July 19th
FORGIVE THEM BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW
“As Plato said, every soul is deprived of truth against its will. The same holds true for justice, self-control, goodwill to others, and every similar virtue. It’s essential to constantly keep this in your mind, for it will make you more gentle to all.”—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.63
As he wound his way up Via Dolorosa to the top of Calvary Hill, Jesus, or Christus as he would have been known to Seneca and other Roman contemporaries, had suffered immensely. He’d been beaten, flogged, stabbed, forced to bear his own cross, and was set to be crucified on it next to two common criminals. There he watched the soldiers roll dice to see who would get to keep his clothes, listened as the people sneered and taunted him.
Whatever your religious inclinations, the words that Jesus spoke next—considering they came as he was subjected to unimaginable human suffering—send chills down your spine. Jesus looked upward and said simply, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
That is the same truth that Plato spoke centuries earlier and that Marcus spoke almost two centuries after Jesus; other Christians must have spoken this truth as they were cruelly executed by the Romans under Marcus’s reign: Forgive them; they are deprived of truth. They wouldn’t do this if they weren’t.
Use this knowledge to be gentle and gracious.
7月19日
原谅他们，因为他们并不知道
“正如柏拉图所说，每个灵魂都是违背自己的意愿而被剥夺真理的。正义、自制、对他人的善意，以及每一种类似的美德，也是如此。必须不断把这一点记在心中，因为它会让你对所有人都更加温和。”——马可·奥勒留，《沉思录》，7.63
当耶稣，或者如塞内卡和其他罗马同时代人所称的基督，沿着苦路蜿蜒而上，登上加略山顶时，他已饱受磨难。他被鞭打、刺伤，被迫背负自己的十字架，即将与两个普通罪犯一同被钉死在十字架上。在那里，他眼睁睁地看着士兵掷骰子决定谁能得到他的衣服，听着人们的嘲笑和讥讽。
无论你的宗教信仰如何，耶稣接下来所说的话——考虑到这些话是在他承受难以想象的人类痛苦时说出的——都会让人脊背发凉。耶稣抬头望向上方，只是说：“父啊，赦免他们，因为他们不知道自己在做什么。”
这与几个世纪前柏拉图所说的真理相同，也与耶稣之后近两个世纪马可所说的真理相同；在马可统治期间，其他基督徒被罗马人残酷处死时，也一定说过这个真理：原谅他们；他们被剥夺了真理。如果不是如此，他们就不会这样做。
用这种认识，让自己变得温和而宽厚。
读要读顺口，写要写顺手， 擒字如擒虎，解句如解题。 |