Last Words.
Not too long after my twenty-second birthday, I arrived in Vietnam, a machine-gunner in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. My first combat was only a few days later. Combat tends to grow one up quickly. The man to my right, whose shoulder was only a foot away from my own, got a face full of grenade shrapnel. The invincibility of my youth left me swiftly. I knew that I could die. I wrote each letter home with care, for I suddenly knew that each letter might be the last words my loved ones would ever read from me.
Since my combat experience, I have noted the last words of a number of famous people. I have found that a person’s dying words can be revealing, showing us something of the person. The ideas of Karl Marx put many nations on the horrible road to communism. On the day Marx died, March 14, 1883, his housekeeper came to him and said, “Mr. Marx, tell me your last words, and I'll write them down.” Marx replied, “Go, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!” P.T. Barnum, the founder of the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, asked as he was dying, “What are the receipts of the day?” Napoleon’s last words were, “I am Chief of the Army!” The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon’s last words were, “Jesus died for me." And Charles Wesley, the initiator of the Methodist Church, said, “Best of all is, God is with us.”
The Bible records seven last statements that Christ uttered while he was on the cross. These statements are important to us, not only because Jesus spoke them, but also because of the place where he said them. While Christ was on the cross, he was doing his greatest work; he was uttering some of his greatest words. Luke 23:34 records one of his last statements: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” Sometimes it is difficult for us to forgive people. Someone hurts us, someone says something against us, and in our hearts, we cannot forgive that person. Listen to Jesus’ prayer: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Jesus prayed these words of forgiveness on behalf of the people gather at the foot of the cross; people who wanted to watch him die; people who only the day before had shouted, “Crucify Him!” Jesus spoke these words of forgiveness on behalf of the Roman soldiers people who only minutes before had nailed him to the cross. He said it for the members of the Sanhedrin who had rushed to find him guilty of a capital crime. He said it for his frighten disciples who had run and were in hiding. Notice the wonder of his words. Understanding his final example to us will enable us to forgive and to experience the joy that comes when we do forgive.
Christ had a world-changing attitude. I hear Christians say, “I cannot talk to God! I cannot pray! I do not believe anymore—after the way people have treated me.” Look at the way people treated Jesus. He had preached love. He had healed the sick. He had fed the poor. He had done nothing bad to anyone. His only crime was to upset the social order. For this, his nation sinned against him. His own disciples failed him and fled. Peter denied him. His heavenly Father was willing to see him suffer. He was up all night, dragged from one kangaroo court to another, found guilty of crimes he did not commit, beaten almost beyond recognition, multiple stab wounds in the head from the thorns in his crown, made to drag his own cross, pierced with spikes driven through his hands and feet, then raised on the cross, suspended by his nail-torn flesh between two thieves to suffer death.
In spite of all this, Jesus was able to look up into the heavens and begin his prayer with, “Father.” He lived in fellowship with his Father and knew that even under these horrible circumstances, God loved him. I remember in Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 37, the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” and Jesus answered, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” Jesus, under these most difficult circumstances of his life, remained true to his Father, never doubting God’s love, even while he was nailed to the cross.
Perhaps you are hurting now. You are thinking, “If God loves me, how can he let me suffer so?” God loved Jesus, and yet he was willing to see Jesus die a horrible death. No matter how bad things seem, God loves us, and he always will; in that, have no doubt. Do not lose faith. He is working out his purpose for each of us. Christ’s agony on that cross was for the greatest purpose. God raised him to eternal glory. It is not easy to suffer. Pain hurts. It seems so unfair. A broken heart hurts far worse than a broken arm. If we really want to be a Christian, Jesus, here on the cross, shows us where we must start. We must start by following God’s will, no matter if our circumstances seem as dark as those that Jesus faced on the cross that day two thousand years ago. When we can say, “Father,” then we are able to look up to heaven and know that God will make all right.
Next in Christ's appeal we find “forgive them.” “Father, forgive them.” The Greek New Testament indicates that our Lord repeated this prayer several times. He said it as they laid him on the cross as it lay on the ground. He said it as they drove the spikes through his flesh. He said it as they raised his cross, its base sliding into a hole in the ground, jerking erect with a sudden and painful thud. And finally, he said it as he hung there, dangled in the air by his mangled meat. “Father, forgive them.” He could have prayed, “Father, judge them; Father, bring punishment upon them.” He could have called down legions of angels to deliver him, but he did not. The thing that kept Christ on that cross was love, not nails. I say again, the thing that kept Christ on that cross was love, not nails. Jesus knew what was going to happen to him. He knew he was going to the cross. He could have run.
Luke 22:21 records what Jesus said the night before he was betrayed at the Last Supper, “But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.” Christ told Judas to go do what he had to do. Jesus could have slipped out of that room and out of Jerusalem as soon as Judas was gone. He did not. A short time later, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray before Judas showed up with the temple guards. Jesus could have run then. I read portions from Luke 22:39–46, “Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place … He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’ … And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Jesus knew what was coming. He had the power to turn and walk away from the horrible pain that he knew the Romans would inflict on him, and yet he said, “not My will, but Yours [Father], be done.” Jesus went to the cross because he loved us. He went to the cross knowing he would pray, “Father, forgive them.”
