With this being 'Good Friday', I thought it especially fitting to focus our thoughts today on Jesus' cross. In thinking about the cross, one of His seven statements from the cross has stood out to me this year. This statement is recorded only in the gospel of Luke. It is, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke doesn’t go on to tell us who Jesus is specifically speaking of forgiving and I think that is intentional. Who do you think Jesus is thinking of?
Is He thinking of forgiving the soldiers who are in the physical act of crucifying Him?
Is He thinking of forgiving the Jewish teachers and leaders who forced His arrest, unjust trials, and ultimate punishment?
Is He thinking of forgiving Pilate and the Roman authorities who bowed to the political pressure and consented to give the order for Jesus’ sentence?
Is He thinking of the Jewish mob who, on Sunday welcomed Him into town with shouts of “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” and on Friday joined in the shouts of “Crucify Him!”?
Or is it possible that He is looking through the years of time and seeing you and me and the forgiveness that we so desperately need?
Listen to the words of Peter, an eyewitness to Jesus, and one who knew the need for forgiveness and experienced the gift of forgiveness from Jesus: (I Peter 2:21-24) “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps, ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
Jesus provided the availability of forgiveness for every one of us. This is what we remember and why this is 'Good' Friday for us.
Luke doesn’t go on to tell us who Jesus is specifically speaking of forgiving and I think that is intentional. Who do you think Jesus is thinking of?
Is He thinking of forgiving the soldiers who are in the physical act of crucifying Him?
Is He thinking of forgiving the Jewish teachers and leaders who forced His arrest, unjust trials, and ultimate punishment?
Is He thinking of forgiving Pilate and the Roman authorities who bowed to the political pressure and consented to give the order for Jesus’ sentence?
Is He thinking of the Jewish mob who, on Sunday welcomed Him into town with shouts of “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” and on Friday joined in the shouts of “Crucify Him!”?
Or is it possible that He is looking through the years of time and seeing you and me and the forgiveness that we so desperately need?
Listen to the words of Peter, an eyewitness to Jesus, and one who knew the need for forgiveness and experienced the gift of forgiveness from Jesus: (I Peter 2:21-24) “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps, ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
Jesus provided the availability of forgiveness for every one of us. This is what we remember and why this is 'Good' Friday for us.
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