Easter Forgiveness
Guest Writer: Eve Turek
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”—Luke 23:34a.
This photograph is from a previous Easter Sunday morning in lockdown. Before daybreak, I went to the ocean and found the empty Cross waiting at the access road. I felt led to go to it.
I’ve been thinking a lot all this week about what we Christians sometimes call “Holy Week.” There is so much to think about...where to pause and contemplate? Palm Sunday? Last Supper? Good Friday? Easter Vigil? Easter Morning?? This year, what caught my heart (and my breath) was a more profound implication I heard from the Cross: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”
What got to me was what I did not hear. I didn’t hear, Father, forgive them; they are really sorry. Father, forgive them; they know better now and will never do this again. Father, forgive them. They are repentant. Father, forgive them. They are so ashamed. Nope.
I heard something like this: Oh, Father, forgive them; they just don’t get it. Father, forgive them. They are so clueless (bless their hearts). Father, forgive them...not because they know, but because they don’t know. They really don’t know.
This is why, at rock bottom, when people ask me what I believe and what I stand for, I tell them I am in Love with God to my core, in Love with His Son Jesus, in Love with His Spirit because He loved us first. Because to whom much is forgiven, that one loves much. That’s why I focus on Love so much. I’m forgiven, and I was forgiven even before I knew better, did better, or wanted better. I was forgiven not because I was sorry, but because He is Love.
And once I got hold of that truth, really got hold of it, then God had hold of my heart. And He’s never let go...thank God. Because He sustains this Love, I can walk in Love and forgiveness.
That’s what Easter means to me this year. He is Risen...not only 2,000+/- years ago, but risen in me. Coincidentally, the Easter season a past year once again coincided with the day I first made a conscious, deliberate commitment to God: April 1, 1973. Many years ago. I was 16 years old. I knew somehow, the decision meant everything would change. And it did.
I still had my times of walking away from the best I knew, but God was faithful even when I wasn’t. It was His faithfulness that brought me back to my best self. And that Love is why I am STILL His today.
Eve Turek
Resurrection Chapel National Cathedral Washington