1. Father, Forgive Them (Luke 23:34)
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
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"32 Two other men, both criminals, were
also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place
called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals -- one on
his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, 'Father, forgive
them, for they do not know what they are doing.' And they divided up his
clothes by casting lots." (Luke 23:32-34)
The scene around the cross is crass and unfeeling. The
soldiers are part of an execution detail, bored with crucifixion. Perhaps this
team will have conducted several crucifixions this week already. The first time
they saw a crucifixion they may have been moved by its brutality, but now they
are calloused, emotionless.
First, the soldiers begin with the cruel process of nailing
the criminal to a cross, then hoisting him up, the cross swaying forward, then
back until it is secured with wedges at the bottom to hold it upright in the
hole. And when that task is done, they sit around the base waiting for the
criminal to die -- sometimes for days. To pass the time they gamble, deciding by
a casting of lots who will be awarded the victim's last possessions. That is
the scene.
But in the midst of it comes an astounding, powerful word
from the "criminal" on the center cross:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they are doing." (Luke 23:34a)
Stop reading silently for a moment and speak this sentence
out loud and listen to yourself as you say the words:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they are doing." (Luke 23:34a)
What is Jesus saying? In his last hour, Jesus is saying a
prayer, a request to God Almighty. It is remarkable, however, that Jesus isn't
asking for himself! I would be terrified and overwhelmed, trying desperately to
retain my composure. My prayer would probably be: "God help me!" if I could
utter any sounds at all.
But Jesus' prayer is one of complete unselfishness. He is
concerned for the people who are responsible for crucifying him and is asking
God to forgive them. Instead of thinking of himself and his own needs, he is
thinking of those whose souls are in much greater peril than his own. The first
thing I learn from this word is love. At his last extremity, Jesus loves.
But his love is not merely for those base military
functionaries who put him on the cross. His prayer reveals a gentle love for
God himself. At the moment he begins the long course of death through
excruciating pain, he speaks in love to the only One who can deliver him -- God
himself! He speaks not for himself, but for others. And he speaks in love.
Think about the word "Father" in this prayer and consider
the alternatives.
"God" is the generic term for deity.
"Lord" is a term of respect and honor for one who is
exalted in rank. This term was substituted by the Jews to avoid saying the
divine name of Yahweh or Jehovah when reading the Scripture.
"Almighty God" would be a bit formal at the desperate hour
of one's crucifixion, but it would express God's great power.
"Creator God" is a common substitute for "Father" among
Christians who want to avoid the paternalism they see in the word "Father." But
"Creator God" is not a term of relationship, rather one of function and awe.
"Father," on the other hand, is first and foremost a term of
relationship and endearment. It is a family term. Spoken within the family
circle it was often expressed as "Abba," which, roughly translated, might
correspond to our "Dad" or "Daddy." Jesus had used this intimate Aramaic word
to address his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before (Mark
14:36). It is also the cry of the Spirit of God within us, helping us reach out
to God (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6).
In this prayer at his last hour, Jesus addresses the God of
the Universe with the simple term "Father." And he invites us to do the same.
When Jesus' disciples ask him how they should pray, he gives them a model prayer
that begins, "Our Father..." (Matthew 6:9).
By beginning his prayer with the word "Father," Jesus expresses
at the same time a love and a confidence, a trust. One who doubts might pile up
descriptors of God to buttress his shaky faith, but one who calls him simply, "Father,"
knows him, trusts him, and is confident in the outcome.
Consider the prayer again:
"Father, forgive them, for they do
not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34a)
Jesus prays that the Father would forgive "them." Who are "they"
for whom he prays? Let's consider the possibilities.
Soldiers. He could be praying for the Roman soldiers
who routinely put men to death on this site of Golgotha. They destroyed a human
life, brutally, without compassion, but they didn't initiate the action. They
had no choice. They were merely following orders. Only after the fact did they realize
with awe and terror what they had done: "Surely he was the Son of God!" said
the centurion (Matthew 27:54). It could have been the soldiers he was
forgiving.
Pilate might have been a better candidate, however.
Against all law he had given the order for the crucifixion. He had found Jesus
innocent of the crimes with which he had been charged. Yet, the pressure of the
Jewish leaders and his fear of a riot "forced" him to go against his own better
judgment. He signed the death warrant and then publically washed his hands
(Matthew 27:24) -- the crass, double-faced act of a self-serving politician
desperate to hold onto power. Perhaps Jesus was forgiving Pilate for the
weakness of his character.
Chief priests and scribes were the prime force behind
the crucifixion. Once Jesus had cleansed the temple of their greedy trade in
animals and money changing at outrageous exchange rates, they were determined
to kill him (Matthew 21:15, 23, 45-46; 26:3-4). Behind the scenes they had paid
off Judas for his insider betrayal (Matthew 26:14-16), sent temple soldiers to
arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:47), tried to get people to
testify falsely against Jesus before the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:59), brought his
case before Pilate (Matthew 27:1-2), and stirred up the crowd to demand that
Jesus be crucified (Matthew 27:20-23). It may have been the chief priests and
scribes that Jesus was forgiving.
