Father, Forgive Them

“Then said Jesus, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’” (Luke 23:34)

This is the first of the seven last sayings of Jesus while He was on the cross.  It comes immediately after the verse before tells us they came to a place called Calvary and there they crucified Him and the malefactors.

Scriptures tell us that He was scourged, spit upon, slapped in the face, crowned with a crown of thorns, mocked, laughed at and falsely accused. They drove huge nails through His hands and feet into the wooden cross. Isaiah tells us that He was unrecognizable as a man. Still He cried, “Father forgive them.” I wonder if those guilty ones accepted His forgiveness.

When the first Christian martyr, Stephen, was being stoned to death for his sermon and for his stand against the sins of Israel, he spoke with a loud voice, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” (Acts 7:60) Stephen knew that voice from the cross.

Hear our Savior’s voice from the cross when you have been sinned against, wrongly accused or abused physically, mentally or verbally. The Bible says, “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32)