Father Forgive Them They Know Not What They Do
For the next seven weeks heading up until Easter we are going to be receiving sermons on the seven sayings of Christ on the Cross in the order he said them.
This first week we looked at "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34
This was amazing because if you look at the beginning of this verse it says...."Then said Jesus......"
I underlined the word "then." This makes you go back to the verse prior which states...."And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left."
So right after they crucified him comes the word "then" which means, and this is spectacular,......the first thing on his mind was forgiveness. It was us. It was not revenge but forgiveness for those who would do him harm.
The Gk word for forgiveness is "aphiemi" and means...forgive, lay aside, put away. If we go back to Matt 4 we see this:
v20 "And they straightway left their nets, and followed him."
v22 "And the immediately left the ship and their father and followed him."
The same Gk word for left is "aphiemi."
That's what God does when he forgives us. He lays our sins aside. He leaves them behind like the disciples left their nets to follow Christ.
Way back in the OT the Prophet Isaiah wrote about this. He said: "Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors[/U]. Isa 53:12
Here's something else that struck me, and I love to learn new truths. We know Jesus had the power to forgive sins right?. He displayed that many times while he walked the earth and was one of the reasons he was crucified. Only God forgives sins they said. He was a blasphemer in their eyes, so they put him to death basically because he claimed to be God. When you go back to Matt 9:6 you read his words:
"But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins........."
He says outright many times he has the power to forgive sins. But when he was on the cross, he didn't forgive their sins. He cried out to the Father to forgive them instead. Why? Because, when he was on that cross, He was us. He represented us. His cry should be our cry as well.
Paul said in Eph 4:32..."And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."
We are called to do what he did. We are called to follow Christ's example. It's not up to us to take revenge. Vengeance is God's. Too many times in our everyday lives we just are not happy until we seek justice ourselves. We feel we need to take matters into our own little hands instead of just turning things over to God. Don't we make things much worse when we do this? I know from examples in my own life when I seek my own justice I really mess things up royally. When I just turn it over to Him and ask for His help it's so much better. After a while, it becomes a no brainer. It's real clear to see, let go and let God and life is good.
Just before Stephen (first martyr) was stoned this was said: "And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:60.
He was Christlike in his forgiveness. So if he can forgive even as he was being stoned to death, and Christ as He was being crucified, can't we forgive those who daily try to mess with us? We don't have it nearly as bad as those first martyrs or even those that are daily still following the road to martydom all over the world. We also have the power to forgive....forgive each other. We want to be forgiven when we err don't we? We must remember to be forgiven we must first forgive .
To err is human, to forgive is divine. When we come to this point of being able to forgive we can truly say.....It is Well With My Soul."