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Father, Forgive Them – John MacArthur, JESUS Keep Me Near the CROSS with Pastor William Shifflett
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Luke 23:34 - And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Was the whole point of the incarnation forgiveness? It was the very thing Jesus was dying for. It was what He was praying for. And it is what He exemplified in His death. Again, He gave us an example we are solemnly charged to follow.
Why did He pray, “Father, forgive them,” when in the past He had simply forgiven sinners Himself (cf. Luke 7:48)? Hadn’t He already shown that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6)?
Whom Christ was praying for? Was it the Jews who had conspired to sentence Him to death? The Roman soldiers who actually nailed Him to the cross, then gambled for His clothing? The mocking crowd who taunted Him? The answer must be all of the above, and more.
Extended Forgiveness - In a sense, is every pardoned sinner who ever lived an answer to Christ’s prayer? Since our guilt put Him on the cross in the first place, we bear responsibility for His death just as surely as those who actually drove the nails through His hands and feet. Is the forgiveness He extended on the cross to those who put Him to death the same forgiveness He extends to sinners today?
We who have experienced such forgiveness have a solemn duty to extend a similar mercy to others as well (Ephesians 4:32).
Can we look at this scene on the cross and understand the depth of His passion, then justify our own unwillingness to forgive our neighbor?
Should we show mercy even as we have received mercy (cf. Matthew 18:21–35)?
Is forgiving enemies, and to beg forgiveness for them, the true character of the Christian spirit?
May the Lord grant us grace to follow in His steps of mercy!