Luke 23:32-37: a reflection

32There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death. 33When they came to the place that is called “The Skull”, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots. 35The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!” 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, 37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

As Jesus is nailed to the cross between two criminals, surrounded by those who mocked and executed him, his first recorded words are not a cry of pain or a curse on his tormentors, but a prayer for them: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. In the very act of being crucified, Jesus intercedes for the ones driving in the nails, asking his Father to forgive them.

Notice the astonishing love in that prayer. Jesus is being unjustly tortured to death, mocked and reviled, and instead of hatred or a desire for vengeance, he prays for his executioners' forgiveness. Father, forgive them, he says, and even offers an excuse for them, for they do not know what they are doing. At the very extreme of being wronged, Jesus responds not with retaliation but with intercession, with a love that seeks the good even of those crucifying him.

That is forgiving love at its most extreme, and it is meant to shape us. If Jesus, in the agony of the cross, could pray forgiveness for his executioners, it calls us to a love that forgives even those who wrong us deeply, that responds to injury not with retaliation but with a desire for their good. We will not forgive as perfectly as he did; but his prayer from the cross sets the pattern and gives the grace. When you are wronged, even badly, remember Jesus praying Father, forgive them from the cross, and ask him for a heart that can forgive, and even pray for, those who have hurt you.

Lord Jesus, in the agony of the cross, being unjustly tortured to death, you prayed for your executioners: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. What forgiving love, responding to the extreme of being wronged not with vengeance but with intercession. When I am wronged, even deeply, keep me from hatred and the desire for revenge. Give me, by your grace, a heart that can forgive as you forgave, and even pray for the good of those who have hurt me. Teach me the love that prays, Father, forgive them.