Lessons Learned by Veteran: For Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day
Scripture: Luke 23:34
This sermon is adapted from my book, An Enlisted Man’s Point of View: Lessons Learned in the 199th 1966-1967. It is nonfiction, a memoir of combat and its result, PTSD. Pastor Lee Houston
My first combat was only a few days after I arrived in Vietnam. On one my first nights in combat, the man to my immediate right, whose shoulder was only a foot away from my own, got a nose full of grenade shrapnel. The invincibility of my youth left me swiftly. I knew that I could die. I wrote each letter home with care, for I suddenly knew that each letter might be the last words my loved ones would ever read from me.
Since realizing that, I have noted the last words of a number of famous people. I have found that a person’s dying words can be revealing, showing us something of the person. The ideas of Karl Marx put many nations on the horrible road to communism. On the day Marx died, March 14, 1883, his housekeeper came to him and said, “Mr. Marx, tell me your last words, and I'll write them down.” Marx replied, “Go, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!” P.T. Barnum, the founder of the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, asked as he was dying, “What are the receipts of the day?” Napoleon’s last words were, “I am Chief of the Army!” The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon’s last words were, “Jesus died for me." And Charles Wesley, the initiator of the Methodist Church, said, “Best of all is, God is with us.”
The Bible records seven last statements that Christ uttered while he was on the cross. These statements are important to us, not only because Jesus spoke them, but also because of the place where he said them. While Christ was on the cross, he was doing his greatest work; he was uttering some of his greatest words. Luke 23:34 records one of his last statements: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” This one statement by Christ says much too many old Vets. Sometimes it is difficult for us to forgive people. Sometimes it is difficult for us to forgive ourselves. Someone hurts us, someone says something against us, and in our hearts, we cannot forgive that person. Or maybe we hurt someone.
Listen to Jesus’ prayer: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Jesus prayed these words of forgiveness on behalf of the people gathered at the foot of the cross; people who wanted to watch him die; people who only the day before had shouted, “Crucify Him!” Jesus spoke these words of forgiveness on behalf of the Roman soldiers, the people who only minutes before had nailed him to the cross. He said it for the members of the Sanhedrin who had rushed to find him guilty of a capital crime. He said it for his frightened disciples who had run and were in hiding. Notice the wonder of his words. Understanding his final example to us will enable us to forgive others, to forgive ourselves, and to experience the joy that comes when we do forgive. Army, Navy, Air Force or civilian, we need to know that God forgives us for our sins and remembers our sacrifices.
Christ had a world-changing attitude. I hear Christians say, “I cannot talk to God! I cannot pray! I do not believe anymore – after the way people have treated me.” Look at the way people treated Jesus. He had preached love. He had healed the sick. He had fed the poor. He had done nothing bad to anyone. His only crime was to upset the social order. For this, his nation sinned against him. His own disciples failed him. Peter denied him. His heavenly Father was willing to see him suffer. He was up all night, dragged from one kangaroo court to another, found guilty of crimes he did not commit, beaten almost beyond recognition, had multiple stab wounds in the head from the thorns in his crown, made to drag his own cross, pierced with spikes driven through his hands and feet, then raised on the cross, suspended by his nail-torn flesh between two thieves to suffer death.
In spite of all this, Jesus was able to look up into the heavens and begin his prayer with, “Father.” He lived in fellowship with his Father and knew that even under these horrible circumstances, God loved him. I remember in Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 37, the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ and Jesus answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” Jesus, under these most difficult circumstances of his life, remained true to his Father, never doubting God’s love, even while nailed to the cross.
Perhaps you are hurting now. You are thinking, “If God loves me, how can he let me suffer so?” God loved Jesus, and yet he was willing to see Jesus die a horrible death. No matter how bad things seem, God loves us, and he always will; have no doubt in that. Do not lose faith. He is working out his purpose for each of us. Christ’s agony on that cross was for the greatest purpose. God raised him to eternal glory. It is not easy to suffer. Pain hurts. It seems so unfair. A broken heart hurts far worse than a broken arm. If we really want to be a Christian, Jesus, here on the cross, shows us where we must start. We must start by following God’s will, no matter if our circumstances seem as dark as those that Jesus faced on the cross that day more than two thousand years ago. When we can say, “Father,” then we are able to look up to heaven and know that God will make all right.
