Father Forgive Them For They Do Not Know What They Are Doing.” Series

Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

Luke 23:34

The last words that a man or woman pronounces before dying come directly from the heart. Jesus also, during the last six hours of his life, hanging between heaven and earth, enduring great suffering, pronounced seven statements revealing the richness of his inner being.

Crucifixion was a form of torture that literally knocked the wind out of a person. The weight of the body suspended by the arms caused immediate pain in the chest, paralyzing the pectoral muscles and making breathing extremely difficult. The person being crucified could inhale but had great difficulty exhaling. To exhale he had to push on his feet and straighten his legs to release the pressure exerted on his arms and chest. But the pain that this caused to his feet was so excruciating, because of the nails, that he would immediately cease any such effort. Death usually occurred within two or three days. But when the Romans wanted to shorten his agony, they would break his legs. So, unable to straighten himself with the help of his legs, the man would suffocate rapidly. The soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves crucified with Jesus to hasten their deaths, but Jesus’ legs were not broken because he was already dead (John 19:31- 33). Thus was accomplished a prophecy from Scripture saying that none of his bones would be broken (John 19:36). It is in this context, while he was fighting for his every breath, that Jesus uttered his last words.

While they were nailing his hands and feet to the cross, or a little later, when they were putting up the cross, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Those standing around watching the crucifixion were in grave spiritual danger, but all of them were oblivious to it. The Roman soldiers saw it as just another day’s work. It was a nasty job , but someone had to do it. The soldiers are part of an execution detail, bored with crucifixion. Perhaps this team will have conducted several crucifixions this week already. The first time they saw a crucifixion they may have been moved by its brutality, but now they are calloused, emotionless.

First, the soldiers begin with the cruel process of nailing the criminal to a cross, then hoisting him up, the cross swaying forward, then back until it is secured with wedges at the bottom to hold it upright in the hole. And when that task is done, they sit around the base waiting for the criminal to die -- sometimes for days. To pass the time they gamble, deciding by a casting of lots who will be awarded the victim's last possessions. That is the scene.

Some in the crowd saw it as a gruesome, but interesting spectacle. Some were saddened, thinking that a good man was being treated cruelly and unjustly, but they made no connection between their sin and His death. They saw it as a political vendetta that the Jewish religious leaders had against Jesus, a prophet who had overstepped the line by confronting their shortcomings. The Jewish leaders were mostly relieved, glad to get rid of this troublesome prophet . But why did they want to get rid of Jesus?

We read in Luke 20 that the scribes and the chief priests sought to have Jesus arrested. In John 5, we are told that they wanted to kill Him, and in chapters 8 and 10, they tried to stone Him.

When we read these accounts in Scripture, we are prompted to ask, Why did these people speak the way they did and feel the way they did with such hostility toward Jesus? It’s difficult to provide a complete answer as to why they were motivated in this way, but here I am giving three reasons why the religious authorities hated Jesus so much.

The first is this: they were jealous of Him. Everywhere Jesus went, He attracted huge throngs, multitudes, crowds pressing around to listen to His every word, watching His every move. He was profoundly popular among the people, whereas the rulers of the Jews laid heavy burdens on their people, and they approached the masses, the people of the earth, with something like a spirit of disdain and scorn. They wouldn’t think of having dinner with a tax collector, But Jesus freely associated with people whom the Pharisees considered “rabble.”

The people loved Jesus, and they received Him gladly, but what they felt from the Pharisees was judgment. The only thing the Pharisees looked at was the people’s sin, and so they had a certain contempt for the common people. They saw Jesus associating with the common people and saw them cheering Him, loving Him. They couldn’t stand it because they were envious and suspicious of His popularity.