Our Hope and Promise
Pentecost Last, Proper 29
November 20, 2022
Fr. Tim Nunez
Our Hope and Promise
How did Luke learn what was said on the cross? The Apostle Paul was imprisoned at Caesarea Maritima, which was the provincial capital of Judea or Palestine under the Roman Empire. He was there for at least two years. Luke, his companion and a physician, stayed in the area. That gave him the opportunity to learn a great deal from the other Apostles, those who followed Jesus and saw him raised from the dead, including the women and others who stayed with Jesus all the way to the foot of the cross.
Luke was thus able to record what these criminals said and some of the most important words we have from Jesus.
Jesus said, “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Jesus taught a lot about forgiveness. He said “You must forgive,” and “How can you be forgiven if you do not forgive?” When Peter asked him, “How many times?” Jesus told him 7 times 70, which does not mean 490, but infinitely. When his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray he included, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Those are tough. However challenged we may be by those teaching and commands, this is the mind-blowing, earth shattering ultimate word on forgiveness.
Jesus said, “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Jesus is literally on the cross, having been betrayed by a friend and the Jewish leaders, and abandoned by most of his disciples. Physically, he is in severe agony. He had been beaten, now each breath requires his diaphragm to bear the weight of his body. Mentally and emotionally he is bared for anyone to see and most are jeering and mocking him. Spiritually he is in his moment of utter abandonment, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
On one level it brings to mind something my mother used to say to us with some regularity. “You’re over-tired.” I hated when she would say that. That was checkmate, game over. Whatever I wanted to do, whatever injustices my brother and/or sisters and I were arguing, whatever brilliant point I was trying to make was vetoed, stripped of all importance for a while. And she was always right when she made that call.
But parents know when their kids don’t know what they are doing. Jesus knew that most, maybe all, of those people didn’t understand who he truly was. Even so, their taunts and indifference were real. Some of them had shouted, “Crucify him!” and that had materially led Pilate to consent to his crucifixion. They knew they were doing that.
Here Jesus demonstrates what he means by “You must forgive.”
We struggle to forgive for a host of circumstances and a lot of reasons. It’s one thing to forgive when there’s some mutual fault and responsibility, when there’s an apology, when the offense is out of character. Even then it can be hard.
But what about when there is no apology, discussion, no meeting of minds? What about when the offense affects your life in a big way, when it really hurt you badly? Was it worse than what Jesus endured on the cross?
What about when the injury is ongoing? This is not to mean anyone should remain in an abusive or unsafe situation. If you are anyone you know is suffering like that then by all means draw the necessary boundaries and get to safety. But with all that in mind, what about forgiveness in such a situation? Jesus spoke those words with his hands and feet nailed to the cross.
There are no exceptions, not even from the ways our own guilt afflicts us. His forgiveness is complete and he means for us to receive it and forgive ourselves, too.
By his own example Jesus demonstrates that there is no sin against us that is beyond forgiveness. It helps to contemplate his example. It’s best to ask for his blessing and strength to do what we cannot. Our savior wants us to be freed from the festering infection that hurts and inflicts guilt upon his beloved children.
It is that infinite forgiveness upon which we depend when we pray the words of that criminal on the cross. These are beautiful words to pray, perhaps the most beautiful prayer we can make for ourselves and each other, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
In that prayer, and it is a prayer because every time we talk to Jesus is prayer, in that prayer we acknowledge that he lives, that he hears us, that we believe in him, that he has the power and authority to receive us into his kingdom, that he has prepared a place for us, and that our faith in him is counted unto us as righteousness.
Jesus’ response to this prayer is the ultimate gift. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” What do we want and need for ourselves and those we love?
And that is the beauty of our King, why he has the name that is above all names. In his greatest suffering, his focus was on forgiveness and bringing those who call upon his name into paradise. That is why we hold him above all ideas, all loves.
“He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
AMEN!