In the name of Jesus
Tonight we consider the first of the seven words or statements of our Lord from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Consider well what kind of Savior we have who would say such words. It's not as if Jesus didn't have sufficient reason or justification to speak words of anger and judgment. He easily could have if He wanted to. And it's not as if Jesus wasn't actually experiencing any sort of real pain, that He was above it all, and therefore He could be merciful. As a true man Jesus was fully experiencing the first stages of one of the most agonizing, drawn out and degrading sorts of death there was.
And the way that He had gotten there was entirely unjust. He had been deviously arrested by the religious leaders. An illegal trial was held in the middle of the night where all sorts of false testimony was sought out to condemn Him. This kangaroo court finally found the Son of God Himself guilty of blasphemy. He had done nothing wrong. Yet He was mistreated and beaten by both the Jews and the Roman soldiers. The Roman governor was put in a position where it was politically expedient for him to have Jesus executed, even though he knew that He was innocent. Jesus was whipped with 39 lashes and crucified.
Now put yourself in Jesus' position. What would the first words be out of your mouth? Would you be speaking of forgiveness or of retribution and judgment? What would your prayers sound like? Fallen creatures like ourselves would be seeking revenge not compassion. Who cares if they don't fully understand what they are doing; they are still doing it, and they should be punished! They should get what they deserve! We know all too well that desire that boils up within us to lash out at those who have wronged us, to want them to get what they've got coming, to curse instead of to bless. However, Jesus says, "Father, forgive them."
Here is the ultimate picture of God's love for us, that He dies for sinners, even for His enemies, His persecutors. Before we could ever ask Him for help or seek His forgiveness, He was already there to save and redeem us. We must confess that it wasn't only the Jewish leaders or the Roman soldiers who crucified Christ, but every one of us here. Our sin nailed Him to the tree. Every word of anger or retaliation or jealousy on our part forced His sentencing. Every sin of ours that has become casual and comfortable pressed the thorns into His head. Every failure to do what is right, every giving in to what is wrong drove the spikes through His flesh. Our own behavior contributed to the injustice of His death.
And yet, as awful as that is to consider, there is also some good news in that fact. For since you are among those whose sins caused Jesus' death, you are also among those to whom His words here apply. You are a part of the "them" in "Father, forgive them." Even now from His Father's right hand, Jesus speaks His absolving words of you, "Father, forgive them because of My all-atoning death on the cross. Father, do not hold their sins against them, for I paid for their sins with my own suffering. Father, be merciful to these who trust in Me and who now see that My cross is their salvation." Jesus is praying for you even now. The Son of God is speaking on your behalf to the Father. His prayer is surely heard. And therefore, your sins are surely forgiven. Believe in that truth. Believe in Christ the crucified.
More than the soldiers, more than you, it was God the Father who crucified Jesus His Son. It was His will and plan that Jesus be treated unjustly so that you might be treated mercifully, so that you who are His enemies by nature might become His friends, indeed His family. From the cross alone flows God's restoring and reconciling forgiveness–in these words issuing forth from His mouth, in the sacramental water and blood that flowed from Jesus' side. When you see a crucifix like this one here, remember these words of Jesus and know that they were spoken for you, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
It is the way of God to bear injustice, to be good to all. He gives daily bread to the evil and the good. His Son patiently delays His return, that all may come to repentance, to a knowledge of the truth and be saved. And so it is that God's people, the baptized, also bear injustice. They are good and merciful, just as God is good and merciful, even to those who are their enemies. You are not this way of yourself, but Christ is this way in you and through you. For you are baptized into Christ's death. You are members of His body.
Jesus reminds us in today's reading that bad days lie ahead for the people of God. He says, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. . . For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will be done when the wood is dry?" In other words, if this great evil and injustice is done when the Messiah is present, when the wood is green and less fit for burning, how much more will God's people suffer and be persecuted when the dry wood kindles the fires of ungodliness?
Christians should expect suffering; they should expect opposition to following Jesus. This should not be a surprise when it happens. For it is the way of the cross which defines our lives and our hope of resurrection. In your daily callings you are to serve one another and bear one another's burdens, even when it means being treated unfairly, even when you are suffering and being "nailed" for other people's faults. For the fact of the matter is that Jesus bore all of that in His own body on the tree. He bears those burdens with you now. He continues to pray in you and through you, "Father, forgive them." Just as St. Stephen prayed for His persecutors when He was being stoned to death, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." "Be merciful to them because of the holy cross, even as I am always in desperate need of your mercy."
This is what we sang in the hymn, "Oh, may we who mercy need, be like you in heart and deed, when with wrong our spirits bleed." Jesus is at work in you to love your enemies, to pray for those who persecute you, to overcome evil with good. If in the end, they reject His long-suffering love, then vengeance will be His on the day of judgment.
Until then, we are given to be conduits of God's mercy in Christ to others, passing on to our neighbor what we have first received from the Lord. As we pray in the Lord's prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
In the name of Jesus