Have you ever got into trouble for something that was taken the wrong way? Maybe you said something to a brother or sister and Mum and Dad snapped at you. But that’s not what you meant to come out, you didn’t mean for it to sound that way. Perhaps you were doing something at school or college and an adult ripped your head of because they didn’t understand your intentions. Misunderstood? Man, it is rubbish when people take what we do and say the wrong way. But we are in good company. If anyone was misunderstood from his birth to his crucifixion, it was Jesus. He was misunderstood by those who wanted him to come to Earth and misunderstood by those that hated him. Here is Jesus the Son of God going about his Earthly life teaching and preaching and the local coppers are accusing him of all sorts of stuff. So how does Jesus react? Well ultimately Jesus dies on the cross for those that loved him and for those that hated him. Now that’s pretty sacrificial. We might need a lot of strength from God to bite our lips when people misunderstand us and accuse us of all sorts of things, but maybe that’s the place to start. Our first instinct might be to lose our rag and shout back at them; but instead, pausing and taking a deep breath would be a good start. Counting to ten and then saying something like “I understand how you could think that my intention was that, but this is what I really meant.” It’s the counting to ten and pausing that will be hard, but hey if Jesus can die on the cross for those who hate him, perhaps we should give counting to ten a try.
