The First Word: "Father, Forgive Them . . . ."
Have you ever been with a loved one when they died? You always remember the last words they spoke, and you treasure those words the rest of your life, no matter how insignificant they may have been. They may have been words of instruction, of encouragement, of forgiveness, of love, words spoken to get their life in order. Regardless, you will never forget them.
It’s no wonder that Jesus’ last words, spoken from the cross, have been so treasured by those who love Him. We are a people who focus more on the resurrection than on the cross, on victory more than defeat, on success rather than failure, joy rather than sorrow. But it’s in the cross that we discover who we are and whose we are meant to be. That’s why we focus so much today on the seven last words of Jesus to His disciples - to you and me - so that in these words, we can discover who we are, and who we were meant to be, and so learn how to travel the road to a more faithful discipleship.
The first word from the cross is recorded in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 23, verses 22 and 34: "And when they came to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right of Him, and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’"
The first word from the cross is one of forgiveness. Gathered below Him are the priests - the religious leaders of the day, the Saducees and scribes - the intellectuals, scholars and seminary professors: those who had accused Him of blasphemy and insisted that He be put to death. Pilate, loyal citizen of the Roman Empire, the ambitious politician who was willing to lay justice aside, to pacify the crowd at any price, was also there. The mob, anxious for another titillating experience, out for blood, was there. The soldiers, just doing their duty, were there. And so were the disciples, cowering in fear, not willing to stick up for what was right; trying to save their own hides. And we were there - each of us - in the person of one of these. So the need for forgiveness is clear.
But Jesus’ words, "for they don’t know what they are doing," aren’t so clear. It seems, in fact, that they know very well what they are doing. An innocent man, at the very least, is being crucified. The religious leaders know that. They are simply afraid of Jesus’ popularity, and want to crucify Him on the pretext of preventing a riot and bloodbath. "It is expedient that one man should die for the people," they say. Jesus is to be the sacrificial lamb. Pilate knows Jesus is not guilty; he washes his hands of the whole affair, but hands Jesus over anyway. The crowds don’t care whether Jesus is guilty or not; a couple of days before, they were cheering Him on. But it was just an interesting spectacle to them. Now they are calling for more blood. And the disciples, above all, know that He is not guilty, but are too scared to do anything about it.
Yet none of them really does know what they are doing. They aren’t in their right mind. They have a kind of craziness that affects us all. They were so afraid, so fearful, so worried about themselves and what might happen to them, that they were willing to go to any length to protect themselves - even to kill an innocent man. And we do the same. Our interests come before any others: it’s o.k. if others starve, as long as we have enough to eat; it’s o.k. if others are homeless, as long as we have a nice home; it’s o.k. if others are jobless, as long as my paycheck keeps coming in. Jesus says to us, "As you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me." So we’re with the crowd, the religious leaders, the politicos, the disciples - standing by, letting Christ be crucified on the cross, without doing anything to help. We’re not in our right minds either, because we do not have the mind of Jesus - the mind of God.
On the cross, however, Jesus grants the gift of forgiveness to those who do not deserve it - to us. His forgiveness is not an act of justice, but of mercy, based solely in God’s grace and love.
Jesus willingly goes to the cross, to bear our sin, our craziness, our brokenness, in His own body, so that we might be made new, have a right mind restored to us, and learn how to live in the marvel of God’s grace and love. In His strength, He bore our weakness. In His love, He bore our brokenness, and proclaimed those wonderful words of healing: "Father, forgive them . . . . "
Paul tells us that the miracle of the gospel is not that God came to save the righteous, but that He came to save the unrighteous. We live in God’s forgiveness and grace. When we take that to heart, we will no longer be spiritual children, so worried about ourselves, always looking out for number one. Then we will realize that we are truly held in greater hands than ours, held in a love stronger than all the forces of sin, death and evil. The we will know how to love as Jesus loves, and a child in faith will die, and an adult, mature in faith, will be born.