TEXT: LUKE 23:34 – ‘AMA KINUNA NI JESUS, PAKAWANEM IDA TA DIDA AMMO TI AR

ARAMIDENDA’.

Agkararagtayo: Amami a Nalangitan, agyamanac ti panangusar mo kaniak kas adipen mo nga

mangiburay ti mensahe ti biag ita nga rabii, punuen nak ti Espiritu Santum ken ti kinapudnum tapno
ti mensahem ket agrusbo kadagitipusposmi ket kas maysa nga bukel ket agmultiply daytoy babaen ti
ti panagturay mo kadagiti bibiag mi nga namati kenka.Sika ti agtimek .Siyayamanac ti pannakabalin
mo Apo. Ti nagan ni Jesus Amen.

Maragsakan nak unay ti pnangusar ti Diyos kaniak ita ket ti dayaw adda amin Kenkuana.

Napauluan ‘TI PUSO NGA MAMMAKAWAN’.

FORGIVENESS, as they say is the cornerstone of faith in God. Only through asking God’s forgiveness
we can learn to forgive ourselves and to others.

Daytoy ti umuna nga balikas ni Jesus idiay Cross sakbay nga isuna ket mauyos ti biagna. Adda ti 4 nga
intayo maadal ditoy.

1. Ti mamakawan nga puso ket managkararag.-A forgiving heart has a prayerful heart.

2. Ni Apo Jesus invites us also to be prayerful.

Prayer is a very intimate conversing and communing with expectant heart to God, is not
overcoming His reluctance but laying hold of His willingness., as Marthin Luther said.Just
like Jesus Christ when he said, Father,abba, forgive them that they do not know what they
are doing.’.Ita nga panawen, awanen ti maaramidan tayo pay ti kastoy nga nga panaglobo ti
covid 19 or variant virus nga adda kadatayo iti sapasap nga lubong. We are to pray, pray,
and pray. Just like Jesus Christ on the cross where his hands are nailed to the tree, his feet
fastened to the wood, that he could no longer instruct his disciples because they had
forsaken him and fled already.

My reflection: Moments in my life when discouragements, failures, death of loved ones (my
husband, my mother and my father),not so good /dysfunctional relationships, and illnesses
within the family. My only way of gaining hope and comfort is to open my heart to God,
groan in pain like that of a labouring expectant mother, where my emotions overcame as I
broke down my prayers with loud cries and tears.

Pouring out selflessly all my cares and worries, that I learned the value of prayer and fasting
leading me to humble myself until my pride wipes me making me realize that God and only
Him to whom I can be trusted. He is my refuge ad He is the only one who can save me from
these sufferings. Ket uray sikayo met kakabsat ken ti amin tayo, ISU laeng ti makaisalakan
ken makasalaknib kadatayo.As or Bible say, we often suffer, but we are never crushed, even
when we do not know know what to do, we never give up. Being prayerful is inherent to us
because we love Jesus, we want to be always ‘on line’ with Him, as John Wesley said:’ Prayer
is the frand means of drawing near to God, it is the breath of of our Spiritual life’.1 Thes.
5:16. I can’t remember to whom I heard this sermon a part of it he said, our on line
communication with God is just like that big bell connecting us to Him na everytime we all
on Him our bell rings. Tayo rin po kaya, ilang beses ng ri ring yung bell natin? The more we
pray the noisiest our bell is reminding our God of our cares and worries. My experience is,
the more that I ring my bell or pray, the more I got inspired, healthy, beautiful, and active
and smiling always! Kasla kaadu ti panaganges tayo ti panagkararag. Ket saan tayo kuma nga
liwayan ti agakararag ta amangan no aglati jay bell tayo. For the neglect of a private prayer is
the most common reason people lose their faith.

