Focal Passages: Luke 23:26-43; Colossians 3:12-13
It may come as a surprise to you, but I can carry a tune. My bucket may be a little larger than most good singers, but I can still hit a few notes the first time I try. In truth, I sing quite well…when I’m alone in my car…with the radio turned up high.
That elevated opinion of my singing abilities echoed clearly as I drove across town this week with the volume cranked up, singing loudly and proudly along with Don Henley as he blasted out his soulful rendition of Heart of the Matter. Sing it with me.
“I’ve been trying to get down
to the heart of the matter,
but my will gets weak and
my thoughts seem to scatter,
but I think it’s about forgiveness.”
You can stop singing now because that’s when I stopped singing and started thinking about forgiveness. Not specifically the forgiveness Henley was singing about, but rather the forgiveness extended to me by God, family and friends and the forgiveness I need to extend to others. When I got home, I realized it was time for a deeper dive into forgiveness.
What better place to start than with the one who died to forgive. Join me in Luke 23.
Those verses find Jesus nailed to a cross, suffering an agony you and I cannot comprehend, condemned to death by arrogant Jewish religious leaders and conniving Roman politicians. The witnesses who testifying in Jesus’ sham of a trial lied. Now, a crowd that days earlier cheered him as they waved palm branches amid shouts of Hosanna, hurled insults as they slandered and mocked him.
“If you’re the king of the Jews, come down off the cross and save yourself.”
Their shattered illusions about the promised Messiah overflowed in bitterness and hate. As he suffered unimaginable pain leading to his death, the religious leaders smiled, quite pleased with how it all played out. Pilate, who granted permission for the execution, washed his hands of the sordid affair, thankful he tiptoed through the political minefield.
Through it all, not one looked at the man on that middle cross and said, “I was wrong.” Not one said, “This is a mistake.” Instead, they laughed. They jeered. They celebrated.
Then, Jesus uttered what noted Christian author Ray Pritchard called one of the most profound statements in the entire Bible, “the finest, purest, highest example of forgiveness.” At a time when we might find our will weak and our thoughts scattered, Jesus thought about forgiveness!
Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)
Pritchard wrote, “Jesus, the Son of God, the one who knew no sin, the only truly innocent man who ever walked this sin-cursed planet, in his dying moments uttered words that still ring across the centuries…Those 11 tortured words sweep away all our shabby excuses. They reveal the barrenness of our hearts; they rip the cover off our unrighteous anger and show it for what it is.”
I always assumed Jesus was talking to his father about forgiving the Pharisees who forced the issue. Forgiving Judas who betrayed his love. Forgiving Pilate who turned his back on innocence. Forgiving the gathered crowd lining the road to Golgotha who spat upon him as that splintered beam of wood scraped across his whip-torn back. Forgiving the disciples who denied him and ran away. Forgiving the Roman soldiers who wielded the hammer and nails and gambled away his clothes. Forgiving the thief on the cross who, in his own pain and shame, mocked and reviled Jesus. Forgiving the angry crowds who insulted him and misunderstood who he was.
It is more comfortable to think that way. They certainly needed his forgiveness.
Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.
As he approached his death on the cross, the words carried a meaning beyond the moment. What if he was really saying, “Father, forgive Kirk. He is not born yet, but when he is, he will do things beyond reason. He will not fully understand what he is doing. Even now, through this sacrifice, forgive Kirk.
So, now? Are you thinking about forgiveness?
Paul tells us Jesus did what was necessary. What God planned from the beginning of creation as he hung the stars and moon: Jesus would die for my sins, your sins and the sins of the world. The unknown writer of Hebrews spells out that covenant promise when he declares that “…without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness…so Christ was sacrificed once for the sins of many.” (Hebrews 9:22, 29)
What Jesus did on the cross and through his resurrection stands as truly the most life-changing act in human history. He died as a substitute for the death we deserve because of who we are and how we live. We are not much different in the grand scheme of life than the unyielding religious leaders, the jeering crowd, the grimly efficient Roman soldiers and the fearful followers who denied their association with Jesus.
I certainly don’t deserve his forgiveness, but I felt it the moment I gave my heart to him as a nine-year-old boy. I feel it, time and time again, when as a man I walk my own path instead of the path he needs me to walk. His forgiveness is there every time I seek it.
