Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?
Romans 8:35
The last seven words (statements, actually) of Jesus as He hung on Golgotha's cross are among the most encouraging of all Scripture. Here is the first of the seven:
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”
(Luke 23:34).
(Luke 23:34).
The more I think about that
statement, the more I am intrigued. And encouraged.
Forgive them.
Just a few hours earlier, in
the Gethsemane Garden, soldiers led by the Jewish priests surrounded Jesus and the
disciples. Peter drew His sword and came within a hair of cutting the skull of
the high priest’s servant. He sliced off His ear, instead.
But Jesus would have none of
the fight. “Put back your sword, Peter,” Jesus commanded. “Don’t you know I
could call just now to my Father and He would put at my disposal 12 legions of
angels to defend me?”
A Roman legion consisted of
6,000 soldiers. In other words, the Lord could have called for 72,000 angelic warriors,
swords unsheathed and glistening in the firelight, and the ground would have
been drenched with the blood of those who’d come to drag Jesus away.
But He didn’t call for them.
Instead, God-in-the-flesh-of-a-man, God their Creator, the Almighty God permitted His
creatures to spit at him, pull His beard, punch him in the face, and haul him off
to court.
And now, hanging bloodied and
bruised on an old rugged cross, crowds of priests, soldiers and rabble mocking Him,
cursing Him . . . .
I wonder sometimes if the
thought crossed His mind even for a nanosecond to glance toward His Father and
ask for those angels. If it did, He put it from His mind and said instead – Father, forgive them. They don’t know what
they are doing.
Forgiveness. It is why we can
come anew to Jesus, perhaps especially as we approach the Lenten season in our continuing journey
toward the Kingdom. There is no sin so grievous, so dark, so vile that the
grace of God and the mercy of God cannot – and will not – cleanse with Christ’s
blood. What is it St. John wrote in His
first epistle? If we walk in the Light as
He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7). And St. Paul’s encouragement to the
church at Ephesus: In [Christ] we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7).
Forgiveness. It is why we can
stay with Him today, wherever we are in life and whatever we've done wrong. If we confess our sins, St. John tells us, again in his first
epistle, God is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).
When the penitent walks out of the confessional he or she has God’s absolute
and inviolable assurance of forgiveness. As the Holy Spirit promises through
the psalmist: For as
high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As
far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from
us. Just as a father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust (Psalm 103:11-14).
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
When we sin, when we slash the whip once again across His back, when we drive another nail into His bleeding hands, how much do we really understand what we are doing? How much do we know how it grieves Him? How it breaks His heart? If we had the remotest clue, I don’t think we’d be so cavalier to do some of the things we do.
Father, forgive them.
But if the Scriptures teach us anything, it is that there is forgiveness with God, complete, unhesitating, and unqualified forgiveness to the penitent. And that is precisely why you and I can come to Christ, stay with Christ, and journey with Him wherever He leads us.
Thanks be to God.
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