Introduction
Two weeks ago we began the season of Lent on a Wednesday evening as we participated in an Ash Wednesday service together. For the next five weeks we are going to take a look at the last seven words of Christ; Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, today you will be with me in paradise, woman behold your son, son behold your mother, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, and I am thirsty, it is finished, and into your hands I commend my spirit, to look at the power and impact these words can have on our lives.
Today we will begin with Jesus' first words on the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” as we look to the incredible act of forgiveness to better understand it, see what Jesus intended it to look like, and ways we can move towards that kind of mindset ourselves.
She Missed It
Perhaps some of you have heard the story about a woman who was rushed to the emergency room because she was quite ill. After a battery of tests, the resident on duty told her "I have both good news and bad news. The good news is that I have found out why you are ill. The bad news is that you have an advanced case of rabies, for which there is no treatment or cure." The woman was pained at first, but she quickly became resigned and asked the doctor for a pad of paper. Then she began to cover the pages with writing very quickly. The doctor was understandably curious and asked if she was writing her last will and testament. The woman replied, "No, I am not drafting my will--I am writing down the names of my relatives I want to bite before I die."
It is a safe assumption that this woman has not stood at the foot of the cross. Her witness was not a reflection of God's forgiving love. For how many of us does this describe where we are on our journey with the reality of forgiveness?
He Said What?!
Forgiveness is that act that Christ tells Peter in our first Scripture lesson to extend, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22b, NRSV). Other translations say “not seven but seventy times seven.” The exact mathematical number is not important because the number seven is understood as the number of completeness, so what Christ is telling Peter is that he is to forgive his brothers and sisters as many times as necessary. Not content to leave it there Christ continues with what we know as the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Basically, long story short, when one man is forgiven an impossible debt by his king, and is immediately offered the opportunity to extend that same kind of grace to another neighbor, he fails. In fact he not only denies forgiveness, that same forgiveness that was just given him, but demands immediate satisfaction. Consequently, the king finds out about this and revokes his mercy and throws this person in jail to be tortured till he can repay. Jesus finished this parable by saying, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:35, NRSV).
It is easy for us to translate this to our own lives, seeing the King as Christ, the servant as ourselves, and the neighbor as any person that is indebted to us in any manner. The difficulty comes with the actual practice. When someone physically bumps into to me in public and says, 'oh forgive me' or 'I’m sorry' it is very easy for me to never give it another thought. When someone cuts me off in traffic, it takes a bit more energy, but forgiveness is quickly given and the incident forgotten. But what about those acts that we consider as unforgivable.
How do you forgive the unforgivable? Sometimes I wish that I could invite the whole congregation to come into my office and sit for one week. Just to sit in the corner and listen to the people who come through my office. Listen to all the phone calls. Read the letters I get. An unending series of heartbreaking problems. Divorce. Broken homes. Broken marriages. Broken promises. Children estranged from their parents. Parents estranged from their children. Longtime friends who don't speak to each other anymore. People who have lost their jobs because someone cheated them. People who have lost their fortunes because someone did them wrong. Families that don't even speak at Christmastime because they hate each other so much. How do you forgive in a situation like that? How do you forgive when by definition what has happened to you is unforgivable?
He Nailed It
Many years ago, pre-Parker and Wesley, Debbie and I took our youth group to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert in Fort Myers. Steven is a contemporary Christian recording artist that has been successful for many, many years, in fact so long that he is now crossing generations.
One of the songs that was a part of this concert tour was entitled, No Greater Love. This song is about the idea that there is no greater love than laying your life down so another person might come to have a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The song talks about the wondrous and awesome gift Jesus gave to us by laying His life down so that we might have eternal life.
The chorus goes, “There is no greater love than this; There is no greater gift that can ever be given; To be willing to die, so another might live; There is no greater love than this. Now this song by itself is tremendous. The music, the lyrics, the whole piece. There is even a man chanting in a tribal language at the beginning and end of the song. This night as we were listening to the end, and what we thought was a recording of the tribal chant, a man named Mincaye came out on stage...chanting. He was the man whose voice is on the album and he was there doing the chant live.
