that you are becoming like Him."