Jesus Speaks from the Cross (#2)

Luke 23: 33-43

Very soon we’ll be commemorating the Passion Week that begins with Palm Sunday and goes through Easter Sunday...when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection. It’s during this holy week that Christ demonstrated the depth of His passion for us as He took our place in suffering for the penalty of sin on the cross of Calvary.

The Passion Week includes several events that are recorded for us in the Gospels (Matthew 21-27; Mark 11-15; Luke 19-23; and John 12-19). For instance...

• He cleansed the Temple for the second time (Luke 19:45-46).
• He disputed with the Pharisees concerning His authority.
• He gave His Olivet Discourse about end-time events.
• He ate the Last Supper with the disciples (Luke 22:7-38).
• He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.
• He was arrested and unjustly tried before the religious and political authorities of His day.
• He was scourged by the Roman soldiers.
• He was forced to carry His own cross to Calvary (John 19:17), until Simon of Cyrene was “pressed into service” to carry it for Him (Matthew 27:31-32, Mark 15:20-21, Luke 23:26).
• He was crucified and buried.
• He laid in the tomb until Sunday morning.

Most of the time when we focus on the events of Passion Week, we often give our attention to the tremendous physical suffering that Christ endured during the period of His trials, beatings and crucifixion. We have been privileged to have two different medical doctors on two different occasions in recent years describe for us from a physician's point of view what His suffering really entailed. However, none of us are fully able to comprehend the agony of His suffering.

Possibly the closest anyone has come to visually portraying His physical agony was in the movie a few years ago entitled: “The Passion of the Christ.” However, don’t forget that even though the movie depicts the brutality of Christ’s painful suffering, the actors weren’t actually feeling the pain that Jesus endured. The truth is...It was even worse for the One experiencing it than we can ever imagine or adequately portray! If someone at the crucifixion scene had painted a picture that day accurately depicting it, none of us would likely want it displayed on our walls.

There is another aspect to Christ’s suffering, though, that gets far less consideration when thinking about the intensity of His suffering. It has to do with the emotional pain Christ endured. Peter draws our attention to it in his epistle:

“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 1:21-24)

“Reviled” translates a Greek word that refers to all kinds of verbal abuse intended to cause injury to someone. “Threaten” means making verbal threats that are intended to stop the other person from doing something.

In other words, when Jesus was “verbally assaulted” during His crucifixion, He did not “verbally assault” His persecutors in return. He did not “threaten” them with harm to make them stop. He simply bore the emotional abuse of their verbal lashings and harsh words within Himself.

These words from Peter can refer to the attacks Christ endured through the entirety of His ministry. However, the fullest application of them comes during the Passion Week of Christ when He is repeatedly and verbally insulted, abused, mocked and taunted.

Think about how it makes you feel when you are verbally abused by someone that is trying to belittle or demean you. It was these kinds of assaults that reached their apex while Christ was being tried and later hung on a cross. The Gospel writers specifically include references to some of these abusive words.

The Gospels mentioned four different groups that hurled their insults at Jesus at His crucifixion:

1. “Those who passed by” (Matthew 27:39-40)...”blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” (Mark 15:29-30)
2. The religious elite that mocked Jesus “with the scribes and elders, said, ‘He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:41-44; cf. Luke 23:35)
3. The Roman soldiers were already mocking Jesus during the trial phase leading up to His crucifixion. After He was condemned to die, the soldiers took Him into the Praetorium where they stripped Him, put a scarlet robe on Him, twisted a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, put a reed in His right hand and kneeled before Him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:29). Then they took the reed and hit Him on the head, driving the thorns deeper into His brow, as they spat on Him!

At the crucifixion scene the soldiers continued their mockery, “by offering Him sour wine, and saying, ‘If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.’”

4. To all this mockery and insults, the scripture says, “Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.” (Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32; Luke 23:39-43)

It was in each of the essential offices of Christ that He was ridiculed: as Prophet (Mark 15:29-30), as Savior (Mark 15:31) and as King (Mark 15:32).

What these verses prove is that Christ was isolated from even the slightest hint of support from anyone. With all their taunts and ridicule He is shown to be completely abandoned...surrounded by little more than His worst enemies.

