300. The First Word

Luke 23:34

Key Verse: Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Luke 23:34

Many people often refer to this statement made by Jesus as an example of just how far His forgiveness would go. We often use this statement as an example of how forgiving we should be, even to our enemies.

While it is true that Jesus demonstrates a forgiving Spirit here, in fact, He was simply speaking, once again, the truth. The soldiers truly had no clue what they were doing. They didn't know that they were crucifying their savior. To them, they were simply doing their job. This man had been sentenced to die by Governor Pilate himself. What they were doing was legal and, in fact, carrying out the law. To their way of thinking, they were keeping the peace. They had no clue of the true evil in which they were participating.

Jesus understood this. Jesus knew that these men were not the real enemy. He loved these men and He was dying for them, even though they did not know it. Jesus knew who was behind the scenes, pulling the strings and causing the situation. He knew that the real enemy was satan. These men, the soldiers, Pilate, were just pawns that would be easily discarded by Satan, once the deed was done.

I wonder if Jesus thought back to the garden, where it all began. Adam and Eve had merely been pawns as well. They were tools that satan could use to destroy what God had created.

Now, satan was using these guards to carry out what he thought was the grand finale, death itself, to destroy God once and for all. In truth, this was the grand finale, but not the one he thought that it was.

One of satan's temptations to Jesus when they met in the wilderness was satan's offer to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would just bow down to him. (Luke 4:5-7) Could that have been a temptation because Jesus could have avoided this moment of pain and gained the world anyway? Fortunately for us, Jesus knew satan as the liar and deceiver that he is. He was deceiving the Romans now and he had managed to blind the Jewish people with their devotion to religion. Jesus knew that this day must come and that He must complete what He came to do. He loved the pawns, the people that made it happen. That's how amazing His love is even for us.

Hymn: "JesusKeep Me Near the Cross"