Next is, A forgiving heart is a loving heart. Jesus lovingly prays for forgiveness
A forgiving heart is a loving heart. How loving we are? Do we love unconditionally? Do we
give ourselves selflessly? Do we want to sacrifice for others?
DOING THE HARDEST thing for somebody is the truest expression of a genuine love, where
love bears all things, believe all things, hopes all things, endure all things.1 Cor. 13:7.
This prayer of Jesus on the cross tell us His matchless and wondrous LOVE for all of us. Christ
suffering is all rooted in His abounding love, His death, His Resurrection gave us that
undeserving Salvation and Reconciliation with our Father God.
So to have a loving heart per se, we love God because He first loved us. He saved us from
our sins.Ti Diyos ket Ayat, 1 John 4:16-Agtaeng iti Diyos iti agtaeng iti ayat, ket agtaeng met
kenkuana iti Diyos.
My Reflection: Nalaka nga ibalikas wenno ibaga ti ‘Ay ayatek ti Diyos’, ngem kasano nga
Makita kadatayo nga ay ayaten tayo ti Diyos? Iti ipapatay ni Jesus jay cross nga datayo ti
sipud na, actually po we are the ones those who crucified Jesus Christ on the cross. But Jesus
loves us so much, are we that too? Proverbs 25:21 – LOVE YOUR ENEMY, IF YOUR ENEMY IS
HUNGRY GIVE HIM BREAD TO EAT AND F HE IS THIRSTY, give him water to drink. Ay ayaten
tayo met laeng ngata ni Jesus? Do we give our quality time, talent and treasure to those
unloved, no food, no work, abused, played with injustice, no home,to our frontliners, to our
communities, to our barangays, to our church workers, members, to those mourning,
infected with covid, those who are in quarantine facilities, those who are in locked down,
donating in community pantries, do we include others in our prayers, are we the
peacemakers, etc.?
INSERT CHRISTIAN CZAR
That if we are in Christ, since He saved us, we received Him as our Saviour, His spirit remain
in su that we too are now the little Christians, compassionate and loving most the unloved.

No. 3, A forgiving Heart is a Restoring Heart.

A RESTORING HEART aspires always for renewal, revival and transformation. LOVE IS THE
ONLY FORCE CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING AN ENEMY INTO A FRIEND. A forgiving heart is a
restoring heart, there is an extraordinary healing power taking place if we are to forgive
somebody.
God is restoring and renewing everything that was lost, He is a God of restoration and no
situation God cannot restore it.
To WHOM ARE we restoring broken relationships?
To our enemies, or those who hurt us or whom he hurt?
 IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO RESTORE RELATIONSHIP WITHOUT LOVE, LOVE emanating from our
God through His Son Jesus Christ.RESTORING our RELATIONSHIPS with our enemies is very
difficuclt, much more in praying for them? Why is Jesus praying for His enemies?
HE WANTED TO RESTORE THEM, HE WANTED TO RESTORE US!
SITAYO DAGIDIAY IKARKARAGAN NI JESUS, APO PAKAWANEM IDA TA DIDA AMMO TI AR
ARAMIDENDA.
He is praying for Judas who betrayed Him,Jewish leaders who afalsely arrested Him, ghe
ccrowd who yelled crucify Him crucify Him,the soldiers who whipped/mocked Him and who
nailed Him on the Cross.
Apay nga dagiti kabusor na?, dagiti nagbasol? Datayo? Ket kayat na nga maalaw, maisubli ma
restore, mapalaeng, mapaimbag?, maagasan?

Nicodemus is one, he is a sinner, but Jesus loves Him so much, from non-saving belief to
saving belief, he was restored. He despite of his high position, he came down, humbled
himself and sought the Lord, that he was forgiven and restored.

