A Prayer Of Repentance
By: Dave Mathews
My dearest Brother Jesus, my redeemer, my saviour, my salvation, as I kneel here at your side, and gaze upon you hanging there upon that cross, in pain and humiliation, having my sins and the sins of all mankind heaped upon your bruised and bleeding body, I do so as a witness of the supreme sacrifice you offer, and all I can do is kneel, sob and cry, as I hang my head in total shame, as the only thoughts that enter my mind are, Why? Why would you do this for me? Who am I to be worthy of such sacrifice? How can I ever possibly repay such kindness and selflessness, to you, precious Jesus?
As I remember in my heart of hearts the words you prayed in the Garden, as you waited for Judas to fulfill prophecy by delivering you up to Caiaphas, I can hear you talking pleading with Our Father. “Father, please let this cup pass from me, yet, not my will but Thine be done.” I shamefully bury my face in the ground, trembling and my crying becomes uncontrollable sobs of sadness, as I realize that even then in your time of anguish, you were still more than willing to remain obedient to Our Father God, knowing that to do so was going to cause you such pain, but not the physical pain but the heart-felt heartache of knowing that as you received the sins of mankind upon yourself that Our Father, would have to turn his back to you because of his deep hatred for sin. Even now I can still hear your cry of pain and anguish as you cried out, “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?”
Only a truly loving God would humiliate himself as you did. You chose to take on human for, walking with mortal man. You chose to for a period relinquish your Godly Powers, so that Our Father could demonstrate to the people his powers. Only a truly loving Son of God would freely and lovingly offer himself as the perfect sacrifice permitting me and others like me sinful and impure to stand before Our Father God as cleansed and purified and sanctified, by your holy out-poured blood which you permitted to be shed for the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of man for all time. Only a truly loving God would sacrifice if even for a moment to be forsaken by Our Father God, as your body was ridden with impure sins.
Thanks to you precious Jesus my brother, I will never have to stand before our Father in Heaven in shame, for by your sacred blood, I can stand before our Father God, pure and justified. On the day when I am recalled back to Heaven, I will hear Our Father crying out to me, “Welcome home my child my son.”