Forgive them

Luke 23:32-38

During my second year of seminary, I had the joy of taking an amazing class. This class stretched me and it was a lot of fun although the professor was tough.

The name of this class was the “The Theology of Homiletics” or “The Theology of Preaching”.

The professor of the class was no other than Dr. Jeffrey Frymire. Dr. Frymire was a former preaching professor at Yale School of Theology and he was an amazing preacher.

He was also a difficult grader.

This was the one time where students who were training to be pastors could get good honest feedback on their preaching.

Basically, each of us were placed in a group and we would go to separate rooms on the campus and simply preach.

“Y’all, there is nothing more nerve wrecking than preaching a sermon in a room full of preachers and seminary instructors while they are critiquing every word that comes out of your mouth.

They critiqued everything:

How you used your words

They critiqued your posture

Your eye contact

The way you read scripture

The way you exegeted scripture

Did you stay on topic

And was your message relevant and thought-provoking

I’m sure you all could see why all of this was stressful.

The first assignment we were responsible for in the class involved us telling a 5-7 Biblical story without notes.

I could tell most of us were manuscript preachers because the thought of not being able to use notes made most of the class extremely nervous.

We had to pull a number and I ended up with a number that was close to the end.

So I was able to watch my classmates share the Biblical story they chose and I became even more nervous because a lot of my classmates were knocking it out of the park.

Then on the other hand, the ones who didn’t do so well got sharp criticism. I mean Dr. Frymire was ruthless with his critiques even with the ones whom I felt knocked it out of the park.

My turn comes after waiting two hours. I decided to tell the story of Joseph and his brothers from Reuben’s perspective and I didn’t do to well.

I just knew I was going to get a not so good grade. I fumbled and bumbled through that because I love referring to my notes.

Then I went over the time.

I finished and surprisingly Dr. Frymire’s critique of my story had not been as sharp as I expected.

He said one thing that still sticks with me this day and it is something that I always consider when writing a sermon.

“Your first words are your most important words in a sermon. The way you begin your sermon determines the trajectory of your sermon. If you do not captivate your listeners at the start you will lose them before you land the plane.”

The first thing you say matters.

II. Jesus’ first words from the cross

Isn’t it amazing how one of the last things Jesus said before his death is actually one of the most famous lines in all of Scripture?

The first words that Jesus says from the cross is nothing more than an intercessory prayer.

Let’s take a look at what he says as we read Luke 23:32-38

Luke 23:32–38 NRSV

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

This is the word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

This is what Jesus says as his life is draining before people’s eyes.

He has been beaten to the point that he’s unrecognizable.

He has struggled to carry his own cross up Calvary

He is thirsty

He is exhausted

He is famished

He has had nails driven through his hands and his feet

He has watch the people choose a murderer over him

His closest friends are no where to be found. They’re hiding

He is struggling to breath

He’s being mocked and talked about

They are casting lots over his clothes

He is there in the most vulnerable state a man can be in

And to make matters worse, his mother and siblings are there to see it all.

All of this is going on around Jesus as he is dying in the most gruesome and shameful way to die in that time.

This is the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of the Jews and he is being treated in this manner.

And in the midst of all of this happening to him, the first thing he does is open up the line of communication with his Father.

He prays. Jesus is praying while the life is being zapped from his body.

He not only prays but he prays a prayer for someone other than himself.

Again, Jesus says, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Now in reading this, the first words that catch my attention in this text are “them” and “they”.

Who is Jesus referencing when he says, “Father, forgive “them” for “they” know not what “they” do.

There is much speculation among scholars in trying to interpret who Jesus is speaking of.

One thought is that Jesus is talking about those who are mocking him on the cross.

Let’s take a look at who’s mocking Jesus.

You have people casting lots over his clothes which was normal at a crucifixion because remember being crucified was a shameful and despicable death.

You then have the religious leaders mocking him. Let’s take a look at verse 35.

Luke tells us in this verse the religious leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”

Then in the next verse, you have the Roman soldiers mocking Jesus by saying:

“If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

Now some scholars believe that Jesus was not including the Roman soldiers in this statement as the identity of Jesus does not matter to them.

I will share my opinion on that shortly.

Then Pilate ordered a sign to be placed above Jesus that read, “This is the King of the Jews”.

Now it is important to note that John’s gospel verifies this fact and even gives a detail that the synoptic gospels, that is Mark, Matthew, and Luke don’t give. In John 19:17-30, in an effort to further humiliate Jesus, the Jewish religious leaders requested that plackard to be placed on Jesus’ cross and they requested that Jesus be placed in between two criminals.

The Jewish religious leaders wanted the sign to read, “He SAID he was the King of the Jews.” However, Pilate hated the Jews and really didn’t want to be governor over that region.

The Jewish people hated Pilate and Pilate hated them. The Jewish people were a difficult group to govern. Any opportunity Pilate got to stick it to them or mock them, he took advantage.

So, instead of writing, “He SAID he was the King of the Jews”, Pilate altered what they requested and simply put, “This is the King of the Jews.” When the religious leaders saw what Pilate had ordered they tried to correct him but Pilate quickly said, “I have said what I have said.” In other words, I know what I wrote.

In this detail we see Pilate unintentional making a pronouncement of Jesus’ identity by taking a swipe at the Jewish leaders. The religious leaders were not at all happy with that sign.

So, I wouldn’t necessarily say that Pilate was mocking Jesus as much as he was mocking the religious leaders who irritated him to no end.

