Father Forgive Them...

When Jesus was crucified, he suffered for three hours on the cross. During this time the people around him who had crucified him jeered at him and they mocked him. The only people of all his apostles and friends who were with him were his Mother, Mary, Mary Magdalen and John, the Beloved Disciple. During this time, Christ spoke seven times from the cross. Over the next seven days, I intend to post a reflection on each of his sayings...

"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

Can you imagine the pain Christ endured? He was beaten, scourged - whipped so badly that pieces of his flesh was ripped from his body. After he was whipped and beaten close to the point of death, he was further mocked with a crown of thorns jabbed harshly into his head. Each razor sharp thorn piercing his skin and tearing it little by little with every moment, every time he wrinkles his brow, wants to cry out in pain. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, cannot even cry out in pain without bringing about more pain.

It hurts for him to breathe, to move, the stand to sit. All he can feel is every wound on his body. He knew this would happen when he was in the Garden of Gethsemene. He knew his fate then and he feared it, so much so that as he sweat blood, he cried to his Father to take this cup from him, but also accepted the Father's will, "not my will but yours be done." Oh yes, he could have turned away, he could have denied his ministry, his purpose and our salvation. But he didn't.

As he stands there with the thousands of bloody gouges all over his body, feeling excruciating pain in every part of his tortured body, he still says 'Yes.' He says yes to suffering, yes to death on a cross and yes to the Father's love for all of us.

Even as the guards give him his cross to carry up to Golgotha, even as they continue to beat him, laugh at him as he falls not once but three times under the weight of the heavy cross, he still says yes.

Even as they hammer the first nail into his wrist, and then into his second. Even as they strike the nail into his feet and raise the cross up. Even as he is on the cross, held up only by nails in his wrists and feet, as he struggles for breath and puts more pressure on his feet so he can fill his damaged lungs with air, even as his mother looks at him in horror, her son in his last moments of life and she is powerless to do anything for him. Even as all this is happening, he still says yes to us.

He says yes to us when he says, "Father forgive them for the know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Perhaps we think he is speaking to the Roman guards who were following orders or the Pharisees who were so against him. Maybe it was the Saduccees who were politically motivated or the Jews who supported Barrabas...but maybe he was speaking to you and me? Maybe he was speaking to all of humanity...

His death gave us all salvation - he paid the price for all our sins. The scourging, the crown of thorns, the weight of the cross, the nails hammered into his flesh - all of it was my doing. I scourged him, I put the crown of thorns into his flesh, I laughed at him when he fell and I drove those nails into his wrists and feet, I crucified Jesus. I killed him. And so did you.

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Even as we were killing him, he still prayed for God to forgive us. Even as we were so unworthy of even being his enemy, he loved us. He loves us still.

He said yes to me. When I nailed him to the cross with my bare hands, he said "Yes, my love, I will die for you. I will die so you may live." Jesus, my Lord, please forgive me for my part in your death. Thank you for your love and for your sacrifice. I know that I can never be worthy of your love and I am always astonished that you continue to offer it to me - that you continue to offer yourself to me in every way despite my unworth.

Dear Lord, remembering the hour when You experienced death

So that we might have Eternal Life,

May we appreciate in our hearts the necessity of Your sacrifice for us

And with Your help, Your guidance, and Your grace,

May we be made worthy of it.

Amen