Word of Life


21st February 2024



The last words of Jesus from the cross: ‘Father, forgive them’.
This is the first in a series of studies for the Easter Preparation season.

 Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’
Luke 23:34 (NIVUK)

For a moment just picture that horrible scene at Calvary. Crucifixion was designed to make death as painful as possible. The idea was to display in public what would happen to you if you defied the Roman government. It was the most agonising and shameful form of execution ever devised. It was so cruel that no Roman citizen would ever be subjected to it: crucifixion was reserved for the lowest slaves and the worst of criminals, and was used as a visible deterrent against insurrection. It was not unusual for those being crucified, suffering the indignity of being stripped naked and wracked with pain, to shriek and curse and spit on the spectators below them. And yet, while the watching soldiers and crowds might have expected a similar response from Jesus, they heard words only of forgiveness. I find Jesus’s pronouncement of forgiveness remarkable because:

First, and incredibly, despite all Jesus was going through, he still addressed God as his Father. It demonstrates the loving trust Jesus had in his Father, and is reminiscent of Job’s words, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I hope [trust NKJV] in him’ (Job 13:15). 

Secondly, Jesus does not pray, ‘Father forgive me’, because he had not committed any sin. Jesus went to the cross as the spotless Lamb of God, without blemish (1 Peter 1:19). Rather Jesus was interceding for those who had condemned him to death, were physically crucifying him, and by extension for every human being. 

Thirdly, this prayer wasn’t just said once. The Greek implies that Jesus prayed it over and over again. The expression, ‘Jesus said’, would be better translated, ‘Jesus kept saying’. Just think of the times Jesus would have said this: 

  • when he arrived at the place of the skull 
  • as the Roman soldiers nailed his wrists to the crossbeam 
  • when they elevated him to the cross 
  • when the crowd jeered and cursed, and  
  • when the soldiers parted his garments and gambled for the seamless robe 

How many times this prayer was prayed that day no one knows, but Jesus kept saying repeatedly, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ This is the kind of saviour that the world needs, and has been given in Jesus: one who trusts completely in his Father, one who was sinless and interceded for sinners, and one who pronounces forgiveness over and over again.

Let’s thank God for the gift of his Son for ‘…there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…’ (Romans 8:1). 

Prayer
Loving Father, we thank you that your love and forgiveness are most profoundly demonstrated on the cross where your Son Jesus died. As we approach the commemoration of Jesus’s death may we share the love and forgiveness you have shown us with others, in Jesus’s name, Amen. 

Study by Barry Robinson

About the writer:
Barry Robinson is a minister in Grace Communion International and Regional Pastor for Southern England, the Midlands, and Wales

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church