As we know, we have four Gospels, each with its own take on the passion and death of Jesus. Fr. Rolheiser writes that for Luke, what happened in the death of Jesus is the most apparent revelation ever of the incredible scope of God’s understanding, forgiveness, and healing. For him, Jesus’ death washes everything clean through an understanding, forgiveness, and healing that belies every notion suggesting anything to the contrary. In his account of Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, he tells us that immediately after one of his disciples struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear, Jesus touched the man’s ear and healed him. God’s healing, Luke intimates, reaches into all situations, even situations of bitterness, betrayal, and violence. God’s grace will ultimately heal even what’s wounded in hatred. Then, after Peter denied him three times and Jesus was led away after his interrogation by the Sanhedrin, Luke tells us that Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter in a look that made Peter weep bitterly. Everything in this text and everything that comes after it suggests that the look from Jesus was a look of such understanding and empathy as Peter had never before seen, causing him to weep in relief, knowing that everything was alright and that he was okay. Finally, in Luke’s narrative, we arrive at the place where Jesus is crucified, and as they are crucifying him, he utters the famous words: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Those words, which Christians forever afterward have taken as the ultimate criterion as to how we should treat our enemies and those who do us ill, encapsulate the profound revelation contained in Jesus’ death. Unlike the narratives of Mark and Matthew, Jesus does not die expressing abandonment but instead dies expressing complete trust: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke wants us to see in these words a template for how we can face our own deaths, given our weaknesses. What’s the lesson? At the end of the day, when each of us faces our own death, this will be our biggest regret, that we’re not saints. But, as Jesus shows in his death, we can die (even in weakness) knowing we are dying in safe hands.