Then you have one of the criminals who is hanging on the cross alongside Jesus mocking him in verse 39, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!

Another thought of who Jesus is referring to could be all that were involved in his trial and crucifixion.

His trial was illegal. Mark, Matthew, and Luke all mention that Jesus’ trial was held at night and was hurried. The religious leaders had their reasoning for this. Remember, this was during the time of the Passover and just before the Sabbath so they wanted to quickly put Jesus to death.

The way they tried Jesus was contrary to their own law.

Then you have the crowds who four days prior were pronouncing Jesus as the Son of David, now saying crucify him because he no longer stood for what they were hoping. The crowd even went against their own law in Mark’s gospel by saying, “we have no king but Caesar” just to get what they want. They chose Jesus Barrabas over Jesus the Christ.

You have Pilate and Herod who both felt that Jesus wasn’t guilty of anything except upsetting the territorial religious leaders. The only thing they cared about was if he was a threat to Rome. They found him to be no such thing.

Then you have the Roman guards who beat him beyond recognition.

We can’t forget about the disciples and how they abandoned him.

Judas sold him out

Peter denied him.

Very few people seemed to speak up for him.

You see there were a lot of people involved in the torture and crucifixion of Jesus. A lot of forgiveness needed to go around.

Finally, and this is who I interpret Jesus to be speaking of when he uses the pronouns, “them” and “they.”

Jesus is quite possibly speaking of the whole of humanity; past, present, and future.

As Methodist, we believe in prevenient grace. That is the grace that goes before you.

I think that this statement points us to prevenient grace. Jesus prayed for you and I before we even forgiven. This is God incarnate in community with the Father and Holy Spirit beckoning forgiveness and pardon for us all.

In his book entitled, “Thank God It’s Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross”, former United Methodist bishop and resident bishop at Duke School of Divinity, William Willimon writes, (and I am paraphrasing), “Since the beginning of time, we have not known what we do.”

And when I reflect upon this thought from Bishop Willimon, I must say, he is absolutely correct. Since just before the fall of humanity, we have sought to know all manner of things and have sought to try to understand things.

We ate the forbidden fruit because we wanted to know what God knew.

We built the tower of Babel so that we could be in heaven with God to all things as God knows them.

We thought we knew that the flood wasn’t coming and figured Noah was crazy.

Abraham and Sarah thought they knew better than God when Sarah gave Abraham her maidservant Haggar to conceive a child for Abraham.

The only thing we came to know after eating the forbidden pomegranate, was that we were naked and shame.

We try too hard to lean on our own understanding and not God’s and because we are broken and our understanding is skewed we cannot save ourselves.

Jesus had to do the work for us. Jesus had to intercede on our behalf. He had to suffer and die on our behalf because of the great love of the Triune God.

This statement that Jesus is making on the cross is about those around the cross, its about Pilate, its about the religious leaders, the crowds who picked personal desire over Jesus, the soldiers who beat Jesus on his way to Calvary, the disciples who left him holding the bag, Herod, The Roman Emperor Tiberius, Adam and Eve and their descendants, you, me, us.

This statement points us to Jesus’ mission and it points us to a loving, gracious, and merciful God. This statement from Jesus also points to us being a forgiven and reconciled people and as a result we need to respond.

Something that we do during the Lord’s Supper after the confession and pardon, we pray the Lord’s prayer.

Before we pray the Lord’s prayer, the pastor will say, as forgiven and reconciled people let us pray the way that the Lord taught us to pray by saying....

We then say the Lord’s prayer but you know what part of the Lord’s prayer is the most difficult to pray?

It’s easy to say forgive our trespasses but I have to sometimes make myself say, “as we forgive those who trespassed against us.

In one of his writings on the Lord’s Prayer, St. Augustine talks about the difficulty in saying that phrase in the Lord’s prayer.

Augustine even noticed in worship one day, he noticed several people went silent at that part.

Do you find yourself having that same experience sometimes, particularly with all that is happening in the world?

These words that Jesus taught us to pray point us to his first words on the cross.

Many of us during this season of Lent have either taken on something or given up something. I want to extend to you an invitation for this Lenten season.

I want you to take on the spiritual discipline of forgiveness.

It’s not easy to forgive but I think that Jesus shows us what true forgiveness looks like today.

As most of you know I served at Galloway for almost six years and as I am sure many of you know, our governor is a longstanding member of Galloway.

One day, the governor said something that I felt was unchristian when talking about medicaid and it angered me as what most of what he says does.

But that Sunday he came to the 8:30 service. He never comes to the first service but he came that day.

Now during this service we used to offer communion every Sunday. Every Sunday, the first service was a service of word and table.

And during communion as we are serving, we would have three stations for communion and the station you went to was determined by where you were seating.

It just so happened he came to my line and I am not going to lie, I don’t think I would have served him had I not been fearful of losing my job.

But he came to my line. I broke the bread and said these words, “Tate, the body of Christ broken for you.”

We then offered him the cup to dip his bread and I said, “Tate, the blood of Christ shed for you.”

Then it hit me as we were serving him, “Jesus’ body was broken for him and his blood was shed for him, whether I like it or not.” That moment was the most memorable moment for me in ministry because it reminded me that when Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”, all are included in that even the people we don’t like.

As a result, we are to follow Jesus’ example because what those involved in Jesus’ death did to him pales in comparison to why we refuse to forgive others. Amen.