Next in Christ's appeal, we find “forgive them.” “Father, forgive them.” The Greek New Testament indicates that our Lord repeated this prayer several times. He said it as they laid him on the cross as it lay on the ground. He said it as they drove the spikes through his flesh. He said it as they raised his cross, its base sliding into a hole in the ground, jerking erect with a sudden and painful thud. And finally, he said it as he hung there, dangled in the air by his mangled meat. “Father, forgive them.” He could have prayed, “Father, judge them; Father, bring punishment upon them.” He could have called down legions of angels to deliver him, but he did not. The thing that kept Christ on that cross was love, not nails. I say again, the thing that kept Christ on that cross was love, not nails. Jesus knew what was going to happen to him. He knew he was going to the cross. He could have run.
Luke 22:21 records what Jesus said the night before he was betrayed, at the Last Supper, “But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.” Christ told Judas to go do what he had to do. Jesus could have slipped out of that room and out of Jerusalem as soon as Judas was gone. He did not. A short time later, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray before Judas showed up with the temple guards. Jesus could have run then. I read portions from Luke 22:39-46, “Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place … He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’ … And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Jesus knew what was coming. He had the power to turn and walk away from the horrible pain that he knew the Romans would inflict on him, and yet he said, “not My will, but Yours [Father], be done.” Jesus went to the cross because he loved us. He went to the cross knowing he would pray, “Father, forgive them.”
Many times some of us may have wanted to bring down fire from heaven on someone and wanted to pray, “Father, judge them for their sin against me.” But our Lord gave us his example that day: “Father, forgive them.” Christ practiced the message that he preached. He preached forgiveness. He told his people in his messages, “Now, if you do not forgive from your heart, God cannot forgive you.” This does not mean that the basis of forgiveness is our own good works. No, but it does mean that if in our hearts we are unwilling to forgive others, we are in no condition to come and ask God for forgiveness for ourselves. Let me repeat that: If we are unwilling to forgive others, we are in no shape to enter into God’s presence and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness of a wrong against us is a form of mastering ourselves, of moving to Christ-likeness. We must remember that all of this happened while Rome ruled the world. The Romans worshipped revenge. Revenge was one of their gods. Revenge is the god of the terrorists that flew airplanes full of innocent people into the Twin Towers, murdering 3,000 innocent souls whom God created in his image. Our Lord Jesus did not worship revenge, nor should we. He prayed, “Father, forgive them,” and in doing so, he fulfilled the Word. He practiced his own message of forgiveness.
This, of course, was the purpose of his death. Our Lord was on the cross because God does forgive sinners. That is the message of the Gospels. We do not have to go around with the weight and burden of anger and revenge on our lives. We do not have to carry the guilt of sin. We can forgive! We can be forgiven! Forgiveness is the message of the cross. Forgiveness is not cheap; it is very expensive. It cost Jesus his life. We will have no problem forgiving others if we are right in our relationship with our Father and remember that God has forgiven us. Those who do not forgive others tear down the bridge on which they themselves will have to walk. Romans chapter 3, verse 23 states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God loves us. We are rebellious, we act selfishly, we are immoral, we sin, yet God loves us intensely. He loves us beyond anything that we can comprehend. He loves us so much that he gave his only son, Jesus the Christ, to die on that cross.
Perhaps some will argue, “But you have no idea how others have treated me.” Well, I have an idea of how others treated Jesus, and yet he was able to say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Our Lord not only prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies, but with this last phrase, he argued on their behalf and your behalf. It is as though he stood as a lawyer and said to his Father, “Let me give you a reason why you should forgive them. They do not know what they do. They are ignorant of the enormity of their actions. They do not realize what great sinners they are. I know what I am doing; I am dying for them. Now, Father, forgive them so that I will not have died in vain, that I may, in this most horrible of circumstances, set a final example.”
