... Of Easter.

Father Forgive Them... Luke 23:34

The heavy wooden cross is raised up, and then dropped into place with a juddering crash. The soldiers who have raised it up relax, mopping away the sweat their efforts have caused. They drop to the floor, relaxed and disinterested. Their work is done. Now all they have to do to is wait for the three men to die.

The soldiers are relaxed. Not so the man on the centre cross. His body screams with agony and pain. The judder caused such searing pain he almost faints. There is blood on his feet; blood runs  down his arms; blood pours freely from his back, where the metal tipped whip has struck him and struck him and struck him, ripping his flesh away.

And blood drips into his eyes, from the crown of thorns they have mockingly jammed onto his head.  Blood, blood, so much red. His eyes mist with it. Or is it the pain that is blinding him.

He is struggling to breathe. His own weight is pulling him down, as though he is drowning. But when he raises himself up, the nails tear at Him. 

Still, Jesus raises himself, to look at his accusers. Standing round his cross are the good men of Jerusalem, come to ensure he dies. To them he is an enemy. And because he is an enemy, they take the time to gloat. It is not enough that Jesus die; even that he dies horribly. They would see him totally humiliated, 

And so they stand; and watch; and gloat. 

And Jesus sees their faces. And Jesus feels their hatred. And Jesus senses their anger and their fear. 

And through his pain he summons the energy to speak. And his words cause a moment of silence in their mocking. For they are the last words any expected to hear.

"Father, forgive them," he says. "They don't know what they are doing."

'Father'. Jesus begins and ends with Father. Others scoff and abuse him at this time, thinking that the cross denies Jesus claims. But Jesus knows that the cross is the necessary door back to his throne. The cross does not deny: rather, it affirms his relationship with the Father. Before the world even began, He had chosen to suffer and die, so that he might save the lost (Luke 19:10). That time is now here. And through the door of suffering He steps. 

'Forgive them'.  Here is Jesus mission. He came to bring healing and forgiveness. Was Jesus tempted not to forgive those who were wronging him so totally? If he was, he did not yield to it. The open hand of God is extended to everyone - whatever their crime. Though it costs him his life, given in humiliation and suffering, Jesus does not lose sight of his purpose. He came to bring the Lord's favour, through the cross of salvation. And so he offers forgiveness even to those who crucify him. Jesus once called his followers to love their enemies and to pray for them (Luke 6:29,35): now he lives out that call.  

'They don't know what they are doing'. 'They' think they know. To the Romans, Jesus is a pest, stirring up the Jews to perhaps another rebellion. To the Jewish religious leaders Jesus is a trouble-maker, risking the wrath of Rome falling on the people of Judea. To the bystanders Jesus is another failed Messiah.  For these reasons they execute him, and scoff as he groans in pain up there.

But Jesus is right: they don't know what they are doing, for in fact they are killing the Son of God.  Were he to lift but one finger, legions of angels would come to his rescue. 'They' - the Jewish and Roman leaders -  think Jesus cannot do this, for 'they' think he is not the Messiah. How wrong they are.  Truly, 'they' do not know what they are doing.

Here is Isaiah's righteous suffering servant. He suffers, the innocent for even the most guilty, to wash away our sin.  

What can wash away the guilt of each sinner? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. Here is amazing love: the innocent dies for the guilty; and asks that they be forgiven, even as their actions condemn him to the most agonizing of deaths. 

Amazing love, that I the guilty one, should go free. 

'Father, forgive them', Jesus cries in love. It is amazing love.  A love so amazing, and so divine that it demands my soul, my life, my all.