Father Forgive Them

Dear diary,

I want to start us off with a question. And that’s: What do you do when you face adversity against your enemies? Do you give in and take matters into your own hands, or do you wish the best for them? Jesus utters the words “Father forgive, them, for they know not what they do” in Luke 23:34. In what seemed to be the final moments that Jesus faced before his death on the cross, He chose to wish the best for his enemies and plead/advocate for them And I wanted to understand why. With that, here’s what I found: 

Jesus Understood His Purpose

As Gen Zs say, He was standing on business. If we go back in time before this scene on the cross, in Luke 9:52 -56, we find Jesus walking through a village full of Samaritans who were not feeling him. His disciples James and John, meaning well, asked Jesus, “Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them like Elijah did?” 

And Jesus response was interesting. 

 55 ”But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

Then it hit me. In that moment on the cross, Jesus was simply practicing what he preached. That moment on the cross was a perfect opportunity to destroy them, but Jesus remembered that his purpose was to SAVE them. In times of betrayal, do we think of our pain or do we think of our purpose? In moments of rejection, do we see images of bitterness or do we look to see the bigger picture? Remember your purpose.

Your purpose can be to be a light when you are in public. You never know who is watching you. Maybe your purpose is to be the best mom to the future leader of America. Maybe it’s to be the person who brings the joy and peace of Christ to your job every day. Whatever your purpose is that God placed in you to do on this earth, hold on to it, and remember it.

"But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.."

Luke 9:55-56

Emphasis of “Father forgive them”

Once I got a better understanding of the ’why’ I wanted to understand the emphasis of “Father forgive them,” and here’s what I got: Jesus was teaching us how powerful forgiveness is in relation to ourselves. I heard someone say that unforgiveness is like someone doing us wrong and then drinking poison after the matter. Why would I hurt myself when someone else hurts me? If anything, the flesh in me would want the other person to feel something, not me. But what we have to realize is that, unforgiveness has life -and- death consequences. Matthew 18:21-35, talks about when Jesus was teaching forgiveness. He gives the parable of a servant who owed a king millions of dollars. Because the servant could not pay his debt, the king was going to have everything that the servant owned, including his family, sold in exchange. The servant pleaded with the king, and the king forgave his debt. 

But get this… When the servant was released, he went to another servant, let’s call him servant number 2, whom he knew owed him a few thousand. He instantly threw servant number 2 in prison until he could pay him back. When news got back to the king that the servant #1 he had mercy on had done this, he had him thrown into jail and tortured until he could pay his debt. And Jesus ends the parable with, “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.” Jesus had to make the point that even when facing the ones who were killing him slowly, the consequences for not having their sins forgiven were eternal. The word describes the consequences as “tortured until he had paid his entire debt”.

Jesus understood that the point was that they would NEVER be able to pay off their debts. No amount of working overtime or side gigs could ever amount to the wages of sin. So since He was paying the price, He was the only one who could ask for forgiveness on their behalf. When Jesus spoke the word “Father forgive them”, He was pleading to the King, that despite their wicked ways, forgiveness was a gift to everyone. 

"That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.'"

Matthew 18:35

We are always ‘doing’

Lastly, I meditated on the latter part of Luke 23:34, which says, “for they know not what they do.” And the truth is… We are always ‘doing’. It’s easy to look at the crowd mocking Jesus or the soldiers gambling for his clothes and say they don’t know what they are doing, but do we look in the mirror and ask ourselves the same question? When we trade intimacy with the King for fleeting moments of pleasure, in those times of weakness, do we know what we’re doing? When we sacrifice our self control and catch an attitude with someone on the road, do we know what we’re doing. According to Romans 3:23, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Because we are humans, the moral of the story is, we all don’t know what we are doing.

But we serve a God who does. 

Follow Him, learn from Him, and be transformed by Him until we can look to others who have hurt us, deserted us, and damaged us and still plead for forgiveness on their behalf.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Romans 3:23-24

Everything we do is a choice: in the pain, in the suffering, which will you choose? Will you react in your flesh, or will you remember your purpose, forgive others, and receive his free gift of salvation and forgiveness in exchange for our doings?

Lord thank you for being the true example for forgiveness. Help me to be more like you everyday and love others the way you love me. I give you all the glory and honor. Amen.

- xoxo God's Girl