The early New Testament Scriptures, written mostly in Greek, commonly used the word aphesis to convey the English “forgiveness.” Aphesis means “sending away” or “letting go.” Quite simply put, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” is letting go. It is the understanding of the basic fact that good is permanent, always present, and all-powerful. Evil is temporary, insubstantial, and without its own character. The trick is the proper spiritual treatment of evil. Do not wrestle with evil. Forgive yourself and forgive others. Not to forgive a wrong done to us or by us is to give further life and power to that evil. Not to forgive is to transfer power onto our memories and any person who has hurt us. This makes matters worse. How foolish. Evil cannot come into our lives unless there is something in us with which it is attuned. By forgiving that wrong, not only do we remove its ability to do us more harm, we remove the likelihood of retaliation, we present the wrongdoer with an example that may change him.
Paul covers this point quite well in Romans Chapter 12, verses 17-21, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather … ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink…’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” God loves us; he wants us to be happy.
While on the cross, Christ was still thinking only of your happiness and you. His final words about forgiving apply to any wrong you have done. His final words about forgiving even those who have horribly wronged you are a part of your guide to the happiness God wants for you. When you will not forgive yourself or someone else, you are expressing a degree of hate. That hate has negative psychological and physiological effects on you. Hatred is one of the most destructive emotions. Indeed, every time you think about something you did that was wrong or that someone did to you, you relive whatever reason you think you have for hating. You become the victim of your own thoughts. That is why you are not to bear a grudge or seek vengeance. I mean, even though someone has harmed you in some way, every time you remember that harm or seek vengeance or bear a grudge, you relive the pain. Your emotions do not allow you to differentiate between the real and the imagined. In your mind, you become victims again. Only by removing the hatred, through forgiveness, do you release the pain and remove the ability of your memories to keep hurting you again and again. Forgiveness means you no longer victimize yourself. This reliving of your victimhood is why God forbids you to seek vengeance. You shall not repay evil with evil. You are to return good for evil (Matthew 5:43-48). Jesus says that in so doing, maybe you will make an enemy into a friend. Only forgiveness removes your sin of hatred. By forgiving, you remove the ability of that wrong to do you more harm. Forgiveness is for your happiness; forgiveness is God’s mercy on you, the victim of a horror or a wrong. Forgiveness breaks the cycle and lets you get on with your life. Forgiveness removes you from victim status.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Again, I say, nails did not hold Jesus on the cross, love did. Jesus’ last words from the cross give you an example of how you may join Christ in his work on earth. These last words show you how to slip from evil’s hold on your life. Jesus, while suffering to death on the cross, showed you another way to help establish his kingdom on earth.
If we all obeyed these words of Christ, there would never be another time to send our best and brightest of to another war. You have a complete Bible, from Adam to Christ’s second coming. You are not ignorant of the requirement that all Christians must forgive themselves and all who have sinned against you. You are not to carry revenge in your heart. It will hurt you much more than it will hurt the ones who have wronged you. God is patient with you, that you may have time to reconcile yourself with your sins, and he asks you to treat others the same way. Is that too much?
Religion is in rapid decline in America and the world. I believe that is because we Christians have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions. Jesus’ instructions are simple: Forgive!
Love yourself. Love others as you love yourself. Forgiveness begins when you realize that God has forgiven you. Whatever sins you have committed, if you sincerely go to God and ask for forgiveness, they are forgiven. Then, if possible, ask for forgiveness from those against whom you sinned.
Now, search your heart. Are you trying to crucify yourself? Is there someone you hate so much that for you to meet them on the street is to suffer? Is there someone who has you in victim status? Is there someone you hate so much that you would not tell them about Christ? Is there someone whom you need to forgive? If there is, know that Christ wants you free of your pain: Forgive! Forgive that you may do what Christ would have you do. Forgive that you may enjoy life better. Forgive that you may join Christ in establishing his way as your way. Forgiveness puts you in a position to witness to all.
