Scripture: Luke 23 v 12-34; 1 John 1 v 7-10; John 3 v 16.
These are among the last words to come out of the mouth
of Jesus as He hung dying on the Cross. He actually said: "Father, forgive
them, they know not what they do."
Was He referring to the Romans under Pontius Pilate who
carried out the execution? Their god was Caesar who had the power of life and
death over them.
They yielded to the Pharisees who had put Jesus on trial
for claiming He was God or even the Son of God. The Pharisees had resorted to
subterfuge to capture Jesus. They had bribed Judas with 30 pieces of silver to
betray Him.
Or was it the crowd who just a few days earlier had
welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with cries of Hosanna to the King?
The Pharisees had tried to stop the crowd and their
raptorous welcome but Jesus said to them, if the crowd is silenced even the
stones would cry out to welcome Me.
This same crowd had now yelled "Crucify Him"
and when, according to custom, one condemned man was released at Passover, they
were offered Jesus, they refused Him and chose Barrabas, a murderer, be set
free instead.
Was it the disciples, who in His hour of need had
deserted Him, leaving Him to His fate? Even Peter who denied knowing Jesus
three tImes.
Which faction would we belong to if we had been in
Jerusalem 2000 years ago? The religious crowd; the frightened disciples; the
fickle crowd; the Roman conquerors; the traitor? Because Jesus included all in
His appeal to the Father for forgiveness.
The Son of God is the only one who never yielded to
temptation. He was sinless. Our God only hears the prayers of those who are
forgiven, and those who are asking for forgiveness. He heard Jesus that day and
applied His forgiveness and mercy to all who would beieve Jesus is His Son.
Jesus knew that in this world we are subject to
situations, forces, events and people over whom we have no control. Its only
when we allow Jesus to have control that we get some kind of a clue.
Sin drives us into wild schemes; fantasies; crime;
horror; evil and madness. Nothing good comes of it but when we want to be free
of sin there is only one way to achieve it. The power in the Blood of Jesus.
So as His Blood was pouring out of Him He was triumphant
because He knew that it was the only substance on this planet that could
cleanse us of all sin and restore our relationship to the Father.
Under the power of sin our will is compromised and our
reasoning is faulty. We truly do not know what we are doing. We are "under
the influence" and that usually is understood to mean alcohol or drugs but
the truth is that we are under the influence of Satan who is a hard and wicked
taskmaster.
This means Jesus was speaking for us all when He asked
the Father to forgive us because we did not know what we were doing when we
sinned until we were convicted by the Holy Spirit and cried out in repentance.
Prayer: Father God its only when we are reconciled to You
that we begin to understand the power of the Cross and what Jesus did for us as
He bled and died. We must let Him change us to be more like Him. In Jesus'
name. Amen.