Then Jesus Said, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
What is the biggest thing for which you have ever been forgiven? There might be several things that popped into your mind, or that one daunting and shameful thing that you hope and pray never sees the light of day again. Or maybe you have thought of that singular action, but you really do not know if you are forgiven. You can only hope and pray that God’s mercy is wide enough and His love deep enough for peace to be restored. Or since this is the day the sky got dark, the day Christ hung from the cross, maybe we need to admit there is one thing we are pretty sure we will take to the grave without the benefit of mercy, peace or grace. I want you to sit with that, hold it, embrace it, feel it, without thinking of all the reasons you took that path, without justifying the behavior in your mind, without minimizing it. Think about those who were hurt, what it cost to set right, (if it was set right) the weight it has borne on your shoulders and your life.
In this Lenten season we come to honor, remember and mourn the death of our Lord on the cross. During the season of Lent we will hear his last words and reflect on each. As we do, remain ever aware of the sin, your sin, that Jesus died to wash away. Hear the nails pounded into the cross, see the blood dripping down his forehead from his crown of thorns, feel excruciating pain as he takes his last breath. Forgive me; I am getting ahead of myself.
Forgiveness is the first word. It is the place where Jesus starts. Forgiveness runs through scripture as we heard tell with Joseph. Christ embodies forgiveness. It starts there and ends there. Before anything else he asks God to forgive. Now if we step back from that verse just a bit, we can see so much more. “And when they came to the place which is called the Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, ‘Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ And they cast lots to divide his garment.” At first we might think that Jesus is seeking forgiveness for the criminals on either side of him, and the greedy soldiers who cast lots for his garments. And so he is. But of course Jesus is seeking so much more from God. Jesus is petitioning God for mercy for Peter who denied him, for the disciples who abandoned him, and for all who condemned him even though Jesus was without sin. Yet God’s forgiveness is so much wider than Jesus’ immediate circle. For the blood of Christ has brought forth God’s mercy for you and for me, and for every poor sinner who has come before and who is yet to come. For Christ’s death not only shattered the grip of sin and death, but also of time. Now before you think I am getting all cosmic, it is the simple nuance of scripture I want to point out. ‘Father forgive them; for they know not what they do’ is the way the passage was read and is most known. NRSV says, “for they do not know what they are doing.” This reading offers a more current and continual nature of the sin for which Jesus is seeking God’s mercy. That is a good thing, because you and I sin constantly, it is in our nature. We try not to sin, but we do. We like to believe we don’t sin too much, but it is frequent. It is what in the Reformed tradition John Calvin called total depravity. God’s response is so much better. For no matter how sinful we are, if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we witness this day on the cross and everyday- as a blessing with a reprieve from total depravity and that is Total Forgiveness.
A few years ago I went to a conference at Harvard and one of the speakers Marcus Borg, who has recently died, asked the question why is our need for forgiveness so central to our Worship? Why is Christ as the one who died for our sins, the image we cling to, when scripture is filled with so many other images? There is the Shepherd, the King, the High Priest, the one who reconciles, the one who liberates, the one who heals and transforms. Christ is all that and so much more. Today as we stand at the foot of the cross, as we hear this, the first word of Jesus, we dramatically see the primacy of the forgiveness.
The nails have just gone in, Jesus knows his words are few, and while in heart-wrenching pain, before anything else, he seeks our forgiveness. For nothing short of the life of Christ, the Lamb of God hanging from the cross could grant us God’s mercy. No Shepherd could do that, no king or priest. Only God’s Son; the one willing to die for our sins.
When our sinfulness is hidden, locked away for no one to see, never offered up to God for mercy, we neglect to ask for forgiveness, then we are distracted by all the other ways Christ lived out God’s calling in the world. We suspend our belief for our need for forgiveness and stand on good works instead. We stand behind and even try to emulate the feeding of the poor, we offer hospitality to the homeless, we seek justice and peace in our neighborhood and the world. We can never lose sight of the fact that the only way we can even endeavor at these Christian practices, is because of God’s gift of grace. The loving sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, gives rise to our charitable works. For when we sit at the foot of the cross, with our hearts open to our own sin, longing for the love and mercy of God to touch us and transform our life through Christ, then we truly know Christ came into the world to free us from our sin. Christ died so that we could be united with God, for Christ was pure and without blemish, and through his blood we are joined in the perfection of that love.
When we recall our greatest sin as we did at the beginning of the sermon, and remember Jesus’ excruciating pain, then we humbly know why we need forgiveness. We know why week after week, year after year we return to the cross to receive the life-giving, liberating, nurturing gift of God’s grace through the blood of Christ.
Christ died on the cross once and for all for the forgiveness of our sins; an act that perpetually grants us the mercy of God and the hope of our life eternal. And yet I cannot help but imagine, and scripture affirms, that Jesus is still praying ,“Father forgive them.” Forgive her, forgive him, forgive you and you and you and me. For even though Christ is no longer hanging from the tree, he continues to petition God on our behalf. He seeks to reconcile us, and the world to God.
What is our response to this generous gift of love? Jesus died so that we might live in the magnanimous grace of God’s loving forgiveness, we are called to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. Ask yourself how you can be more like Christ? Is forgiveness central to how you live your life as a disciple?
In conclusion I want to share a story with you. Just after the end of WWII there was a gang of youths in Germany. Czeslaw Godlewski was a member of this gang who roamed the German countryside leaving destruction in his wake. On one isolated farm they gunned down ten members of the Hamelmann family. Nine of them died. The father, Wilhelm Hamelmann, miraculously survived his four bullet wounds. As the time approached for Godlewski the gang member, to complete his 20 year prison term, the state would not release him because he simply had nowhere to go. None of his family would offer him shelter and every state agency refused to take him. Then a letter was received by the warden. It was a simple request, “I ask you release Godlewski to my custody and care. Christ died for my sins and forgave me. Should I not then forgive this man?” The letter was signed, Wilhelm Hamelmann.
“Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Amen.