Thomas Carlyle called ridicule “the language of the devil,” and especially in this case, that definition is certainly true. What we need to remember is that not only did they crucify Him physically that day, they also crucified Him emotionally with their words! In every way Jesus was suffering for you and for me.

Do you find it strange, as I do, that even the two criminals hanging on either side of Jesus joined in with the taunts and insults? Mark uses the imperfect tense of the verb “reviled” (Mark 15:32) when speaking of the two criminals’ verbal assault on Jesus, indicating that initially both of them repeatedly mocked Him with the others (Matthew 27:44).

What’s truly amazing is that some time during those morning hours as Jesus hung on the cross, crucified both physically and verbally, the heart of one of the crucified criminals began to change toward Jesus.

What caused the one criminal to change His mind about Christ? There are some possibilities that are worthy of consideration.

• Maybe it was seeing the sign above Jesus’ head that read, “The King of the Jews” that made him realize this was no ordinary man and that He was the Messiah.
• Maybe it was looking into the eyes of Jesus and seeing the compassion He expressed toward those crucifying Him that convinced him Jesus was the Savior.
• Maybe it was because he feared eternity and the just punishment he would receive for his sins that turned him to his final and only hope.
• Maybe it was the words Jesus spoke from the cross when He said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34) that convinced him that Christ alone could offer him forgiveness.
• Maybe it was being alone while he hung there suffering and dying without any other person that cared about his life. (It might have been at the moment that Jesus spoke to His mother [John 19:26] that he realized he was going into eternity alone.)
• Maybe it was the calm and majestic way in which Jesus conducted Himself as He suffered this horrendous crucifixion. Only an innocent man on a mission would be willing to die this death without defending Himself or crying out in anger.
• Maybe it was the words mockingly spoken by Christ’s enemies, “He saved others” that convinced him that Christ alone could save him. The thief may have reasoned, “If He saved others, then He can save me!” (What they taunt Him for not doing, saving Himself, is precisely because He must die to save others. He cannot save (from the cross) Himself and save others from eternal Hell!) Wouldn’t that be the ultimate irony for Christ’s enemies!
• Maybe it was just the realization that Jesus was enduring an unjust sentence that finally convinced him that Jesus was Whom He claimed to be.

I don’t know what triggered the change and neither do you, but one of the criminals definitely changed his mind about Jesus as he watched Him die. The result of that changed heart was a promise from Jesus that he would be with Him in “Paradise.”

"Paradise" has Persian roots, meaning "a walled garden" and it gives us a beautiful picture of what Christ was promising this changed criminal. When a Persian king wished to give one of his subjects a very special honor, he made him a “companion of the garden.” In other words, he was chosen to walk in the royal garden alongside the king. Jesus was certainly promising this man immortality, but it is so much more than that alone. He was promising him the honored place of a “companion of the garden” in the courts of heaven. This is equivalent in essence to what Jesus said in John 14:3.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Heaven is about so much more than just the beauty and majesty of the city He has prepared. We talk about going to Heaven as if it is only about the streets of gold, walls of jasper or the gates of pearl. We revel in the fact that in Heaven there is no suffering, sin or sickness...and rightfully so. Sometimes, though, we slip back into our “earth-bound” thinking and overemphasize the value of the “place” while minimizing the value of the “person” Who made it all possible. I don’t believe we’re going to Heaven and be mesmerized with anything more than Jesus. Because of God’s grace, we’ll be walking WITH HIM as a “companion of the garden.” What the criminal that changed His mind about Jesus was finding out was that there really was Someone that loved and cared for him. Nobody stood with him at the crucifixion scene that cared if he lived or died...except Jesus.

Three things changed in the repentant criminal’s heart that must change in all of our hearts...if we’re going to walk with Christ as a “companion of the garden.”

First, he recognized his own sinfulness and stopped blaming others for his sins.

“But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds...’” (Luke 23:40-41)

It’s not easy to admit that you are a sinner, as these two criminals illustrate. The repentant criminal owned his sin, but the unrepentant one refused to admit his sin.

Apparently, the unrepentant criminal was the kind of man that was always looking for someone else to blame or someone worse off than himself. Lots of people salve their conscious by comparing themselves to others they consider to be worse off than themselves: “Well, I’m not as bad as he/she is!” Or, “I would never do the kind of things he/she did.”

