Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NIV).
Luke recorded three statements which Jesus made from the cross. John recorded three additional statements which Jesus made from the cross. And both Matthew and Mark recorded a seventh statement, the same single statement, yet one which was not recorded by Luke or John. Thus we have a total of seven statements. Piecing the details of the four witnesses, it is likely this epic petition to the Father is the first statement which Jesus made from the cross recorded in Scripture.
With utter vigor, I immediately offer the message of this statement: In a Spirit of forgiveness, Jesus was expressing that His crucifixion was the murder of God. Seriously.
Jesus was affirming His own divinity.
Now a number of people did not believe that Jesus is God the Son.
Jesus made many gentle statements in which He stated He is God. For example, in the book of John, chapter 10, Jesus made statements which included:
“I give [my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish…” (John 10:28).
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
The result of these claims by Jesus:
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”
“We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33).
Those folks realized Jesus was claiming to be God, but they did not believe Him, considering their reaction.
And on the morning before Jesus was crucified, the identity of Jesus was refuted. A council of chief priests and teachers of the law questioned Jesus:
They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
[Jesus] replied, “You are right in saying I am.”
Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips” (Luke 22:70-71).
They proceeded to send him to the Roman prefect of Judea, Pilate, to be punished.
That council of chief priests and teachers of the law did not believe Jesus.
Tragically, the opposition by rulers only escalated. In mocking Jesus when He was on the cross, some said:
“…Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42).
Willing to believe truth only on their own terms, they carried out the murder of their own Creator.
Anyone who knowingly attempted to murder God was someone who obviously rejected the love of God. They would likely be on a path of no return. In this case, these fallible human beings were carrying out an execution, not fully knowing they were doing. Sinful, yes. Ignorant, yes.
Jesus knew what they were doing.
Even suffering on the cross, Jesus knew He is God.
In addition, this petition to the Father foreshadowed His purpose of allowing Himself to be murdered. (Jesus could have prevented this murder, as He expressed as recorded in Matthew 26:53.)
Forgiveness was the purpose. We are going to learn more about that from additional statements Jesus will make. There on the cross, Jesus was the atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.
Lastly, it is crucial for us to realize that Jesus was not setting a standard of conditional forgiveness. It would be wrong to take this statement out of context and apply it as our model for forgiving people. Jesus loves all people! Forgiveness from Jesus is for all sinners. Jesus offers forgiveness for everyone by His substitution on the cross for the consequence of our sins (see I Peter 3:18).
And Jesus commanded us to forgive as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount. Our loving forgiveness needs to be offered whatever the motivation was of the person who did wrong, a motivation which only God truly knows in the first place.
In order to forgive, we need to rely on the enabling power of Jesus! And may we continue to remember what Jesus said we need to do to bring goodness:
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:28-29).
Hunter Irvine
Scripture Love Blog
