The Seven Last Words of Christ: The First Word

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”  

Luke 23:34

Rembrandt van Rijn, Christ Crucified between Two Thieves (The Three Crosses), 1653-1655

Sovereign Lord, when “the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:27–28) and “killed the Author of life” (Acts 3:15), truly, they did not know what they were doing.  They were raging against you when they scorned your servant, but they did not know he is your Messiah, your chosen one (Lk. 23:35).  They took their stand against you when they abused “the King of the Jews” (Lk. 25:38), but they did not know you had given him “the throne of his ancestor David” (1:32).  When they condemned the one you ordained “as judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42), they “acted in ignorance” (3:17). They were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death when, through your tender mercy, your Dayspring visited them, to give them light and to guide their feet into the way of peace (Lk. 1:78–79).  But, Lord God of Israel, they did not perceive the Light you sent for their enlightenment and glory (Lk. 2:32).  Weeping over Jerusalem, your Light pronounced their doom:  “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes….because you did not recognize the time of your visitation” (Lk. 19:42, 44).  In their blindness, they did not know what they were doing—and in this way you fulfilled what you had foretold through all the prophets, that your Messiah would suffer (Acts 3:18).

Most merciful God, through the prayer of your Christ, you showed forth your goodness and loving-kindness to us.  “For the Word of God, who said to us, ‘Love your enemies, and pray for those that hate you,’ himself did this very thing upon the cross; loving the human race to such a degree, that he even prayed for those putting him to death” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.18).  In his prayer for his enemies, you reveal the riches of your “kindness and forbearance and patience,” showing us that your kindness is meant to lead us to repentance (Rom. 2:4).

Father of all mercies, deliver us from blindness and self-deception; help us to know what we are doing, willing, loving, that we might confess our sins to you.  Grant us true repentance through the gift of your Holy Spirit, that we might turn to you, who triumphed over the powers of darkness by the death of your servant Jesus, “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14, 2:15).