The repentant criminal simply acknowledged what he knew to be true about himself and all of us…”for we receive the due reward of our deeds.”

Hell is what we all deserve because we are sinners by birth and by choice. When I say sinners, I’m talking about all the usual things we think of that classify a person as sinful: lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, fornication, hypocrisy, impatience, greed, materialism, pride, unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, etc. etc.

But, do you know the worst sin of them all? UNBELIEF!! No one goes to Hell because he/she commits the aforementioned sins. A person goes to Hell because he/she has not trusted in Jesus Christ as his/her own personal Savior. All of the other things are just symptoms of the greater sin that condemns us. Even if you could change all of the sinful “habits” of your life, that still wouldn’t alleviate your need to trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18)

Second, he acknowledged that Christ was perfect and his only hope!

The repentant criminal heard the words of Jesus when He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” (Luke 23:33) These words must have enabled this criminal to see that if Jesus could forgive the very ones doing this to Him, that He must be a perfect man.

Jesus was innocent of all the charges against Him. He had been illegally incarcerated, falsely accused, wrongfully convicted and unjustly executed.  If ever there was a miscarriage of justice, this was it.

• Pilate said that Jesus was innocent and he could “find no fault in him.”
• Pilate’s wife had a sleepless night and warned her husband not to be a part of the execution of Jesus because He was a “just man” (Matthew 27:19).
• Judas regretted his decision to betray Jesus and committed suicide, thus testifying to Jesus’ innocence.
• The Roman soldier at Christ's death said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54), testifying to the innocence of Jesus.
• Now this repentant criminal recognizes that Jesus is innocent and asks Him to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom.

You and I will also have to acknowledge the person of Jesus and His sinlessness, if we are to walk with Him as a “companion of the garden.”

Third, he asked for what Jesus alone could give.

Amidst all the taunts and insults hurled at Jesus this day, we often miss the fact that both criminals asked to be “saved.” We know that’s true of the repentant thief, but listen again to the words of the unrepentant one.

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” (Luke 23:39)

What his taunt indicates is that the unrepentant criminal requested temporal salvation (to get down from the cross on which he was dying), while the repentant thief asked for eternal salvation.

This unrepentant thief met Jesus face to face, but he did not own his own sin, acknowledge that Jesus was the sinless Son of God (“If You are the Christ…”) and ask Him for the ETERNAL SALVATION He alone could give him.

The repentant criminal seemed to understand that he would have to wait for the salvation Christ promised him until His work on the cross was finished (“When You come into Your Kingdom…”).

Jesus could not save the repentant thief, or you and me, had He left the cross before the penalty of sin was paid in full. That’s part of the unrepentant thief’s problem, he wanted Jesus to come down from the cross before His work there was finished.

What they taunt Him for not doing, saving Himself, is precisely because He must die to save others. He cannot save Himself (from the cross) and save others from eternal Hell!

Let’s see how this all applies to you and me:

1. Name the place and time that you asked Jesus to be your personal Savior.
2. Don’t give up on anybody’s eternal soul because it’s never too late till they’re gone.
3. Don’t wait till Heaven to begin walking with Jesus as a “companion of the garden.”

Jesus Speaks from the Cross (#1)

Luke 23:26-38

It was the evening and the disciples had finished eating the Last Supper with Christ before going out to the Garden of Gethsemane with Him where Jesus would pray during those dark, lonely hours, knowing His arrest was soon. During the predawn hours of the next day, Jesus was taken to the unjust trials of the religious leaders and ultimately brought to Pilate to ask for His crucifixion. As the daylight dawned, Pilate learned that Jesus was of Galilee and as a friendly gesture, sent Him to Herod, who was in Jerusalem at the time. Though Herod had Jesus ridiculed, he wanted to avoid any political liability so he sent Him back to Pilate to be judged. And, even though Pilate could find no legitimate reason to crucify Jesus, he accommodated the angry mob and sent Him away to His death on a hillside called Calvary.

