Forgiveness Released

Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.   Luke 23:34

Human sin reached its full horror and most awful expression on the cross when we crucified the Son of God. If there was ever a moment in human history when God’s judgment had to fall, this was it. But at that moment, Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Christ knew judgment would come, so he cried out to the Father, “Don’t let it fall on them; let it fall on me.” He was isolating himself under the judgment of God. “Let me be the lightning rod for your judgment on their sin. Allow me to be the sacrifice consumed on this altar of the cross; don’t let your judgment fall on them.”

When God pronounced his curse on the first sin, Adam must have thought that the judgment of God was going to fall on him, but God diverted it onto the ground (see Genesis 3:17). Sin always leads to God’s judgment. But in his great mercy, God allows the judgment to be diverted away from the sinner so that room is created for reconciliation. This is at the very heart of the Good News.

Jesus stood under the judgment of God for sins that have been committed against him. Christ asked the Father to divert the punishment away from his enemies, and he absorbed it in himself. That is how forgiveness was released.

God’s judgment for human sin was poured out on the cross, where Jesus bore it. That is how he built the bridge across which we can come and receive the forgiveness of God, even today. I love the broad way in which Jesus said, “Father, forgive them.” Who is “them”?

Jesus’ prayer included the crowds who mocked him, the soldiers who crucified him, and the disciples who deserted him, but it extends even further. It includes the Old Testament believers who had waited for him and all those in every generation who come to him. When Jesus says, “Father, forgive them,” the word them is big enough for you to crawl inside.

For further reading, see Luke 23