I’ve had the privilege of being with several people as they were approaching death. A person’s dying words sometimes simply express his/her needs: “Could you move the pillow?” or “May I have a drink?” Sometimes they express a concern for others—a final ‘I love you’ or ‘It’s going to be O.K.’ A person’s final words reveal what is on his/her heart at that time, and sometimes they reveal the nature of the person’s faith, as well. I’ve told you before what my mother’s last words were: “I’m happy!” We interpret that as JOY, because no one who is dying of cancer can really be happy about that situation. But she knew God’s gift of JOY and PEACE in those moments, as many do who have put their faith in Christ… John Wesley is said to have uttered these words: “Best of all, God is with us.”
In the case of crucifixion, the very act of speaking would be painful and would require a great deal of effort. It is believed that death comes to those being crucified by some combination of exhaustion, shock, buildup of fluids around the heart & lungs, as well as asphyxiation. So for someone being crucified to even speak it would require great effort, as the victim would have to pull themselves up by the nails in the wrists in order to expand the diaphragm. For all of these reasons, words are sparse amongst those being crucified … and yet Jesus felt it important enough to leave us with seven last statements (words) from his cross (over 4 Gospels). Let me share today’s scripture with you (Luke 23:26, 33-34a, NLT) as we begin…
As they led Jesus away, a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, happened to be coming in from the countryside. The soldiers seized him and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. … 33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
It’s not surprising that these words—the first words spoken by Jesus from the cross—were a prayer. What is surprising, haunting, and, for some, disturbing, is what he prayed: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Let’s begin this study of Jesus’ first statement from the cross with a question: Who is the ‘they’ that Jesus was referring to?
-
He was, of course, praying for the soldiers who cruelly tortured him and crucified him and who were preparing to gamble for his clothes. “Father, forgive them.”
-
I believe he was also praying for the crowd who, even now, were beginning their verbal assault on him. “Father, forgive them.”
-
Then there were the religious leaders who, out of jealousy and spiritual blindness, conspired with the Romans to kill him. For these hypocritical leaders he prayed, “Father, forgive them.”
Talk about sharing God’s grace with others (even when you don’t feel like it)! Can you believe this? Can you imagine such mercy? That Jesus would pray for ‘them’ as he hung on the cross is one of the most powerful images of all scripture! But, I think there’s someone else who Jesus prayed for too, asking for God’s mercy to be extended to…
-
Folks, I believe that WE are among the ‘them’ Jesus was praying for as he said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
There’s an old gospel hymn that asks the question, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” The answer is that, in a profound spiritual sense, you were there! The entire human race was there at the Crucifixion. The death of Jesus is an event that transcends time. And Jesus’ prayer gave voice to what Jesus was doing on the cross. He was offering himself to God the Father as a sacrifice of atonement for the whole human race! You and I were there … when they crucified the Lord!
This is the power of the words Jesus cried out on the cross: They were prayed not only for those who stood by at the cross, but also for all of us! With that in mind, let me share 3 brief truths these words of Jesus teach us: First…
WE NEED FORGIVENESS. The fact that Jesus devoted one of his seven last statements to a prayer for forgiveness tells us something, doesn’t it? WE NEED FORGIVENESS! It wasn’t just those around the cross on that day that needed forgiveness; we need forgiveness, too!
The truth is we need forgiveness because we struggle with sin. Sin, though, is a word we’d rather not use today. We prefer ‘mistake’ or ‘slip-up.’ But, the Greek/Hebrew words for ‘sin’ in the Bible mean to ‘stray from the path’ or ‘miss the mark.’ The implication, of course, is that God has a path or way that we were intended to live, but we don’t follow that path. Instead, we stray from it. Let me give you an example…
When I was a kid, we lived in the Methodist parsonage in South Wayne. I was in grade school. And why I thought this was a good idea, I don’t know, but one time I couldn’t resist the tomatoes in our back-door neighbors’ garden. One day, I snuck over there, picked those tomatoes, and used them as ammo against my siblings. Folks, I was probably only in 3rd or 4th grade … and I was a thief!
Now, I never did that again … but I’ve done several things since then that I’m not proud of. Unfortunately, as we become adults, we don’t stop sinning. Our sins merely become more sophisticated, and we become more adept at justifying them. Sin is a problem we never outgrow; it’s a part of our humanness. So, we need forgiveness…
Now, I want you to hear me clearly today. The central message of the gospel is NOT sin; its objective is not to beat us over the head with that fact. When Christianity speaks of sin, the aim is not to make us feel guilty but to help us discover the grace and healing mercy of God we so desperately need! … ‘Kind of like chest pains and shortness of breath; you don’t want to focus on that. You want to focus on the cure (surgery). In a similar way, the gospel’s focus is not on sin; sin is simply the diagnosis. The gospel’s focus is on the cure—God’s grace (forgiveness) and gift of salvation, which leads me to this…
GOD’S GRACE IS A GIFT (REMINDER). We learn this, too, from these first words of Jesus from the cross. And the Apostle Paul describes it this way:
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
This idea that Jesus was praying from the cross for our forgiveness, and that he was, even before we repented, dying for us, is mind-bending! Before you were born, God knew the sinful things you would do (tomatoes) and forgave you in advance. On the cross Jesus suffered and died to save you from those sins. But, as we learned earlier, you still have to do your part, don’t you? You have to accept this gift of forgiveness and salvation by asking Christ into your life. (Love begins when we let go!) And finally…
JESUS INTENTIONALLY MODELED FORGIVENESS! God’s grace is not only a gift; it’s also an example for us…
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this or not, but Jesus could have prayed this prayer to himself. Instead, he chose to pray it aloud. He wanted us to ‘overhear’ this prayer. He not only wanted us to know we’re forgiven; he wanted to teach us what it means to be a follower of his. Those of us who choose to follow Jesus must practice forgiveness as he did! Listen to these examples of Jesus’ teaching on mercy & forgiveness:
-
Matthew 5:7 (Sermon on the Mount) – “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
-
Matthew 6:12 (CEB) – When they asked Jesus how to pray, he said this: “Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you, just as we also forgive those who have wronged us.” And two verses later (Matt. 6:14,CEB), Jesus also taught them: “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Jesus actions and our following suit have to go together, don’t they? Jesus knew this: How can you know God’s mercy when you are unwilling to extend mercy? Folks, people who regularly forgive others find it easier to believe and trust in the grace of God because their hearts have been enlarged by grace, and they freely offer it to others…
We’ll get into forgiveness more in-depth starting on Easter. But, for now, suffice it to say … on the cross Jesus’ first words demonstrate God’s willingness to forgive our sins, and they call us to become people who follow in his path—and so we too pray as Jesus did, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they are doing.”
Can you pray that prayer for others yet? Once again, LOVE was behind everything Jesus did in his life! Are you now willing to do the same? Are you willing to follow in Jesus’ path? Folks, even Jesus’ disciples struggled with forgiveness; that’s why Jesus had to teach on it so much. If you’ve ever struggled with forgiveness … keep your eyes on Jesus—Christ on the Cross, Love Personified…
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”,”serif”;}