Golgotha is another name for this same location and is the Aramaic name for the place Jesus was crucified. Calvary is derived from the Latin phrase used to describe this mount of torture. Literally, these words mean,”Skull” or “The Place of the Skull” and all four Gospels reference it as the place where Jesus and two other criminals were crucified (Matthew 27:32-34; Mark 15:21-22;  Luke 23:33; John 19:16-18).

According to some early church fathers, the reason this location was called, “The Place of the Skull” was because of the shape of the hill that reminded people of a human skull. Today, there are two locations that are recognized as possibilities for the actual place of Christ’s crucifixion. One is called Gordon’s Calvary, which is a hillside outside the walls of modern-day Jerusalem with rock formations that makes it resemble a skull. The other is a site near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is just outside the northern wall of the old city of Jerusalem, and not far from a road (Matthew 27:39; John 19:20). Maybe it’s best that the exact location of the crucifixion be unknown, since it is too holy a site to be desecrated by idolatrous superstitions and quarrels.

Listen to the text as Jesus is taken to this location to suffer a death unimaginable to us today.

Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus. And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’  Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. (Luke 23:26-38)

The actual crucifixion of Jesus took place about 9 a.m. the morning following the Last Supper with the disciples the night before. In light of all the abuse Jesus had already endured during/after His trials, it is hard to imagine the enormity of the physical pain He was actually enduring.

It was probably the Persians that first utilized crucifixion as a form of punishment, but the Romans had perfected its torture and used it frequently. Usually, prisoners' arms were stretched out on the ground with their hands extended on the crossbeam (patibulum) they had carried to their crucifixion site. Their hands were then affixed to this crossbeam with large, rough spikes. The crossbeam was then lifted into place so that it rested on the wooden, upright member extending from the ground and the prisoners' feet were nailed to that beam. Roman crucifixion was cruel and brutal, intended to deter any other would-be criminals.

As Jesus hung on the cross from 9 a.m. that morning till 3 p.m. that afternoon, He spoke seven times. Listen to each of these sayings of Jesus from the cross.

Between 9 a.m. and noon:

1. "Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ And they divided His garments and cast lots." (Luke 23:34)
2. "Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’"  (Luke 23:43)
3. "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home."  (John 19:25-27)

He was silent between the hours of noon and 3 p.m.

At 3 p.m. and shortly thereafter:

4. "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46)   
5. "After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’" (John 19:28)
6. "So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit."  (John 19:30)
7. "And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last."  (Luke 23:46)

These seven sayings have long been the study of those that love the scripture and desire to honor Jesus Christ. Some have suggested that in these seven sayings we are given seven duties as followers of Christ.

1. To forgive our enemies (saying #1)
2. To have faith in Christ (saying #2)
3. To honor our parents (saying #3)
4. To set the highest possible value on the fulfillment of God’s Word (saying #4)
5. To cling to God even in life’s darkest moments (saying #5)
6. To persevere at whatever the task God has given us to the very end (saying #6)
7. To yield all things, even life itself, to God at God’s bidding (saying #7)

But, these words from the suffering of Jesus tell us far more than just about the duties to which we are obligated as His followers. As important as these duties may be, these words actually give us a glimpse into the very nature and work of Christ Himself.

Consider for a few minutes the first saying of Christ from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Never have more beautiful words ever been uttered than these, which address mankind’s greatest need...his forgiveness of sin!

If you want to see the true heart of God, listen to Him interceding for the very ones that were directly guilty of crucifying Him.

As you’ll note...

1. These are AMAZINGLY COMPASSIONATE words.

Remember the fact that these words are being spoken at exactly the time He was being nailed to the cross or very shortly thereafter. And, consider that His first three sayings from the cross are not about Him, but about others (those crucifying Him, the thief on the cross and his earthly mother). The only thing you can derive from this is that Jesus continues to be compassionate towards others even in His suffering and death.

One of my favorite quotes about Jesus is found in Acts 10:38 where it says that, “He [Jesus] went about doing good.” Study the life of Jesus and you can’t help but see His compassion repeatedly as He does “good” to/for others.

Think about the widow of Nain whose only son had died. His mother and a crowd from the town were in a procession headed to bury his body. The text says that, “When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said.” (Luke 7:13 NLT) Imagine her amazement (and all those in the funeral procession) when Jesus touched the coffin and her son sat up and began speaking...all because He was moved with compassion.

