Father, Forgive Them

"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Luke 23:32-38

John Phillips has said of the crucifixion of Christ,

It was the crime of crimes. No darker deed has ever been done. Human sin could go no further than that. The only reason God did not stamp flat the high hills of Judah, turn to blood the waters of the seven seas, and unleash on this planet twelve legions of outraged angels was because that crime—the high watermark of man's guilt—was going to become the high watermark of God's grace (Col. 1:20-22).

Colossians 1:20-22 says this of the crucifixion

Colossians 1:20–22 KJV 1900

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

If for a moment, we can wrap our minds around the crucifixion of the Savior, I believe we will see that the whole 6-hour ordeal could be summed up in one simple word…"Forgiveness". Look with me in Luke 23 at the first of seven recorded sayings of our Savior from the old rugged cross…

Proposition: Jesus Christ endured the pain of the cross so that you and I might truly know what forgiveness is.

Interrogative: Have you ever considered what forgiveness of sin cost our Lord?

TS: To understand the price of forgiveness, we must understand the following...

The Place v 33

This is the only time the word "Calvary" is used in the Bible.

The word means, roughly, the skull.

It is believed to have received this name because its shaped resembled that of a human skull.

Can you imagine, however, the fact that it was God Himself, in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, who while speaking the world into existence, formed this very hill Himself.

Put yourself in His place for a moment.

You have just finished creating the world (specifically dry land), and in the process of doing so you have designed the very place where you will go in a few thousand years and give your life for mankind

Mankind who has not even been created yet

Mankind who will and have sinned against you,

Yet You have created the very hill upon which you will suffer and bleed and die for a race men who, for the most part, hate everything about you.

Think about this for a moment.

The place where Christ would die was designed by Him in His omnipotence.

The place where Christ would die was known by Him in His omniscience.

If you and I knew the place and the time in which we would die, we would do everything in our power to avoid going to that place at that time,

but Jesus went willingly, and laid down His life for you and me, at the exact place He had designed specifically for that purpose.

We notice first the place, then...

The Punishment v. 33

Once He was led to the Calvary, the place of the skull, the Bible tells us He was crucified.

Never in all of history has there been a form of execution so cruel, so painful as crucifixion.

Crucifixion was designed to inflict as much pain as possible long before it brought death.

Those who were crucified were first stripped naked to increase their shame.

Any pictures of Christ on the cross which show Him in a loin cloth are done at the artist's discretion as an attempt to preserve the Lord's modesty.

The Romans weren't so thoughtful.

Roman Crucifixion went something like this:

The condemned would then be laid on the lowered cross beam where their arms would be stretched out and a Roman soldier would hold the criminal down while another would drive a spike, like our railroad spikes, into the wrist of the victim.

The second arm then had to be stretched out, to the point in most cases the shoulder would be dislocated to stretch it far enough.

The feet were nailed lastly, with the knees bent so that that those condemned to die could stretch against the nails and lift themselves up to breathe until they could no longer bear the pain.

When this was finished, the soldiers would then lift the cross and place it into a pre-dug hole and let it drop in, jarring the victim, and sending waves of pain throughout the body.

Once they were placed they would then be left to die from either exposure to the elements, loss of blood, or dehydration.

Death came usually within 36-48 hours.

Jesus gave up the ghost after only 6 hours (after having been tried, and beaten severely and already lost a tremendous amount of blood).

All this being said, having looked at the place, the punishment, lastly we come to...

The Proclamation v. 34

The Savior had just endured the first of the humiliations of crucifixion, the nudity, and the nails. The pain from His already wrecked body must have been unbearable, but on top this, to have nails, some 6 in. in length, driven through wrists and ankles, must have been horrific. As they nailed Him and dropped His cross in place between the two robbers, He utters these words:

"Father, forgive them; for the know not what they do."

We're not going to speculate as to who specifically Christ was praying for. Whether it was the Romans soldiers who were gambling over His garments, ignorant of His person or the fact they were doing so in fulfillment of Psalm 22:18

Psalm 22:18 KJV 1900

They part my garments among them, And cast lots upon my vesture.

Or whether it was over the Jewish religious leaders who willingly, ignorantly, begged for the death of their Messiah.

The point is simply this, while the Savior was being nailed to the cross it is important to understand his love for sinful mankind was greater than the physical agony He was about to endure.

It is fitting that the first words uttered from the cross would not be for His situation, not for His pain, but rather for the forgiveness of not only those immediately around Him, but for all mankind for whom He was about to die.

That, my friends, is what forgiveness looks like.

Conclusion: Whoever you are, whatever you've done, where ever you find yourself, Jesus Christ loves you, and He died for you on that cross, taking your penalty, dying in your place. I'm reminded of a song my parents used to sing listen to the words of the first verse with the chorus:

I'm not on an ego trip

I'm nothing on my own

I made mistakes I often slip

Just common flesh and bone

But I'll prove someday just why I say

I'm of a special kind

For when he was on the cross

I was on his mind.

He knew me, yet he loved me

He whose glory makes the heavens shine

So, unworthy of such mercy

Yet when he was on the cross

I was on his mind.

When He was on the cross, you were on His mind. Have you placed your faith in the Savior for the forgiveness of your sin? Why not do that today?