Some of you may know of the famous story concerning Nick Saint and his missionary team. They were sent to South America to share the love of Christ with a very hostile and dangerous tribe of Auca Indians in 1956. These Indians did not like, welcome, or want strangers. In fact they were noted for killing anybody that came into their territory that were not a part of their tribe. Nick and his group went anyway. After much time, careful progress, staying in their own camp, and only going as far as the Aucas gave them permission, Nick thought he had built a solid enough relationship with the Aucas. He was wrong. One night while Nick and his companions were sleeping at their campsite, a contingent from the Auca tribe infiltrated the camp and killed them. Since then, other missionaries followed in their footsteps and were successful in converting many of the Auca Indians to the Christian faith. But the most amazing part of this story occurred when Nick's son, Steve Saint, was baptized by the very man who had tragically killed his own father.
At our concert, soon after Mincaye came out on stage chanting his portion of the song, another man came out. Steve Saint. Mr. Saint was traveling the country with Steven Curtis Chapman and Mincaye, telling this story. Telling of how Steve not only forgave the man that murdered his father, but had been baptized by him and befriended him. Instead of buying a gun and taking his revenge, he forgave. You can only forgive like that when you have stood at the foot of the cross.
Jesus as the Model
Our second Scripture lesson this morning gives us the model for the type of forgiveness Steve Saint gave to Mincaye. As our story begins we find Jesus at Golgotha. He has already been beaten, whipped, and tortured. Then, in this weakened state, Jesus was forced to carry a cross that a healthy person would have struggled to carry through town and up this hill. Now Jesus is crucified having spikes drove through his flesh, nailing him to the cross. I can only imagine the pain of all of this. Anyone who has watched the movie, The Passion of the Christ, those scenes of Jesus being tortured and crucified are thought to be fairly accurate. Every time I watch it, I cringe, I flinch, I turn away, and I cry. The pain had to be immense, but even more that than that, I think about the fact that all of that was done for me...for you. Jesus did not deserve any of that pain, torture, or humiliation. Jesus did not commit any crime, act, or deed to warrant that type of treatment. But he willingly endured all of it anyway. Out of love. Out of obedience. Out of forgiveness.
John Wesley writes in his notes that, “While they are actually nailing him to the cross, he seems to feel the injury they did to their own souls, more than the wounds they gave him; and, as it were, to forget his own anguish out of a concern for their own salvation.” Can you imagine? Can you fathom? Could you feel that way?
We know this to be true because of the first of Jesus' last seven words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus is more worried about how these acts will affect the people doing them, than the immense pain He is experiencing. He is more worried about their souls rather than the spikes piercing His skin. He is more concerned about what is at stake for them, rather than the fact that the pain and ridicule He is going through is for them and they are not grateful.
Conclusion
As I was preparing for this message, I was going through an old book about Luke, given to me by a retired pastor. This pastor had underlined a section that I want to read to you.
“Jesus said many wonderful things, but rarely anything more wonderful
than, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Christian forgiveness is an amazing thing. When Stephen was being stoned to
death he too prayed, “Lord, do not hold this against them.” (Acts 7:60.)
There is nothing so lovely and so rare as Christian forgiveness”.
Then in the margin this pastor wrote, “amazing grace”. When you look at Christ, hanging on the cross what do you see? Do you see a beaten and broken body? Do you see an innocent man suffering? Or do you see love? Mercy? Amazing grace? My challenge for all of us is to work towards being able to offer this type of unmerited, undeserved, unthinkable forgiveness to others. To the people that hurt you, to the people that caused you pain, to the people that treat you badly and you do not know why. Christ instructed us to forgive seventy seven times, or as many times as is necessary. Then he went out and did that very thing Himself. Are you ready to forgive like that? Christ forgave you in the past, forgives you today, and will forgive you tomorrow. Go out and do the same. Go out and give that same unmerited, undeserved, and unthinkable forgiveness to others. Not because you have too, but because God has worked within you, because God has transformed you...because God loves you!
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