Forgiveness: The Last Shall Become First
If today were not Leap Day, then today would be Thursday, March 1st; nevertheless, today’s calendar proclaims today as Thursday, February 29th. God has designed each year to complete the rotation in 365 days, but then, on every fourth year’s rotation, 365.25 days are needed in order for the earth’s rotation. As a sidebar, I am not a scientist nor a mathematician, so I do not claim to have studied the universe nor the mathematical equations to have come to this statement. I am a student of words; thus, I read this fact. Leap Year. For some, Birth-Day. For others, an extra day of work. For some, an extra day of holiday. FOR ALL—.25 & another day to be alive, reminding us of the truth—JESUS PROMISES US NEW LIFE—ALIVE IN HIM FOREVERMORE!
As I contemplated the coming of the first day of March, the month of celebration (for me), then I also considered how, this year 2024, the first day was actually the last day. Now, I know what you are thinking: How can this be possible? OR This is not possible for the last to be first or the first to be last, but it is, and we know so; the Word of God explains how this is possible. Please take time to read God’s Holy Word with me this morning.
“When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
(The Gospel According to Luke 23: 33-34a NASB)
But Jesus was saying,
“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
. . .”
Yesterday, on Wednesday, I sat in chapel, surrounded by others who were in the room for the same reason as I—to receive healing for the pain we were collectively feeling. So many are struggling to understand the ‘why’ something so horrible: death could come to one so young, to one who was in the prime of his life. As we sang, the emotions began to cause tears to leak from my eyes. Then Mac spoke, eulogizing Josiah and reminding those listening how this young student impacted the university campus in the brief time he had attended since August. Then Josiah’s dad walked upon the stage in the chapel, and his spoken words reminded me of the words of Jesus.
“But Jesus was saying,
(The Gospel According to Luke 23: 34a NASB )
“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
. . .”
Yesterday, as I sat listening to Josiah’s dad speak of forgiveness, his words reminded me of the way our Savior Jesus spoke to His Father as Jesus was crucified. Eighteen years never seems long enough to call it ‘life.’ Neither does thirty-three years seem long enough for the Son of God, for Jesus to walk in the fashion and form of a man. Nonetheless, as Jesus was crucified that day, placed between two criminals, the Son of God accomplished the task His Father had sent Him to do—to die for humanity’s sins.
“One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
(The Gospel According to Luke 23: 39-43 NASB)
But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation
And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds;
but this man had done nothing wrong.”
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
And He said to him,
[Jesus Christ said to the criminal hanging there to His right]
“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Maybe it is true that we always desire ‘Just One More Day’ for everyone we love who dies.
- In March 1999, that eleventh day of the month came like all other days, but the insistent knocking at the back door was the catalyst of change for the way that day would forever change our lives. On March 11, 1999, the LORD called my dad home.
- In March 2019, the third day of the month, my brother’s birthday also became the day we gathered around my grandmother’s bed, there in the wee hours, as darkness permeated the sky. Grandma’s last breath came at 3:28 am that March 3rd of 2019, the LORD called my grandma home.
- Then on that same March 2019, that nineteenth day of the month, my nephew was involved in a tragic motorcycle accident. It was a beautiful, sunny day, a great day for a motorcycle ride, and every time I drive through that same intersection on a sun-filled day, I think of Cody and his last ride. At 2:36 pm on March 19, 2019, the LORD called my nephew home.
Some may say, “My, March surely is not the month you look forward to each year,” but I do. It has become the March to Celebrate New Life, and in fact, I have labeled it such on my rotating calendar, allowing the reminder to come to me each year. On my cell phone calendar, as we save days of remembrance, we have the option to decide ‘How Long’ we wish to remember, to be reminded.
- Don’t Repeat.
- Repeat 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, or 1 year.
- Repeat until _____ a set day—OR—Repeat a specific number of times—OR—Repeat Forever.
Each March 1st, my calendar is set to remind me FOREVER, that this is the first day of the month when I will March to Celebrate New Life.
Jesus spoke these words of TRUTH! May we take the Son of God’s words into the world today as we share Jesus—
“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
(The Gospel According to John 5: 25-29a NASB)
For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
Do not marvel at this;
for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
and will come forth; . . .”