FORGIVE EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD – INDLOVUKAZI

LOBAMBA – Her Majesty the Indlovukazi yesterday preached a sermon of forgiveness during the Good Friday service held at the National Church in Lobamba.

This year’s national sermon for the start of Easter holidays saw attendants and various pastors preach the word of God. There were also performances by various choirs including the Kuphila KwaMadodana choir. Taking to the podium in the afternoon just after 2pm, after she was introduced to the nation by the Prime Minister Russell Dlamini, Her Majesty encouraged each and every person to forgive when wronged.

She said it was God’s grace that there was peace in the country when some countries were at war. She first cited scripture in Act 12, where she talked about the story of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison. “Forgiveness is a hard thing. However, Jesus teaches us that we should forgive. Even at the time when he was crucified on the cross, He asked God to forgive those who persecuted Him.

“One would think that when feeling the pounding of the nails on the cross, they would never say to the one next to Him that He would be with him in paradise,” Her Majesty said.

Gathered

Her majesty took the thousands of Christians, who were gathered at the National Church, through scripture.
In Act 12 where she first read, King Herod had arrested and persecuted Christians. King Herod ordered that Jesus’s disciple James, the brother of John, to be killed with the sword whereupon the Jews approved his deed, leading him to also hunt and seize Peter to be arrested.

Heavily guarded, Peter was to be brought to trial but an angel appeared, unlocking his shackles and led him out of prison in a mysterious prison break. The angry king ordered for the soldiers to be killed but Herod himself met his death gruesomely. An angel of God struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

The Indlovukazi said the moral of the story was that God protects His own people. “If you perk the eye of God, you are going to pay for it,” she said. She also said that each and every person has a path to choose of being good or evil, adding that in the end all would account for their deeds.

Sins

The Indlovukazi said Jesus died for all of the people’s sins. “As many as we are gathered here, Jesus took away our sins. When we pass on, we will all have to account. All must find their path while still alive,” she said. Indlovukazi also as much as it was hard to forgive, people who want to go to heaven ought to forgive. “I want to say that Herod was cursed and that he met his death for hunting Christians. Even today, some are hunting them,” Her Majesty said adding that the national prayer presented a fountain of the word of God from which Christians should take advantage of.

She said emaSwati ought to thank God and must not forget that God appeared before King Somhlolo and told emaSwati to choose scripture over money. Meanwhile the Prime Minister also focused on the path of forgiveness .
He also said that he marvelled that Jesus uttered the words “forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.

Pain

“He had hands and feet dripping blood. Forgiveness has to happen even when there is pain. Even when the mind and heart refuses,” the prime minister said. Jesus abdicated His status for Him to die – Rev Mkhonta “Jesus would never have died if he had not surrendered his soul at the cross.”

This was the sermon that was shared by Reverend Luke Mkhonta of the United Christian Church of Africa (UCCA).
Mkhonta, one of eight pastors to give sermons during the Good Friday service based his sermon on the book of Luke 23 verse 46. It reads, “Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last.” Most of the sermons focused on the death of Jesus.

Reverend Mkhonta said Jesus had to reduce his status as He was the son of God from heaven so that he could be below death which he commanded. He said if he had not said these words giving death power over him, Jesus would never have died.

Reverend Mkhonta also said Jesus performed a number of miracles including the resurrection of people from death.
He also said when Jesus had died, the sun vanished and there was darkness all over the world testifying that He was indeed the son of God, adding that this was a sign that the heavens were welcoming Him back at his rightful place.

Return

Another, Reverend Lady Simelane from Alamathiya Church in Zion said people ought to return home and ask for forgiveness from their family members. Reverend Sabelo Mathunjwa of the Christian Faith in Zion read scripture from John 19:25 – 27. It reads, “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[a] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

The President of the League of Churches, Bishop Samson Hlatshwayo, said people have forsaken God hence the increasing cases of gender-based violence and wars. He read from Ezekiel 37: 3-4 where it says, “And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” The bishop said the whole world was dry and must be brought back by turning to God.

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