Course Spotlight: Lessons from Forgiveness
In some of our online courses, we have a “Student Thoughts” section where we ask a question to see what the students think. In Unit 4 of the Life Ministry and Teachings of Jesus Christ course, we asked the question:
As He is dying, Christ asks the Father to forgive the people (Luke 23:34). What lessons can we learn from Christ’s attitude during His crucifixion?
Come take a look at some of the Student Responses below!
“By Christ asking for God to forgive those who were crucifying Him, He showed exactly what He meant in Matthew 5:44 where He said to ” Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” If we all could learn to do this today, we would be showing that Christ is indeed living through us.“
-GW
“Jesus Christ had compassion on the world when He was suffering, because He saw the big picture of the Kingdom coming ahead. Suffering has a way of humbling a person to a point of understanding that cannot be understood by any other means. When we suffer, we draw close to God and He gives us a peace and clarity that helps us see beyond our suffering. Jesus had the ultimate vision of the Kingdom and could see that in the resurrection, the hearts of those that crucified Him would be cut deeply by their wrongful condemnation of Him. We as His followers have to forgive those that sin against us also in order to have our sins forgiven and be able to enter into the Kingdom.“
-AL
“Christ shows us through the recording of this statement the heartfelt love He has for His family, not wanting any to be lost. He taught this during His entire ministry in many ways, but He was so very concerned for these people who were treating Him in such a vile way during the scourging and crucifixion that He felt compelled to beg the Father to have mercy on them. I’ve felt, as most of us probably have, this overwhelming concern at times for my children and for others, because of the deep desire to see them succeed, that I’ve cried out on their behalf, sincerely, that the Father and Christ will have mercy, and not at all concerned at the time for myself. Christ desires this heart in us to always care, to be quick to forgive, to be merciful, to teach, to guide, and to protect the rest of our family – in essence to think outside of ourselves.“
-MA
