Luke 23:26-34
Strength in Forgiveness
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
2 Corinthians 12:5-10
For When I Am Weak I Am Strong
5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
When I suffer and have hardships, I want relief, and I generally want it very quickly...St. Paul teaches us that for Christ’s sake, he delighted in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties...And he would say for when I am weak, then I am strong...The Great Saint looked at suffering different than I do...
When Jesus suffered on the cross, He wanted to relieve others of their sin debt...I am not sure how much He was concerned about His personal relief, even while on the cross...Even though He was suffering very much on the cross, His obedience to God helped Him forgive those who were putting Him to death -and those causing His pain...He accepted His suffering as this great show of LOVE for us, and to be our Savior from our sins...And as we read about the night before His arrest, His arrest, His trial, His torturing before getting on the cross, and then His death on the cross, we might say that there is some weakness in these events...But as St. Paul said, their is strength found in weakness, and in the end the cross is a source of strength for us...For when I am weak, then I am strong...