WWUTT 2512 Jesus Prays, "Father, Forgive Them"

While hanging on the cross, Jesus prayed these famous words, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Do you have a heart that is that forgiving when we understand the text?

This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible study in the word of God that we may comprehend with all the saints, how wide, how high and how deep is the love of Christ. Tell all your friends about our ministry at www .tt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Luke 23:32-38 and the Four Quotes from the Cross

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Luke, we come back to chapter 23, reading of Jesus' crucifixion. And I'm gonna pick up where we left off yesterday, starting in verse 32 and going to verse 38, hear the word of the Lord.

Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the skull, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

And Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by watching, but the rulers scoffed at him saying, he saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.

The soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over him. This is the King of the Jews. So we have in the passage that we're looking at today, four quotes, various quotes in this particular section.

The first one comes from Jesus. And one of the most well-known quotes from Jesus found only in Luke 23, 34, where he says from the cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Then we have the mocking that comes from the Jewish rulers saying he saved others, let him save himself.

Then we have the mockery that comes from the soldiers. And then we also have what was read on the sign that was hung above Jesus. This is the King of the Jews. So we'll look at each one of these quotes as we go.

Roman Crucifixion and the Suffering of Christ

Let's come back to verse 32, where it says two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. So I mentioned yesterday that on the way that Jesus walked to the place of his death, he carried his cross.

As said back in verse 26, we often picture this as him carrying the whole cross, but it was really just the cross beam. It was the horizontal beam, which is called the patibulum. What we have been able to discover through Roman history is that criminals were led to the place of their execution, carrying the horizontal beam.

Now, crucifixion was very taboo, even in the eyes of the Romans. They didn't really talk about it very much. And so there's very little written about crucifixion. So what we've been able to find is really more from people who were not Romans, who were describing the ways that the Romans would put people to death.

So even among the Romans, it was like crucifixion was a messy, disgusting thing. And rarely was it Romans who would be executed this way, but rather slaves, most commonly slaves, or those people whom the Romans ruled over.

So Romans themselves weren't crucified. This is like the lowest form of death. So we're gonna do this to the people that we really hate, is what the Romans thought. So there's not a lot of Roman record regarding crucifixion, but people who were not Romans did write a lot about it.

Josephus was another one, the Jewish historian, who wrote just a few decades after Jesus. There was not one consistent way the Romans always crucified their criminals. There was various different ways they could be crucified.

And it may have depended upon who was the commanding officer and how was he instructing crucifixion to be carried out. So one way of crucifixion is the way that you're used to seeing, where you have the cross, the traditional cross, like we have on the top of a church building or something like that.

And the criminal would be hung on that cross with his arms outstretched, nailed to the horizontal beam, the patibulum, and then his feet would be nailed to the vertical beam, which was called the stipes.

And there would probably be a wedge of wood right there at his feet, where his feet would be positioned on that, nailed to that wedge, and then the wedge nailed into the stipes. So there's that traditional way, well, I call it traditional, but the way that you're used to seeing crucifixion or picturing it in your mind, that was just one way.

They could also have that patibulum on the top of the stipes. So a criminal would be nailed to his patibulum, and then using ropes, it would be hoisted up and set on top of the stipes and nailed to the top.

So then it looks like a capital T rather than a lowercase t. And in some cases, the criminal's arms would be put around the back of the patibulum, and his hands would be nailed on the backside of it, rather than on the front of the horizontal beam, but on the backside.

And there could be ropes around his wrists in that sense as well. You've probably seen the pictures of criminals that have been nailed to their crosses and ropes had been wrapped around their arms in addition to their hands being nailed to their cross, just so the hand wouldn't tear off or the criminal wouldn't fall off of his beam.

The feet, when they were nailed to the cross, it may not just be to that wedge of wood on the front. It could also be that their feet would kind of straddle the stipes. So you would have an ankle on one side and an ankle on the other, and then nails would go through their ankles into the cross.

There has been archeological evidence that has shown this, that criminals who had been crucified had piercings through their ankles, and the people who had discovered these remains knew they had been crucified and the nails had gone through the ankles.

It wasn't one nail that went all the way through to the other side. It would have been two nails from either side, but this was another manner in which criminals were crucified. And it was a very humiliating form of execution.

