God Doesn’t Make Mistakes

If you would heed the advice of a famous German poet, everyday you would “at least hear one song, read one good poem, contemplate one good painting, and, if it is still possible, speak a few sensible words.”

In Luke’s account of the crucifixion, we are told that even after Jesus is nailed to the Cross, He still finds it possible to speak a few sensible words: “And when they came to the place which is called ‘The Skull,'” Luke writes, “they crucified Him … and Jesus said, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:33, 34).

When the first Christian missionaries went to Alaska and the Eskimo people, they could not find a word in the native language for “forgiveness.” Consequently, they had to compound one that would sound sensible to the Eskimos. This turned out to be a twenty-four letter jawbreaker that I couldn’t even begin to pronounce — but I’ll spell it for you: I-S-S-U-M-A-G-I-J-O-U-J-U-N-G-N-A-I-N-E-R-M-I-K. That…