“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

Day Six Matthew 26:52-54; Luke 23:26-48     from Jesus Last Days, A Model For Our Days

⁵² Then Jesus *said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. ⁵³ Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

²⁶ When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷ And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. ²⁸ But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹ For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³² Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. ³³ When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. ³⁴ But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. ³⁵ And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, ³⁷ and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” ³⁸ Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

³⁹ One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”

³ And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. ⁴⁷ Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.” ⁴⁸ And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts.

We begin this day at the same place we finished yesterday. Yesterday we saw the ultimate expression of love for enemies, as Jesus healed one of those sent to arrest Him. Today we focus initially on the truth of who was responsible for the death of Jesus. Looking at the obvious, we can blame Judas, who betrayed Him. Or, perhaps we would blame the Jewish leaders, who were responsible for His arrest. We might also blame Pilate and the Roman government. Jesus gives us incite though in Matthew 26-53. “Or do you think that I can not now pray to My Father and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels”  Jesus could have avoided His arrest. Luke 4:28-30, tells of a time, early in His ministry, when He had done just that. Jesus had said and done some things to anger the religious leaders. It says, “they were filled with wrath and they led Him out of the city that they might throw Him over a cliff. Verse 30 says: “Then passing through the midst of them, He went on His way”  In John 19:10-11 Pilate is talking to Jesus. “Do you not know I have the power to crucify you and the power to release you?” Jesus answers, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given to you from above”  The truth is really summed up in Jesus words in John 10:17-18. “Therefore My Father loves Me because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me but I lay it down., and I have the power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.

Later as Jesus hung on the cross, others would say, if He truly was the Son of God, He could save Himself. These taunts were much like the initial temptation satan used in the wilderness. (Matthew 4:1-10) Jesus purpose was not to prove who He was. His purpose was to pay the price for all sin and to restore man’s relationship to God. No one killed Jesus. He laid down His own life, that scripture would be fulfilled. That includes all prophetic scripture regarding Messiah, from Genesis, Isaiah and the Psalms. Many people today fall into the same trap. They challenge God to prove Himself. God doesn’t need to prove Himself. God is God whether we believe it or not. God’s desire and our purpose as Christians is not to prove who God is, as if people could be saved by our words. Rather, we should desire that people come to a revelation of  Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Again there are so many stories and events in the last day of Jesus life as a man. The things that have been left out have  not been overlooked. We will however move past the trial. The verdict was certain. It had been ordained by God from the time of the fall in the garden.

Our reflection on the crucifixion begins with a man, Simon of Cyrene, being chosen to bear the cross for Jesus on the walk to Calvary. Two things come to mind when I reflect on this scene. First, it appears that none of those who were close to Jesus were nearby to share this deepest darkness of our Lord. None were left to defend or hold up the Master in His time of need. Let’s not look in judgment though. Instead let us take comfort in knowing that when we feel utterly abandoned and betrayed, whether by a friend or a family member, Jesus understands. He knows the hurt and the disappointment. When you are in that darkest hour, Jesus Himself will be your Simon. He will carry every burden that’s too heavy for you to bear.  Second let us understand that if Jesus, God in flesh, needed someone to come along side Him and bear this physical burden, a burden that surely was beyond the physical capability of  His battered flesh, we must know that there will be burdens beyond our natural ability. Galatians 6:2 says: Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.   We need to learn and  understand that when we bear the burden of another, we must, as Simon did, bear that burden to the place of Calvary. There we must release it. Simon carried the weight of the cross. Jesus alone could complete the work of the cross. When we bear the burdens of another, we must  lay it down releasing it to the power of Jesus finished work on the cross.

My reflection on the Lord’s Passion on the cross never ceases to amaze me. Every time I come to the cross God reveals more of Himself to me. I think though that Jesus ultimate display of love on the cross has taught me more about forgiveness than anything else. The way a man dies by crucifixion is literally by suffocation. There is so much pressure on the chest and diaphragm that breathing becomes almost impossible. As the lungs fill up with fluid the only way to breathe is to pull against the nails in the flesh to rise up and gasp for air. It is in this state, straining against those nail that Jesus speaks the words, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”(Luke 23:24) That request for forgiveness was made on behalf of the Roman soldiers. It included the mockers surrounding the cross. Forgiveness was asked for the religious Jews, whose fears and insecurities caused them to seek Jesus death. Two thousand years ago the words, “Father forgive them they know not what they do” were spoken across time to forgive you and me.

A few verses later we see two criminals on opposite sides of Jesus. We see the eternal question that faces every man. What are you going to do with Jesus? In the end that’s what it all comes down to. Jesus did the work. He spoke the words of eternal forgiveness. It’s up to us to respond. Do we like the first thief join  the doubters and mockers? Do we call on God to prove Himself? Or do we say, Lord Jesus remember me, a sinner” The church today doesn’t need a new formula or a new method to reach the world. The world needs a revelation of the love of Christ and the power of the cross. They need to see Jesus.

As I said I have received a lot about forgiveness as I visited the cross. I remember a time I was struggling through a tremendous hurt. The Lord taught me through His example, that to truly forgive as God would have us forgive, we must forgive as Jesus did. We must forgive in the midst of our pain. Human nature causes us to wait to see the outcome. Then once we have come through the ordeal, we determine to forgive based on how things worked out. Godly forgiveness is immediate and complete. It does not wait to see the outcome. It is unconditional. For a long time I struggled to the best of my ability to forgive as soon as I was hurt, even while I was still bleeding. I found I was never able to forgive soon enough. In my flesh I held on to my right to be hurt and offended. Finally God revealed an additional truth to me about the forgiveness of the cross. Jesus didn’t decide at that moment as He hung on the cross, to forgive. Every moment of Jesus ministry from the time He resisted satan in the wilderness was part of His work of forgiveness. His decision to forgive was made in advance, knowing full well He would be betrayed, falsely accused and abandoned, He chose to forgive. So too must we. If we are determined to walk in forgiveness, we must decide in advance, even now, to forgive every word and action against us. Jesus work on the cross had the power to release every single person from the bondage of sin, sin, past, sin present and every sin from that point on. True forgiveness is found only in the cross of Christ, and so extends from past to present and through the future. Choose now to walk in forgiveness, past, present and future. It will change your life.

You can then go on with Jesus.