The Seven Sayings of Jesus From the Cross – #1: Father, Forgive Them

Note: Over the next week or so, I’ll be blogging through these seven great sayings, so subscribe or check back often.

The religious leaders had set Jesus up, paid a betrayer, and established false testimony against Jesus because of their intense hatred for him. They followed close to Jesus on his way to be crucified. The Roman soldiers had beaten and mocked Him and gambled over His clothing. One of the twelve had sold Jesus out, one denied knowing Him, and most of the rest were not to be seen – they had forsaken Him and fled. His creation had rejected Him. His nation and His own family had done so as well.

What would you say? You’re on the cross and given only a few breaths to speak to them all in your final moments. Would you argue your case one more time? Would you curse them? Jesus prayed for their forgiveness.

Jesus conveyed a theological truth of judgment by light.

When Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those who were responsible for His crucifixion, He stated the basis of His request, “they know not what they do.” Did He mean they should be considered innocent of murder? No. God doesn’t simply overlook our sin or excuse it. Rather, I think He was highlighting that they crucified Him without realizing the gravity of what they were doing. They had deceived themselves, in and of itself inexcusable, but in their deception, they didn’t realize just Who is was they were killing.

The Bible teaches the principle of judgment based on light. We are held responsible for how much truth we know. Kids are innocent not because they haven’t sinned (we’re born liars, you know) but because they aren’t morally responsible for responding appropriately to revealed truth. The people in Jesus’ day who saw Him walking among them were more responsible for rejecting Him than even the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, who had not received as blatant a revelation. And those who reject the gospel when a church exists on every street corner are more responsible than those who live in remote places with no gospel witness.

All are responsible, nobody is simply excused, but our responsibility is proportional to the light given to us.

Jesus taught a powerful personal lesson about grace.

In one of our recent Wednesday night services, we talked about the subject of forgiveness. A man was present who had been holding someone in unforgiveness for over a decade. He had a breaking point right in the middle of our Bible study. He couldn’t understand how we could possibly be required to forgive such heinous a crime that had been committed.

My explanation was that this level of forgiveness is only possible in light of what Jesus did for us on the cross. The innocent Lamb of God suffered and died for our sins. If He could forgive us for the necessity of the cross, couldn’t we forgive just about anything?

The man was broken and our congregation stopped immediately and surrounded him in prayer. With the “amen” the man was visibly different and one week later, gave me a hug of thanks on Sunday morning.

If you’ve never found the forgiveness of God for your sins, you need to. Your disobedience toward Him will not be overlooked on the basis of any goodness in you. Rather, it can only be forgiven on the basis of Jesus’ death on the cross, the ultimate payment for our sin penalty. You must receive His forgiveness, it isn’t automatic. How? Simply ask, “for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

And to whom do you need to extend forgiveness? It’s tough. It’s hard. But it’s possible and it’s the only gateway to real emotional and spiritual health. Unforgiveness prevents our being close to God. Extend a hand today.