You've probably heard it said also that these criminals were stripped naked. They probably wore a loin cloth when they were walking to the place where they would be crucified, but once they got there, whatever clothing they still had on, whatever clothing remained would be stripped off and they would be hung naked.

It was a humiliating and ridiculously painful form of execution. So painful, in fact, so much suffering was endured by the person being crucified that a new word was coined to describe the kind of pain that came out of the cross.

And you may know the word that I'm talking about. It's the word excruciating, which means out of the cross. So excruciating pain was like the worst suffering that a person could endure. The Romans invented this kind of execution because they wanted the criminal to suffer for a long time.

And again, as I had mentioned yesterday, they would be hung along a roadside. It was not on a hill far away, but it was along a road. It may have been up on a hill, but it was still a path that people would travel so that they would pass by these criminals and know if you were to disobey Rome, this is what could happen to you.

This is the way the Romans showed what happened to criminals so that they would keep people in line. And those criminals could hang there for days, but Roman guards were not permitted to leave them. So as long as a criminal was on the cross, a Roman guard had to be there.

So sometimes guards would do some things to kind of hurry up the death process so that they didn't have to stay there all day or for days. And they might pierce their side with a spear. They might pierce the heart directly from the front.

You could also pay a Roman guard a bribe so that the guard would, when nailing the nail into the wrist, would pierce an artery so that it would bleed faster and the criminal would die quicker. Now, one of the reasons why the Bible tells us that Jesus hung on this cross for six hours so from 9 a .m. to 3 p .m. is generally the timeframe that we have in mind for how long Jesus was on the cross.

The reason why scripture tells us that is so that we would know that didn't happen to Jesus. He didn't have his hands and feet pierced in a certain way to where he would bleed out faster because he would have died faster than six hours.

Jesus held on to his life until he was ready to give it up for as he said to the Pharisees, I have the authority to lay down my life and I have the authority to take it back up again. So Jesus commits his spirit to the Father and we'll get to that next week.

That's in verse 46 where Jesus calls out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit before breathing his last. So the Bible is sure to tell us he was on that cross for six hours. It could not have been that he was pierced in such a way that he would bleed out faster and die faster.

And it also didn't last for days because he had the authority on when to let his spirit go into the hands of the Father. But for six hours, he suffered this tremendous pain on the cross. The worst part about it though was not the pain itself.

It was not the crucifixion or the excruciating pain he experienced. But the worst part about it, of course, was the wrath of God being poured out upon his son as he laid himself down as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all who would believe in him.

That was the worst part about this. That was why Jesus in the garden was in such grief over what was about to happen. It wasn't because he knew crucifixion was really bad and it was really painful, but because he was taking our punishment on him.

All of the people past, present, and future who would believe in him, he was taking their sins upon himself. And as said in Isaiah 53, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. It pleased God to crush him as he died there on the cross for us.

And so here is Jesus being crucified, criminals next to him, one on his right and one on his left. And then verse 34, we get to the first quote here with Jesus saying from the cross, "'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.'".

What an incredible demonstration of Christ's love. Even for those who were doing this to him, that he would ask that the father would not wipe out all those people who are right there, who were mocking Jesus, who were mocking the sinless son of God as he died, but Jesus asking that they would be forgiven, that even some of them would come to believe.

And in fact, it may be that we see that prayer answered. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, because then you have the centurion in verse 47 who sees all of this taking place, and he praised God, it says, saying, "'Surely this man was innocent.'".

The father answered his prayer. And there were even believers there. Those who had put him to death came to faith and believed. When Jesus asks for them that they would be forgiven. And if Jesus was willing to forgive, even in this circumstance, where he was completely innocent, the most innocent person that there has ever been, the most innocent person ever to be judged for a crime that he did not commit.

No one was more innocent. No one has ever been more innocent than Jesus. How could the righteous God not smite those people who were putting his son to death? But there was Jesus with love and affection, even for those people who were killing him, that he would say, Father, forgive them.

Remember these words from 1 Peter 2, for to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Here's verse 24. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds, you have been healed.

Quoting right from Isaiah 53, for you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. My friends, if Jesus was willing to forgive his enemies while they killed him, how much more for us that we should be forgiving of those who do us wrong.

Even in our hearts, we would say of those people that would offend us, that we would say, father, forgive them. Just as God has had mercy on me, may he have mercy on these as well. Do you think that way about your enemies or those people who wrong you?

