Walking the Talk

Extreme situations tend to rip the doors off the carefully concealed places of our hearts and minds and expose what's deep within us. The crucifixion did just that for Jesus—what poured out of Him wasn't what we would expect from someone the Romans tortured.
Compassion, love, and forgiveness flowed from Him just like His blood. We see Jesus practicing what He preached and providing an example for us to follow with His actions. Jesus not only loved those who loved and followed Him, He also loved His enemies and forgave them. These were the ones who had just whipped Him and were responsible for His horrendous pain.

As Jesus walked up Golgotha (too weak to carry His cross like people on their way to their crucifixions usually did), He spoke gently to the women following Him. They were mourning and lamenting--weeping and carrying on (as The Message puts it in Luke 23:27), and Jesus cared enough for them to speak and warn them of things to come.

On the cross—even in His extreme physical pain amid the torture and all the difficulty He had breathing—Jesus still had love and compassion. Not only did He make provision for His widowed mother, but He cared for the men around Him. The same men who were physically responsible for driving the nails into His hands and feet. Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23: 34 ESV) What was their response? They gambled to see who would keep His clothes and mocked Him; they completely disregarded and blew off His compassion for them. But that didn't stop Him.

The rulers of the people, the Sanhedrin, insulted Him. People stared at Him. Soldiers mocked Him. People doubted Him. Gawkers might've stayed simply to see what would happen to Him. Would He come off the cross and save Himself if He really was who He claimed to be?

But Jesus lived what He preached. He endured even when every breath was more agony than we can imagine, and even knowing that He truly did not deserve any of it. He didn't lash out at them. He didn't get hung up on His rights. He didn't rant and rave about the injustice of it all. He didn't escape—physically or mentally. He faithfully lived what He had preached in the worst of situations.

Jesus loved and forgave. And He loved more than just His people; he loved those who physically and verbally abused Him. His faithfulness in loving and forgiving spoke when there were few words He had the breath to speak. Others could see the evidence of His compassion, even one of the thieves on the cross beside Him. Jesus offered the man hope and peace on a day when there was no hope for him.

So, what are we to do? Look on and say, "That's nice. He's God. I'm not. There's no way I could ever do that." This response is a true statement. There is no way that we could in our own strength. But that's not the end of the argument because, as Christians, we have His Spirit living within us. When we focus on Jesus and build our lives on Him and around Him, saturating ourselves with Him and His Word, He changes us from the inside out. And as we keep soaking ourselves in Him and His Word, when the pressure builds and squeezes us, Jesus and His love and compassion will come out of us, helping us live out faithfully what we believe and preach. But for that to happen, we must stay rooted in Him, saturated with Him, and planted in His Word and His love.