If you are a believer in Christ, I know you understand that. If you’ve not yet turned your life over to him, I pray you will find his forgiveness and start a new life lived in the light of his forgiveness and the sunshine of his grace.
There are two sides to every coin, as they say. It is easy to bask in the beauty of God’s forgiveness. We should live each day in gratitude for grace extended. Absolutely. The other side of the coin, though, can make us uncomfortable. Jesus did not just forgive us so we could feel better about ourselves and our past mistakes. His forgiveness comes with a command to forgive those who hurt us.
That’s where it gets messy for many of us. Most of us can agree with the idea of forgiveness in the abstract. The real challenge arises when we are personally wronged and contemplate offering forgiveness to someone who hurt us deeply.
“You don’t know what he did to me.”
“You should have heard what she said about my kids. You’d be angry, too.”
“They should suffer like they made me suffer.”
“No one has ever hurt me like he hurt me.”
“How can I possibly forgive her when she keeps telling those lies about me?”
C. S. Lewis devoted a chapter of his book Mere Christianity to the idea of forgiveness, calling it fundamental to the Christian faith. He said, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.”
I am not saying forgiveness is easy. When the offense cuts to the core, forgiveness can be difficult. Living like Christ requires his followers not just to admire forgiveness from a distance, but to actually practice it. To forgive even when our baser instinct says, “I’ll bury the hatchet, but it will be somewhere between your shoulder blades.”
There was a time when Jesus found Peter thinking about forgiveness. With irritation written all over his face, Peter plopped down beside Jesus and asked him how many times he had to forgive someone who offended him. Thinking he was being magnanimous, Peter seemed to think seven times was an acceptable number. He sought Jesus’ confirmation.
Rather than seven times, Jesus offered seventy times seven, which in Peter’s mind seemed too much like ever and always. Given Peter’s confused look, Jesus just jumped with both feet into a parable about a forgiven servant who could not forgive the debt someone owed him.
Read Matthew 18:21-35 for the full story.
Essentially, Jesus told Peter that forgiveness is evidence of Christlike behavior and a natural outgrowth of the mercy offered by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. It is unlimited grace extended to others because of how much God, through Christ, has forgiven us.
When he gave the believers in Ephesus instructions on Christian living, Paul encouraged them to live differently than the rest of the world. He said,
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)
It was a motivation for forgiveness Paul echoed with the Colossian church. Look at what he said in Colossians 3:12-13.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
So, I’m thinking about forgiveness.
No. There is nothing easy about forgiveness. It was anything but easy for Jesus as he hung on the cross experiencing a physical pain and an emotional agony as he bore my sin and yours. Yet, that act of forgiveness that extends beyond the cross to my life and yours demands that we respond to the hurt others inflict upon us with the kind of compassion and love that forgives even the most harmful attack.
It doesn’t mean we pretend it never happened. It doesn’t mean letting people walk all over you. It doesn’t mean making excuses for other people’s bad behavior. It simply means letting go of the hurt so you can begin to restore the broken relationship.
Forgiveness is evolution. A risk. A leap that opens us up to both the possibility of repeated hurt or restored relationship. It is a leap God makes every time we seek his forgiveness. If he forgives us, shouldn’t we be willing to make that same leap for those who desire our forgiveness?
If you are having difficulty forgiving, maybe the heart of the matter is just a matter of heart. A matter of loving others as Christ loves us.
In the middle of all that hurt, when your will gets weak and your thoughts seem to scatter, maybe it is time to think about forgiveness.
Thinking Points
What are some common excuses you use to avoid forgiving others?
From the cross, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing. What does his statement reveal about the nature of true forgiveness? How does that idea contrast with your usual response to being wronged?
How does recognizing the depth of God’s love and forgiveness toward you shape your ability to (or struggle) to forgive others?
Peter wondered if forgiving someone seven times was sufficient. What are the dangers of placing conditions or limits on your willingness to forgive?
Perhaps one danger is that, rather than staying focused on the attributes of forgiveness, you have this “chip” on your shoulder that reminds you, quite often, of what they have done to you. I have heard some say, “I’ll forgive, but I won’t forget!” I would think complete forgiveness has no component in it that takes away from the focus of our Lord’s command to forgive. Forgiveness has the aspect of humility that says all need to be forgiven, including one’s self. Let it begin with me.
Amen