“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34
Having completed our meditation on Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, which He gave before going to the cross, we now contemplate the prayer Jesus gave while He hung on that cross. It is a short but powerful prayer uttered just moments before He died. Here, Jesus asks for His Father’s forgiveness to those who crucified Him. We might think this applies to just those who unjustly accused and condemned Him or to those who actually carried out the execution, but the prayer goes far beyond the Jewish leaders, His opponents and the power of Rome. It was our sin that put Jesus on the cross. All sins past, present and future are the reason Jesus willingly went to the cross to die.
One of the powers of sin is that it does not allow us to see just how horrible and offensive it is to God. As the classic hymn says, we might “think of our sins but lightly nor perceive its evil great” but when we look at Jesus’ innocent suffering and death, we get a glimpse of just how terrible it is. We might wrongly compare ourselves and our sin to others and point to them as more offensive or make excuses for ourselves, but in truth, sin deserves present and eternal punishment. That’s how terrible it is!
When Jesus asks for forgiveness on our behalf, He does so realizing that sin itself has blinded us to sin. We don’t know what we are doing in that we don’t fully understand how greatly offensive it is to our all holy God Who cannot abide it in any degree. The great comfort we receive from Jesus’ prayer is that we know His Father, and our Father, will answer because it is the request of His Only Begotten Son. The Father has forgiven us and will continue to do so until the time of our perfection comes. This is all made certain because Jesus has petitioned it on our behalf!
Know that you are loved!
Peace and Joy,
Pastor Kilian