Think about the two blind men that cried out to Jesus as He was leaving the city of Jericho. They begged Him to have mercy on them and give them sight. The text says, “So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.” (Matthew 20:34)

Consider the leprous man that knelt in front of Jesus and begged Him that if He was willing He could heal him. The text says, “Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said.’Be healed!’” (Mark 1:41 NLT)

Or, think about when Jesus was at the Sea of Galilee with a large crowd gathered around Him and he healed their sick, to the delight and amazement of all. After three days of these miraculous works the text says, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” (Matthew 15:32)

The occasions where we most often find the Gospels telling us about Jesus’ compassion are when crowds of people are assembled. At the sight of the great congregations gathered to hear him, our Lord was often moved with compassion. On one occasion the text says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36 NLT)

Even when Jesus had been cruelly and unjustly tried, beaten and crucified, He still showed compassion on those that most desperately needed His forgiveness. And, it’s a compassion that only can be described as amazing!!

2. These are INEXTRICABLY GRACIOUS words.

You wouldn’t think that having just been crucified after being unjustly tried and beaten that anyone would want to extend forgiveness to his captors. But, in these first words of Jesus from the cross, He offered an unmerited and undeserved favor to all that would receive it.

Granted, He is not here pardoning people that don’t desire His pardon. But, He is opening the way of forgiveness to those that come to understand the significance of what is unfolding before them. He is giving them the opportunity to experience the Father’s gracious offer of pardon.

He even includes a special plea, an argument, if you will, for granting this inextricably gracious petition...”they do not know what they do.”

Jesus could have called the angelic hosts to deliver Him (cf. Matthew 26:53) and/or asked the Father to judge His captors instantaneously. But, His petition brings a sort of stay of execution and a hopeful expectation that they will avail themselves of the Father’s forgiveness in the future when they realize the depth of their sin (cf. Acts 2:29-39).

Who can explain the depth, height and/or breadth of such an underserved offer of pardon?

Is it any wonder that we sing the words to this song with such heart-felt emotion?

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come;

'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.

His word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

One theologian from the 19th century said about this prayer of Jesus, “We have probably not the least idea how many of the conversions to God at Jerusalem which took place during the first six months after the crucifixion, were the direct reply to this marvelous prayer. Perhaps this prayer was the first step towards the penitent thief’s repentance. Perhaps it was one means of affecting the centurion, who declared our Lord ‘a righteous man,’ and the people who ‘smote their breasts and returned.’ Perhaps the three thousand converted on the day of Pentecost...owed their conversion to this very prayer...we may be sure this wondrous prayer was heard.” (John Charles Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. Luke [Cambridge, England: James Clarke & Co., 1976], vol. 2, p. 463)

3. These are EXPANSIVELY INCLUSIVE words.

For whom exactly is this prayer for pardon being made? And, in the answer to that question, we find the expansive nature of the petition.

Is the prayer being made for only the soldiers who were merely doing their job and probably had little understanding of the significance of their actions? Does it include all of the nation of Israel, even those that had been guilty of calling for His crucifixion that very morning? Would it include the Jewish authorities that had long been looking for a way to destroy Him and were the primary motivators behind the calls for His crucifixion?

Truthfully, when Jesus prayed, “for they do not know what they do,” He was asking for all of these to realize their sin and to change their minds about Him. This is implied in several passages of scripture. For instance...

“Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” (Acts 3:17)

“For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” (Acts 13:27)

“...which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:8)

In other words, Jesus included all of the people and their rulers in His intercessory prayer...even you and me. While you and I didn't nail Jesus to the cross or call for His crucifixion, it is because of our sin that He had to die.  

This prayer reflects the enormous scope of His Atonement for all mankind’s sin! In essence, Jesus prays that all people will be given time, grace and the knowledge necessary to bring them to the Father’s pardon.

After all, mankind’s greatest need is forgiveness of sin and that’s what makes this prayer so wonderfully powerful.

Think about it this way...

