Friday, March 2, 2007
Luke 23:33-34 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him . . . Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
PICTURES FROM THE PASSION -- "FATHER FORGIVE THEM"
And now we see Jesus nailed to the cross. We see a few of His faithful gathered there, but for the most part, we see a different kind of crowd. We see the cruel and indifferent Romans, we see the vengeful Jewish leaders, and we see the people passing by, mocking Him. Even the criminals on the crosses with Him join in on the taunting.
In the Psalm 22, through the prophecy of the Psalmist, we hear how this all appeared to our suffering Savior. He says "the congregation of the wicked" is surrounding him. He says it is like being encircled by bulls, dogs, lions and wild oxen while He hangs helpless. He has been reduced to less than a man. He says He is a worm.
How does Jesus respond to all of this? He prays that His Father would forgive them. They truly had no idea what they were doing. Of course, coming from Jesus, this was more than a mere sentiment. Jesus was actually taking their place on the cross and accomplishing their forgiveness and salvation. He was doing this for His enemies. He was praying this and doing this for those who were crucifying Him.
As we look at this scene, we see those who are crucifying Jesus; let us add more people to the scene. How about you and me? How about all people who have ever lived? We have all crucified Jesus because we have all committed sin. Jesus needed to die on the cross because of the sins we've committed.
Do we really know how bad our sin looks in the eyes of God? There are no little sins and big sins; there are only sins that nail Jesus to the cross. Every sin is fatal. We must confess that many times when we sin, we don't know what we are doing. However, Jesus does. And that is why He went to the cross. That is why He goes to the Father for each of us who has crucified Him and says, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Because of what He has done, we are forgiven.