The Mocking of the Rulers, Soldiers, and the Sign Above Jesus

Verse 34 goes on to say, they cast lots to divide his garments. That's of course in fulfillment of scripture. And it could very well be that the people that Jesus prays for there in verse 34, specifically may have been the Romans.

I don't mean to limit it to the Romans, but in context, it looks that way because he says, father, forgive them. And then the very next statement is, and they cast lots to divide his garments. And we know that was the Roman soldiers.

So it could be that Jesus was referring to specifically the Romans. The Jews had punishment that was coming to them. We just read that yesterday, where Jesus even foretells the destruction of Jerusalem in the temple while he's being led away to be crucified.

So it could be that that statement in verse 34 is just to the Romans, but that's not to say that we should ignore the fact that many Jews would come to faith in Jesus Christ as well. Paul was one of them after all.

One of these who would have been along with the rulers right there, who would have put Jesus to death if he were among them. And yet he was one of them that God would have mercy on and would come to faith in Jesus and become a great apostle.

Verse 35, the people stood by watching, but the rulers, we're talking here about the Jewish rulers now, scoffed at him saying, he saved others. Let him save himself. If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.

Remember that was the testimony that was given before the rulers when Jesus was brought to trial. Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And he said, I am. And so now they're mocking him for that claim, even here as they stand and watch him die.

I mentioned that crucifixion was taboo and people didn't want to talk about it. Even the Jews didn't want to talk about it. Remember that they wanted Jesus and the other criminals taken down off their crosses before sundown because the next day was a Sabbath and they didn't want to have this filthy thing that was going on just outside of Jerusalem while they were enjoying their great Passover festival.

And so it was a gross thing. They didn't want to think about it either. So get them off the cross while we're having our holy day, our great celebration unto God, which of course all of that was in vain because here they were crucifying the son of God.

Verse 36, the soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Remember Pilate had presented Jesus in front of the people saying, behold, your king.

The soldiers had mocked him by putting robes on him. Well, the expensive robe that was put on him was put there by Herod, but then they made a crown of thorns and put it on him and they mocked him saying that he was a king.

They mocked bowing down to him and saying, hail Jesus, king of the Jews. So here they were mocking him even at the cross according to Luke. And then verse 38, there was also an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews.

Now we know from John's gospel, John 19, that this sign, this inscription was actually written in three languages. It was in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. When I mentioned a criminal carrying his petibulum to the place where he would be crucified, he also had around his neck a sign that said what he was guilty of.

And then when he got to the place where he was crucified, his sign would be taken from off of his neck and it would be nailed to his cross. So this wasn't an unusual thing that they were doing for Jesus.

It was actually a very common practice. But in this particular case, what is written on the sign is the king of the Jews. Jesus, the king of the Jews. And it was written, according to John 19, 20, it was written in Aramaic and Latin and in Greek.

So everyone would know this was his crime, but it was actually the testament to who he really was. This is the king of the Jews. You may have also seen this sign depicted with the letters I-N-R-I. Now, that's not what the sign above Jesus would have said, but in most artistic depictions of the crucifixion, you will see those four letters, I-N-R-I.

That in Latin is Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, which means Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews. This was the king who died for us. He laid down his life for our sins. He died so that we could live. This was the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, as Jesus had said, the fulfillment of that sacrificial system in which a lamb would be slaughtered for the sin of the person who offered it.

And he would place his hand on the lamb, symbolizing that his sins were being transferred to the animal as it was being slaughtered and the blood being spilled and the life being drained out of the animal.

It was taking the punishment for the person who had offended God. But as we read about in the book of Hebrews, that the blood of bulls and goats never had the power to forgive sins anyway. All of this was pointing to something else.

It was pointing to Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And all who believe in him will not perish under the judgment of God, but we have by faith in Christ everlasting life. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read.

Surely a story that we've heard many, many times before, but needing these reminders that we would know and understand what Jesus went through for us, that he was the spotless lamb. He was innocent. He had committed no sin.

There was no deceit in his mouth, yet he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. And father, may we entrust ourselves to you. May we not lash out at those who would oppress us or offend us or afflict us in any way, but with Jesus, we are also able to say, father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

You have forgiven us of much. May we have those same forgiving hearts toward others, that they may hear the good news of the gospel of Christ who forgives sin and gives eternal life. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand The Text.