• If God can forgive those that condemned Him to die...He can forgive you and me.
• If He can forgive those that cried out, “crucify Him, crucify Him”...He can forgive you and me.
• If He can forgive the ones that asked for the guilty Barabbas to be released instead of the innocent Jesus...He can forgive you and me.
• If He can forgive the ones that denied Him rightful and legal justice...He can forgive you and me.
• If He can forgive those that inflicted the agonizing pain of the nails through His hands and feet, as well as the crown of thorns on His head...He can forgive you and me.
• If He can forgive those that mocked Him during the time of His agony...He can forgive you and me.
• If He can forgive those that gambled for His seamless robe, impervious to His suffering and agony...He can forgive you and me.
• If He can forgive those that slapped Him, pulled His beard from His face, and scourged His back...He can forgive you and me.

There is no sin too great that He cannot forgive and there is no sinner too far lost that He cannot find!

That’s what the scripture teaches about the extent of the Father’s forgiveness. Listen to the Apostle Paul talking about the power of God’s grace and forgiveness. “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more…” (Romans 5:20)

4. These are UNDENIABLY NEEDED words.

The portrait of our true spiritual condition apart from Christ is an unflattering one. In a day when people think too highly of themselves and there is so much talk about self-love and self-esteem, the Bible is brutally honest about what lies deep within each one of us.

“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God... (Romans 3:1-18, 23)

The truth is...everybody needs Jesus and the forgiveness the Father offers! Jesus was acting as an intercessor for us while suspended on that rugged cross, petitioning God for us to have the opportunity to know His pardon! Jesus was dying for the very purpose of paying a penalty we all owe. It is precisely because Jesus was taking the place of sinners in His death that He was able to pray, “Father, forgive them.”

For God to be just and righteous He must punish sin. God cannot merely forget about it or overlook it. Consequently, He dealt with it by providing a just punishment for it in the person of His own Son...rather than in the person of the sinner. Because of this...any one of us can be made right with God through Jesus Christ by receiving His payment for our sins at Calvary.

To grasp this truth, let’s go back to the attack on the World Trade Center as a practical illustration of the rescue God brings to us through Jesus Christ. In the September 11, 2002, issue of TIME magazine there was a touching article about 31-year old Genelle Guzman. Genelle was the last of only four people caught in the debris of the Twin Towers to be found alive.

After the planes hit the World Trade Center, Genelle was descending a staircase from the 64th floor of the North Tower. Steel beams weakened to their breaking point. Solid concrete was pulverized. But somehow her body found an air pocket.

Her right leg was pinned under heavy concrete pillars. Her head was caught between stacks of wreckage. But, she was still alive.

For twenty-seven hours Guzman lay trapped and seriously injured.

In the months leading up to the horrendous attacks of that day, Genelle had started attending the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and wanted to get her life turned around. So while she was stuck in the rubble, she started to pray. She’d trail off into sleep – wake up and pray some more.

Shortly after noon on Wednesday the 12th, she heard voices. So she screamed as loud as she could, “I’m here! HEY, I’M RIGHT HERE!” A rescue worker responded, "Do you see the light?" But, she couldn’t see it. She took a piece of concrete and banged it against a broken stairway overhead—probably the very structure that had saved her life. This allowed the searchers to find her location.

Genelle wedged her hand through a crack in the wall, and felt someone grab it. She heard a voice say, "I’ve got you," and Genelle Guzman said, "OH GOD, THANK YOU.”

It took 20 long minutes, and then she was saved.

In many ways, Genelle Guzman represents the problem of all people. We are buried under an enormous mass of our own spiritual wickedness and evil – ways we have wronged our perfect and holy God. The Bible calls these things sin and we have no hope of freeing ourselves. We are truly stuck and in need of rescue.

But by admitting the need to be forgiven – by reaching out and saying, “God, help me! I can’t get out of this mess unless you save me,” we can be confident that he hears and answers that prayer. (TIME Magazine, 9/11/02, p. 38.)

Consider three ways that you can realize the fullest meaning of Jesus' prayer on that crucifixion day…”Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

1. Stop trying to free yourself from your own sinfulness and ask Christ alone to save you.
2. Stop punishing yourself and remember that whom the Father forgives...is truly forgiven.
3. Stop holding onto bitterness toward others when Christ has forgiven you so much.

“...forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)