"Father forgive them"
"And when they came to the place called The Skull there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, "Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.""As I reflect on the crucifixion as recorded in the Gospels I’m amazed at Jesus attitude revealed in the statement "Father forgive them". Jesus said this in His humanity as He had laid aside His eternal powers to become a man. Although He had the resources to completely change the course of history by escaping death, He refused to do so. Matthew 26:53 records Jesus at the time of His betrayal telling His disciples "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions (72,000) of angels." Jesus chose to be obedient to the point of death.
This statement also shows that there was no resentment, no anger, no lurking desire for punishment on those who were mistreating Him; only forgiveness. His only thought was to do what was best for our eternal good in a way that gave glory to the Father. Because of Jesus actions, the Father sees us completely and unquestionably forgiven through His blood.
That does not mean, however, that forgiveness is appropriated to every man or woman. This fact is revealed to us by the actions of the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus. Verse 39 tells us that one of the criminals hurled abuse at Him and demanded that Jesus physically rescue them. The other obviously had a change of heart as he observed Jesus in this crisis of the crucifixion and rebuked the first criminal. Jesus recognized this change of heart and assured him "today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (v. 43).
People are the same today. Some recognize Jesus as their Savior and some don’t. Those that do are instructed and exhorted in the Bible to tell others of their relationship in Christ and to live in a way that evidences that. I pray that your life will reveal the Savior to others.
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