The soldiers, who routinely put men to death on Golgotha, and even knew that Jesus is
surely the Son of God’, Matthew 27:54.,
Today, we may be like these soldiers na kahit kilala na natin si Jesus ng lubusan, sinasabi
na nating Cristiano na tayo, and yet our heart is not like Christ. We use our authority, our
job, our position to downgrade others putting them to difficult or risks situations and even to
death. We are killing them softly in their emotions, keeping them apart from their loved
ones as in trafficking. We continue hating others, we love depriving them of their rights, on
their privileges, their opportunities. We are the lost ones that need to be restored and
transformed.
Jesus was forgiving Pilate for his weak, wavering character, he found Jesus innocent of the
crimes, because he was pressured, signed the death warrant, and publicly washed his
hands. Matthew 27:24

And today some of us are Pontious Pilate who are insensitive, double-faced, desperate
serving individuals, politicians, government officials who hold power and practicing
corruption and injustices to those less fortunate and vulnerable brethren. We are the ones
whom Jesus is calling to repent from our sins, receive forgiveness, experience restoration
and transformation in our lives.

My experience as an ordinary government employee this pandemic, made me more needing

a lot of perseverance on my part where humility is bended at all times. I may have
unpleasant experience which my conscience bothered me, haven’t slept for few days. I was
truly hurt, depressed and even got mild hypertension. I kneeled down, prayed fervently, and
poured out my cares to our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God, I was able to overcome all
of these giving me shalom in my heart without compromising my faith in God. It is loving God
and obeying His precepts is my straightforward to shunning away any revenge or a tooth for
a tooth act against my transgressor.’ ..But if we have God with us, we can resist and stand
firm for the truth’.

It might have been the scribes, the Pharisees and the Saducees that Jesus was forgiving.
Jesus plain teaching about the Kingdom of God offended them both, sought to discredit him,
Matthew 22:23-24. plot Jesus’ death, Matthew 12:14.
The chief priests and the scribes who were the prime force behind the crucifixion as they are
determined to kill Jesus when he cleansed the temple of their greedy trade in animals and
money changing at outrageous exchange rates, Matthew 21:15,23,45-46,26:3-4.

We are like the scribes and saducees of this modern times. I believe we are! We hate
sermons that depicts our life, like Malachi 3:10 on giving our tithes, observing our Sabbath
day, when our BS is about repentance, forgiveness, salvation, makakatulog tayo or even
walk out and many others. We are the ones who stick so much with our culture or tradition
believing in our forefathers na kahit mali ang paniniwala, tuloy tuloy pa rin tayo, We want
comforting gospels! When we are hurt, or offended, we tend to look for another church and
back fights our workers, we tend to disaffiliate, disconnect ourselves from the group instead
of working out reconciliation. We are the ones called by Jesus to be resilient with our faith for
us to change for us to be healed, transformed and to be saved. Kalian pa, ngayon na before
it’s too late!

They had paid off Judas for his insider betrayal, Matthew 26:14-16,
Sent temple soldiers to arrest him in the garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26:24,
And tried to get people to testify falsely against Jesus before the Sanhedrin, Matthew 26:59,
And stirred up the crowd to demand that Jesus be crucified, Matthew 27:20-23.s

Who are the Judas of this age?

We are! It may be you, and I!
We have other gods, we love idolatry, we love our money, we love cheating, we love bribery,
we tolerate corruption and vices that will ruin our bodies which are the temple of God. We
are the Judas compromising our faith to nonsense, instead of being the light and salt, we are
easily persuaded by non -believing friends because ma out of place tayo or ma outcast tayo
sa group, kulang sa paninindigan because our faith is lukewarm, we easily lost our identity
as Christians.

We are the ones whom Christ is praying for restoration and transformation.

THE NEED FOR FORGIVENESS

1. A forgiving heart is a reconciling heart!

Under the old covenant God required that atonement be made for sins. People were not
even aware of sins. They did not realize they had committed. In Leviticus 5:14-19).when a
person commits a violation and sins unintentionally—he is guilty and will be held
responsible, and the priest will make atonement for him for the wrong he has committed
unintentionally.

