“…Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing…” (Luke 23:34 God’s Word ©).
I mostly thought the full impact and importance of what was happening at the cross is that the perpetrators were missing what was going on. You know, kind of going over their head.
But the more I think on this the more I am drawn to this as a literal statement. Literal.
Their minds were so closed, they were so wrapped up in religious loyalty, they were so intent on maintaining their power and influence and they were so scared of what would happen if people followed God radically instead of within the prescribed way promulgated by the religious elite (both clergy and laity) that they really, literally, did not know what they were doing.
Like a person in a rage doesn’t know what they are doing. Like a person full of racist attitudes doesn’t know what they are doing to folk of a different genetic make up. Like religious bureaucracy in western culture doesn’t know what they are doing when they deal with people in a business-like fashion.
Religious people acting without love, doing horrible things to God’s children because the ones with power, blinded by that power, can’t see what they do, and don’t know what they do.
Do you know what you are really doing? Are God’s children a treasure to you, to be treated with tenderest care? Or are the in-the-Spirit-thinkers a nuisance that need to be brought into line with your doctrine, theology and social norms?
I don’t know…
+++++++
This Lent I am being led on a pilgrimage. I do not yet know if it is from persecution or to suffering or through both. Nevertheless the journey has begun.
March 9, 2014
nopew
viewoutsidethepew 
12 responses to “They Don’t Know”
nopew
March 14th, 2014 at 11:30
We want everything so neat and orderly that we lose the deep experience.
Peace
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nopew
March 14th, 2014 at 11:25
There is always a right time, and then it’s right!
Peace
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Planting Potatoes
March 14th, 2014 at 11:24
yes, we shrink away from what happened on the cross…and yet, we must have it –
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nopew
March 14th, 2014 at 11:23
Yes. Not easy, but easy isn’t better. The challenge…
Peace
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Planting Potatoes
March 14th, 2014 at 11:09
Yes, those at the cross, were so missing what was being done for them….like a comedian once said, “it’s like a 747 was flying over their head….” yet Jesus was more concerned for them, then his own pain and suffering…..it was perhaps his greatest example of how we should treat each other that he could have given the world I think.
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lessonsbyheart
March 14th, 2014 at 05:12
“…so scared of what would happen if people followed God radically instead of within the prescribed way promulgated by the religious elite (both clergy and laity) that they really, literally, did not know what they were doing.”
Coming out of a church like this feels a lot like walking on the water. It was intimidating for the first couple of months. Once we became aware of the lightness of being unchained and thus able to follow the Lord in radical freedom, we wondered why it had taken so long. 😉
\o/
\o/
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nopew
March 13th, 2014 at 23:53
Both sad and frustrating, since it keeps happening.
Peace
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papapound
March 13th, 2014 at 21:50
“Their minds were so closed…” I agree with this paragraph. They were closed and blinded.
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nopew
March 11th, 2014 at 13:56
That is a Prayer I affirm and repeat with you!
Peace
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msinop1
March 11th, 2014 at 10:42
Amen! I see this so much. So much, it grieves my heart. We are all on the same team, yet some are wearing different eyes. Some with scales and some without. I pray the scales fall…… Bless you friend!
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nopew
March 9th, 2014 at 23:35
Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear”. Some don’t – yet, but we pray they will.
Peace
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GraceandTruth
March 9th, 2014 at 17:26
They were so blind they couldn’t see the Messiah right in front of them. And it still happens today. Those with the Spirit of Christ are still rejected, martyred, murdered – be it physically or with the tongue.
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