Many times some of us may have wanted to bring down fire from heaven on someone and wanted to pray, “Father, judge them for their sin against me.” But our Lord gave us his example that day: “Father, forgive them.” Christ practiced the message that he preached. He preached forgiveness. He told his people in his messages, “Now, if you do not forgive from your heart, God cannot forgive you.” This does not mean that the basis of forgiveness is our own good works. No, but it does mean that if in our hearts we are unwilling to forgive others, we are in no condition to come and ask God for forgiveness for ourselves. Let me repeat that: If we are unwilling to forgive others, we are in no shape to enter into God’s presence and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness of a wrong against us is a form of mastering ourselves, of moving to Christ-likeness. We must remember that all of this happened while Rome ruled the world. The Romans worshipped revenge. Revenge was one of their gods. Revenge is the god of the terrorists that flew airplanes full of innocent people into the Twin Towers, murdering 3,000 innocent souls who God created in his image. Our Lord Jesus did not worship revenge, nor should we. He prayed, “Father, forgive them,” and in doing so, he fulfilled the Word. He practiced his own message of forgiveness.
This, of course, was the purpose of his death. Our Lord was on the cross because God does forgive sinners. That is the message of the Gospels. We do not have to go around with the weight and burden of anger and revenge on our lives. We do not have to carry the guilt of sin. We can forgive! Forgiveness is the message of the cross. Forgiveness is not cheap; it is very expensive. It cost Jesus his life. We will have no problem forgiving others if we are right in our relationship with our Father and remember that God has forgiven us. Those who do not forgive others tear down the bridge on which they themselves will have to walk. Romans chapter 3, verse 23 states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God loves us. We are rebellious, we act selfishly, we are immoral, we sin, yet God loves us intensely. He loves us beyond anything that we can comprehend. He loves us so much that he gave his only son, Jesus the Christ, to die on that cross.
Perhaps some will argue, “But you have no idea how others have treated me.” Well, I have an idea of how others treated Jesus, and yet he was able to say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Our Lord not only prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies, but with this last phrase, he argued on their behalf. It is as though he stood as a lawyer and said to his Father, “Let me give you a reason why you should forgive them. They do not know what they do. They are ignorant of the enormity of their actions. They do not realize what great sinners they are. I know what I am doing; I am dying for them. Now, Father, forgive them so that I will not have died in vain, that I may, in this most horrible of circumstances, set a final example.”
The early New Testament Scriptures, written mostly in Greek, commonly used the word aphesis to convey the English “forgiveness.” Aphesis means “sending away” or “letting go.” Quite simply put, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” is letting go. It is the understanding of the basic fact that good is permanent, always present, and all-powerful. Evil is temporary, insubstantial, and without its own character. The trick is the proper spiritual treatment of evil. Do not wrestle with evil. Not to forgive a wrong done to us is to give further life and power to that evil. Not to forgive is to transfer power onto the person who has hurt us. This makes matters worse. How foolish. Evil cannot come into our lives unless there is something in us with which it is attuned. By forgiving that wrong, not only do we remove its ability to do us more harm, we remove the likelihood of retaliation, we present the wrongdoer with an example that may change him.
Paul covers this point quite well in Romans chapter 12, verses 17–21, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather … ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink…’Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” God loves us; he wants us to be happy. While on the cross, Christ was still thinking only of our happiness and us. His final words about forgiving even those who have horribly wronged us are a part of our guide to the happiness God wants for us. When we will not forgive someone, we are expressing a degree of hate. That hate has negative psychological and physiological effects on us. Hatred is one of the most destructive emotions. Indeed, every time we think about something someone did to us, we relive whatever reason we think we have for hating him or her. We become the victim of our own thoughts. That is why we are not to bear a grudge or seek vengeance. I mean, even though someone has harmed us in some way, every time we remember that harm or seek vengeance or bear a grudge, we relive the pain. Our emotions do not allow us to differentiate between the real and the imagined. In our minds, we become victims again. Only by removing the hatred, through forgiveness, do we release the pain and remove the ability of the person or group to keep hurting us again and again. Forgiveness means we no longer victimize ourselves. This reliving of our victimhood is why God forbids us to seek vengeance. We shall not repay evil with evil. We are to return good for evil (Matthew 5:43–48). Jesus says that in so doing, maybe we will make an enemy into a friend. Only forgiveness removes our sin of hatred. By forgiving, we remove the ability of that wrong to do us more harm. Forgiveness is for our happiness; forgiveness is God’s mercy on us, the victim of a wrong. Forgiveness breaks the cycle and lets us get on with our life. Forgiveness removes us from victim status.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Again, I say, nails did not hold Jesus on the cross, love did. Jesus’ last words from the cross gave us an example of how we may join Christ in his work on earth. These last words show us how to slip from evil’s hold on our lives. Jesus, while suffering to death on the cross, showed us another way to help establish his kingdom on earth. We have a complete Bible, from Adam to Christ’s second coming. We are not ignorant of the requirement that all Christians must forgive all who have sinned against us. We are not to carry revenge in our hearts. It will hurt us much more than it will hurt the ones who have wronged us. God is patient with us, that we may have time to reconcile ourselves with our sins, and he asks us to treat others the same way. Is that too much? Religion is in rapid decline in America and the world. I believe that is because we Christians have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions. Jesus’ instructions are simple: Forgive!
Search your heart. Is there someone you hate so much that for you to meet them on the street is to suffer? Is there someone who has you in victim status? Is there someone you hate so much that you would not tell them about Christ? Is there someone whom you need to forgive? If there is, know that Christ wants you free of your pain: Forgive! Forgive that you may do what Christ would have you do. Forgive that you may enjoy life better. Forgive that you may join Christ in establishing his way as your way. Forgiveness puts you in a position to witness to all.
