Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’
Luke 23:34 NIVUK
During the course of His arrest, trial and persecution, there are times when you simply have to sit back and admire the incredible Saviour we have.
This, without a doubt, is one of them.
We find it hard enough to forgive someone who has harmed us in the past – whether five minutes or fifty years ago. But here, Jesus is asking God to forgive people who are harming Him now, who are torturing Him now, who are hurling abuse and insults at Him now.
What a Saviour!
However, we should ask ourselves ‘Who is He forgiving?’
I see three groups of people here.
Firstly, the Roman authorities, including the soldiers who were banging spikes into His hands and feet, and had already scourged His back and rammed a crown of desert thorns into His head. In short, the very people who were executing Him and the powers who took the decision.
That, already, is quite some forgiveness.
Secondly, the Jewish authorities, who took the decision to slay their Messiah by using the Romans as their proxy.
Again, amazing.
Thirdly, the fickle crowd, who, a few days earlier, had cried ‘Hosanna!’ and, just hours earlier, had cried ‘Crucify!’
I have seen all types of reactions to unspeakable, inexcusable and thoroughly unjust violence. But Jesus’ stands alone as being the most incredible.
Just look at who He is forgiving!
And then there's what He is forgiving.
A shockingly unjust and unfair trial, in which witnesses could not even get their lying stories straight (Mark 14:56).
An act of horrific, state-sponsored violence.
And then being exposed to the worse method of execution ever invented. The Roman thinker Cicero described it as ‘a most cruel and disgusting punishment’.
The prophet Isaiah, before this terrible method of execution was even invented, described Jesus thus:
His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.
Isaiah 52:14
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:12 NIVUK
‘Numbered with the transgressors’ in this case is something of a euphemism. Jesus died the death of the worst of the worst – the fate of the lowest and most disgusting offender, even though He had done nothing at all to deserve it.
This is what Jesus is forgiving. He is forgiving the very people who are inflicting this merciless horror on Him.
But how can He forgive? That is our final question.
When someone suffers so great a crime as Jesus, you would imagine that there would be a burning, and almost insatiable, cry for justice. Yet Jesus forgives? How?
Paul explains it in Ephesians:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Ephesians 1:7 NIVUK
And again in Romans:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 NIVUK
You see, for forgiveness to take place, there must be a sacrifice. We must sacrifice and forgo our desire for revenge.
A just God, who is judge of the whole earth, cannot allow evil to go unpunished. Instead, Jesus Himself bears the just penalty for sins against God and people. He suffers and bears the brunt of the just penalty against us. He bleeds and dies because of us.
There is something deeply, deeply ironic here. Jesus, in bearing the chronic ill-treatment of il-informed and ignorant people, is paying the price so that they can be forgiven for the very evil they are inflicting on Him.
That is true forgiveness. There is no forgiveness like it.
In 2001, I travelled to the Philippines in late November to get engaged to the woman who is now my wife. I was there in December for her home church’s anniversary, where, as I shared in an earlier meditation, they ate spit roast pork. So I took a picture of it and showed it to my family when I returned to Scotland.
My sister was revolted. She screamed. ‘That’s disgusting! How could anyone eat that?’
I turned to her and calmly told her, ‘Do you know that roast ham that you buy in our supermarkets? That’s it.’
‘It's not! It’s not wrapped in plastic!’ she retorted.
Most people from western nations have no concept at all of where their food comes from, and when they find out, they are shocked. Food is too cheap for them. They don’t realise the costs involved. And I say that about vegetables and fruit as well as meat.
This meditation, and further meditations, will contain truths about the terrible violence inflicted on Jesus. You might have a problem with that. But look at it this way: like the food on our table, if we don’t appreciate where it comes from, we will not appreciate its value.
Forgiveness is not cheap. It never is. And neither is it easy. If we forget how costly it was for Jesus, we will take sin lightly and ruin the lives of those around us.
But when we realise just how costly it is, we will bow our heads deeply in shame and gratitude and dedicate our lives to the One who was willing to pay the price.
Do not be mistaken: forgiveness is far from cheap or easy. It’s hard. It costs. It cost Jesus everything.
But we are called to forgive. That is unmistakable (Matthew 6:14-15; Luke 6:37; Ephesians 4:32). We should forgive as we are forgiven (Matthew 18:22-35; Colossians 3:13).
Whatever the cost.
Questions
1. Who did Jesus forgive?
2. What did it cost Him to forgive?
3. Who do you need to forgive? Are you ready to pay the cost?
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