“And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.” Luke 23:34
C.S. Lewis once wrote, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.” Lewis was simply stating something we know all too well, forgiving others can be an extremely difficult thing to do. Throughout my years in the ministry, I have seen that people have struggled with forgiveness more than anything else. Why? Because they are looking through the eyes of “self”. “Look at what they did to me!” “Look at how they hurt me!” People’s inability to forgive has destroyed marriages, families, friendships, as well as fellowship amongst Christians.
In fact, if you think about it, Jesus is the only One who is justified in not forgiving, with that in mind, let’s look at the first words He spoke from the cross. Those people were killing Him! Jesus was arrested, put on trial, condemned, insulted, spit upon, whipped to the point of having His flesh ripped off of Him, beaten up and nailed to a cross where He would face the most painful form of capital punishment ever invented by human kind. Yet, the first words that He spoke there were words of forgiveness; “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). He was not looking at them through the eyes of “self”, but rather the eyes of grace.
Of course, this shouldn’t surprise us. Throughout His ministry we see that same grace. When Jesus taught His disciples what we know as the Lord’s Prayer, He prayed, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) He went on to say, “For if you forgive others, their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
Later on in Matthew’s Gospel, when Peter wanted to limit his forgiveness to a very generous seven times, Jesus said, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22) In other words, we are to forgive an infinite amount of times. In these Scripture passages and in many others, Jesus made it clear that forgiveness is not optional, nor is it merely a suggestion. For us who belong to Christ, forgiveness is to be a way of life. How then, can forgiveness be a lifestyle for us?
Look back to the cross of Christ. Jesus offered up a prayer of forgiveness for those people who hated Him so much that they wanted Him dead. He did so because His focus was not on Himself, but on others, including you and me. He took Himself out of the equation and saw those people through the eyes of grace.
That is the key! We are called to stop looking through the eyes of “self”, where it is all about “me”, and look through the eyes of grace. That same grace that Jesus shows to us. When we look through these eyes, we can see very clearly that you and I were the ones who put Him up on that cross. Our anger, out hate, out lust, our self-centeredness, our unfaithfulness, our laziness, our immorality, our sins nailed Him to that cross. And yet, it wasn’t those nails that held Him to the cross, it was love, unconditional love. It was through this grace that Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Out of this grace Jesus reconciled us with the Almighty God. He freed us from every last one of our sins. He made us whole. He brought us peace and gave us life, true life, eternal life.
When our eyes are on Jesus and not on “self”, that changes everything for us. It changes how we see our Lord and Savior, and it also changes how we see others. This is what enables us to surrender every part of our life to Him, and to say what the Apostle Paul said; “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by Faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)
When we stop seeing through the eyes of self and start looking through the eyes of grace, we can indeed, let go of the anger, the bitterness, the emptiness and the pain that others may have caused us. That’s when the walls come down and we open our life not only to the Lord, but to others. And that is when we can pray with a genuine and loving heart, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Lord Jesus, from the cross you looked upon the people there, as well as us, through the eyes of grace, and You prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Please, help us to look through those eyes of grace to receive what You have promised and to forgive as we have been forgiven. In Your most Holy Name we pray. Amen
Keith Enko