Who's It For?

"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do"

(Luke 23:34)

These words still amaze me every time I read them,  "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do". Jesus' bloody, beaten, ripped, swollen body...hanging, nailed to a rough wooden cross.   Splinters digging into his back...large, sharp, nail-like thorns driven into his bruised head. Gasping for every breath... He breathes out the words of intercessory prayer..."forgive them". 

Who is this prayer for? It's for the lowest of the low. 

It was for the Pharisees who constantly tested Jesus at every turn. The Pharisees who falsely accused Him, beat Him, plucked His beard from His face, spit on Him and mocked Him. The Pharisees who rallied the crowd to kill the Son of God. 

It was for Herod, who just wanted to see a few magic tricks from the Messiah. 

It was for Pilate who sentenced Him and then washed his hands of the Truth. 

It was for the soldiers who mocked and beat Him to shreds; the soldiers who laughed and clothed him with a purple robe that stuck to his bloody back.  The soldiers who crushed a crown of thorns onto his head. The soldiers who made him carry the instrument of his death on his back to the place he would be killed. The soldiers that drove nails into his hands and feet and a spear through his side.  The soldiers who gambled for his clothes at His feet while He died.

It was for the thief that hurled obscenities at him while joining in with the mocking crowd. 

It was for all the evil people who surrounded Calvary that day.  It was for the evil people before that day...and after that day. It was for the murderer, the child molester, the terrorist.  It was for the most vile people of this world. 

"No, No, No!!" We shout, "Not for them! Not for the ones who hurt the innocent!!" But it is; it is for them. The forgiveness that Jesus offered was for them and still is for them. God loved the world so much that He allowed His Son to take my place, your place, their place; no matter what we all have done...so that we do not have to perish, so that we all can have eternal life...if we only turn to Him. 

Instead of us hating that God would extend forgiveness to evil people, we should rejoice.  Without Him doing that, we would have no chance ourselves. We are all of the same heart, with the same nature. He died and arose to offer us a new nature...His.  

The offer to repent stands.  His prayer is given for the meanest to the sweetest, the richest to the poorest, to every nation, every people..."forgive them". When we repent and turn to Him, that is just what He does....forgives us of all our unrighteousness. 

Vern