Pharisees and Sadducees were his early enemies. Jesus'
plain teaching about the Kingdom of God offended them both. The Sadducees
sought to discredit him (Matthew 22:23-34). The Pharisees were the first to
actively plot Jesus' death (Matthew 12:14). I would guess that if Jesus came to
our churches today, many of our leaders would oppose him openly. Some might
plot to destroy him. The real Jesus is just too threatening to established
religious power that resists change. It might be the Pharisees and Sadducees
who were the recipients of his plea for mercy.
You and I. But when you think about it, we are the
real ones that sent Jesus to the cross -- our sins, our corruption, our
weakness and pettiness. The way we're headed on our own is to our doom -- that's
what Jesus says. The gate to eternal life is exceedingly narrow, he tells us --
so narrow that few find it on their own (Matthew 7:13-14). Without Jesus'
active campaign to bear our sins upon himself, the Righteous for the
unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18), none of us could be forgiven.
Jesus is under no illusions. He knows why he has come to
earth. He explains it with utmost clarity to his disciples:
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)
You and I made the cross necessary. We are the ones he prays
to forgive.
Are people forgiven only if they don't know what they are
doing? Jesus says,
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they are doing." (Luke 23:34a)
Does God hold those who put Jesus to death responsible for
their sins? Oh, yes. He is a just God. They had seen Jesus' miracles and heard
the Truth spoken by the Son of God himself and had yet sought his death. There
was plenty enough rope to hang them with all justice.
Yes, they knew this was a dirty business. Their hearts were
corrupt. But what was lacking was a full understanding of the magnitude of
their sin. That they lacked. Paul explains:
"None of the rulers of this age understood
it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1
Corinthians 2:8; see Acts 3:17)
Paul himself, who persecuted Christians to their death, did
it because he just didn't understand.
"Even though I was once a blasphemer and a
persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance
and unbelief." (1 Timothy 1:13)
What I learn from this First Word is that God is merciful --
far more merciful than any of us deserves. Yes, each of us has plenty enough
sin to condemn us. But God is looking deeper. He has made a way that we do not
deserve, because he knows that if we really knew the truth, we would embrace
his Son.
Jesus' prayer on the cross tells me that God has found a way
to forgive us.
This leads me to the last question raised by this saying:
What does it mean to forgive?
The word in Greek is aphiēmi, with the basic
meaning of "to send away." The word occurs often in Greek commercial papyrus fragments
of the time with the idea of "to release from legal or moral obligation or
consequence, cancel, remit, pardon."1
The word was used in legal documents to describe releasing a person from an
office, severing a marriage obligation, or cancelling a debt that was owed.2
In the Lord's Prayer Jesus uses the verb aphiēmi
in the context of debt:
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors." (Matthew 6:12)
He is speaking of sins as a debt owed to God which must be
paid. The Lord's Prayer asks God to cancel our debts -- as we cancel others'
debt of sins committed against us. In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
(Matthew 18:23-35) Jesus illustrates the concept of forgiveness in terms of
massive financial debt owed to a king.
There's a song by Ellis J. Crum that expresses the concept
of God's forgiveness rather succinctly:
"He paid a debt He did not owe,
I owed a debt I could not pay,
I needed someone to wash my sin away.
And now I sing that brand new song: Amazing Grace,
For Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay."3
That pretty well says it all.
As Jesus begins the last phase of his life -- dying on a
cross hung between earth and heaven -- he prays for all of us who put him
there. He calls out to his Father, without any shame at the intimacy of his love
and the authenticity of his Sonship -- "Father, forgive them." And so we pray the
prayer ourselves: Father, forgive us.
Prayer
Yes, Father, forgive us. We really didn't know the depths to
which we have fallen. And we are just coming to realize the depth of the love
you have for us -- and have always had. Cancel our debt of sin to you, we pray.
Not because we deserve it, but out of your great mercy revealed by the cross.
For we pray this in the Name of Jesus who died on that cross to bring about
just this result. Amen!
Question for Personal Meditation
Questions for Group Discussion
- What term do you usually use to address God? Why? How
might your faith be affected if you started addressing God in your prayers
as "Father"? How would it help you better understand the relationship
between you and God?
- In what sense can your sin be seen as a debt owed to God?
How do you pay off a debt like that? On what just basis can God forgive
this debt of sin?
- What does knowledge of sin have to do with Jesus'
forgiveness? At what level did Jesus' killers understand what they were
doing?
- Who was most responsible for killing Jesus? What responsibility
do we bear for Jesus' death on the cross?
References
2. Rudolf Bultmann, aphiēmi, ktl., TDNT 1:509-512.
3. "He
Paid a Debt He Did Not Owe," words and music by Ellis J. Crum (© 1977, Ellis
J. Crum, Publisher; admin. by Sacred Music, a Trust).
The Seven 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross
Copyright © 1985-2012, Ralph F. Wilson. <pastor
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