As we approach Easter, we're invited to journey through the final words Jesus spoke from the cross, beginning with perhaps the most transformative statement ever uttered: 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.' This isn't just historical narrative—it's the moment when heaven and salvation shifted from future promise to present reality. We discover that Jesus, struggling for every breath on that brutal cross, chose to pray not for himself, not for comfort, but for his enemies. For us. The weight of this truth is staggering: the very sin that nailed Him there, our sin, becomes the reason He cries out for our forgiveness. We're challenged to examine the concept of survivorship bias—we can survive many hardships in life, but we cannot survive unforgiveness. Just as World War II engineers discovered they needed to armor the undamaged parts of returning planes, we must recognize that unforgiveness is the fatal wound we cannot afford to carry. Whether we need to receive God's forgiveness for the first time, extend forgiveness to someone who has wounded us, or seek reconciliation with another believer, this message calls us from being enemies and strangers to becoming adopted sons and daughters of God. The cross didn't just provide forgiveness—it modeled it, showing us that in dying, Jesus teaches us how to truly live.