We see here that sin is always sin in God’s sight whether we are conscious of it or not. Sins
of ignorance need atonement just as much as we do sins we wilfully commit. God is Holy
and He will not and cannot lower His standard of righteousness to the level of our ignorance.
Ignorance is not innocence.

Today, ignorance is more blameworthy than it was in the days of Moses and Jesus. It is an
unacceptable excuse today because God has given us His word and Spirit so that we can
clearly discern His will. We are given here a glimpse OR A SIGN of the blindness of the
human heart, the total depravity of the human will and the corruption of the human mind.
And yet we remain ignorant of the many things. Many times we do not realize the sin we do,
how much we hurt each other, yet the fault and the blame are ours.
So Jesus prays, ‘father forgive them that they do n0t know what they are doing’.

Church, Let us see Judas, the Jewish leaders, the crowds, Pilate, even the soldiers, ought to
have known that first was the Lord of Glory they were crucifying. Their blindness were in
excusable. The prophecies in the OT which Jesus fulfilled clearly identified Him as Holy One
of God.
His teaching was so unique that even His enemies were forced to admit, ’no one ever spoke
the way this man does’. John 7:46.
His miracles-the healing of the sick, the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the casting out
of demons, the walking in water,
All adequately demonstrated that He was the Son of God.
The voice from heaven, at His baptism and transfiguration clearly demonstrated He had
God’s approval and favour.
And what of His perfect life!
There was no excuse for their ignorance, it only demonstrated the totality of sin’s defiling
/ruining power.
How sad to know this terrible tragedy is still being repeated. Today there are many who
know better, many who know Jesus is Saviour and Lord, yet they also neglect or STILL
REJECT Him.

Let us reflect on what Hebrews 10 said,v.26-27, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we

have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice of sins is left, v.27- but only a fearful
expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

Again how alarming, how horrible it is for those who oppose, who do not believe first and His
truth and refuses to REPENT from their sins!
Jesus not only taught forgiveness but to love unconditionally our enemies.

Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has
forgiven you’ Ephesians 4:32
What I struggle with most about forgiveness?
Are there people whom I have not yet forgiven for their offenses against me? Or are there
people from whom I need to ask forgiveness.

Have I personally encountered experienced the grace and forgiveness of JESUS Christ?

True FORGIVENESS is an impossible task under my own power, what I do not have I can’t
give to others. But in Romans 5:8, I am reminded that God demonstrates His own love
toward us,in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’.

FORGIVING others is a lifestyle for me, because forgiving is the only way to a peaceful,
happy life. And true forgiveness will always end up to healing, reconciliation and becoming a
better person, change within me and the person whom I forgave..
God has showed me grace and forgiveness that I DID NOT DESERVE AS A SINNER, AND
THAT IS THE SAME KIND OF LOVE THAT He wants me to show to others.

Just like David in 1 Samuel 9 who forgave his rivals, I too will show forgiveness and
kindness even to those who do not deserve it .because true forgiveness is
UNDONDITIONAL,UNDESRVED, and UNLIMITED.
INDEED forgiveness should be freely given seventy times seven’ but I must personally
experience it from my loving God, because only when I understand His forgiveness in my life
that I am able to pass it forward to othr people who need it.
Forgiveness is the most difficult test of love, without it, love is not genuine .In humility I will
forgive just as Christ has forgiven me because true love.. forgives.!

When we say that we love God, Christ lives in us already that

we are now born again, our life is anchored in Jesus Christ and we felt His unconditional
love for us, that we to0 can give that sacrificial love to others. Having this love of God in us,
we have a forgiving heart who prays unceasingly, aspiring always for the welfare for the
good for the transformation and restoration of others. For the final result of these is true
RECONCILIATION just what our Father God did as it is well said in John 3:16, For God so
loved the world THAT He gave His only begotten Son that who ever believed in Him shall
not die but have an eternal life’.

Reflection: How is your heart today my friend? Is it a forgiving HEART? Can you share your
experience on this?