As Jesus is hanging on the cross, he says different things depending upon which gospel account you are reading. These saying are commonly referred to as the 7 last words of Christ, although they aren’t words, but sayings, and so I am calling them the 7 last sayings of Christ, and we are going to be spending the Sundays of Lent looking at each of these sayings. Now there are seven sayings, but only 5 Sundays to cover them, so twice, like today, we are going to look at two at a time. There is some argument that takes place in which order did Jesus say them, which is really unanswerable since, again, they are recounted in different gospels, and you will sometimes find them in different orders, but for simplicities sake for me, we are going to go in the order in which they are traditionally found, with today looking at Jesus’ statement of forgiveness and to one of the other men being crucified that today he will be in paradise.
Now, Luke has Jesus being mocked three different time while Jesus is on the cross. The religious leaders scoff at him. The soldiers mock him, and one of the other men being crucified also taunts him. This is important as we think about who it is that Jesus might be intending his forgiveness for and why.If you were paying attention to the text as the passage from Luke was just read, you will have noticed that this passage about forgiveness is found inside double brackets. So a test of remembrance for those who were here last week when we talked about the ending of Mark’s gospel, or perhaps the lack of ending, what did brackets in scripture indicate?
That’s right, it means scholars have questions about its authenticity to the original manuscript. There is a divide in the manuscript evidence in whether this passage is included or not, and the evidence just on that will favor seeing this as a later addition to the text. Now that does not mean this statement is not original to Jesus, right, but maybe not original to the text. When scholars are looking at this and trying to make decisions, they usually use Occam’s Razor, which basically says that the easiest answer is usually the best answer. That is in looking at whether it was added or removed, being added is the easier answer because we have to come up with reasons why later editors would have taken this passage out. Now, there are some good arguments about why it could have been removed, such as later Christians not wanting to have a passage that would seem to give forgiveness to Jewish leaders. Additionally, this certainly seems to match what else occurs in Luke, as Luke talks more about forgiveness and in particular about God’s forgiveness, than any other gospel, and so the literary evidence clearly matches it as being original, but the manuscript evidence is unclear.
But, it also clearly matches who Jesus is and what he claimed to do. In fact, it might seem strange if there had been no mention of forgiveness at the cross, because forgiveness is so intimately tied to salvation, which is why I thought that matching Jesus’ proclamation of forgiveness goes so well with his statement to the other man being crucified that he will join him in paradise. But, to whom is Jesus offering forgiveness? Is it limited or does it apply to all? Are some excluded because of their actions without repentance, or is Jesus, and therefore God, willing to give everyone a chance? And what needs to happen, or what do we need to do to receive that forgiveness? And does willfulness have anything to do with forgiveness? That is if we willfully trespass is that worse than sinning without knowing we are doing it, or knowing that we are participating in that sin. Because what Jesus says is “Forgive them for they know not what they do” or as some translations say, “Forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing.”
That would seem to put some limitations on the level of forgiveness, but does it really? Because don’t the religious and political leaders really know what it is that they are doing? The religious leaders intentionally set out to trap and kill Jesus, or at least that’s what we’re told their motive is, and so it seems clear that they know what they are doing. And the political leaders also clearly know what they are doing by executing Jesus; they are making an example of him. And while the other two men are called criminals here, and thieves in other translations, these are not people who were caught shop lifting, these are revolutionaries. The Romans had ways they killed common thieves, often very creative ways, but crucifixion was reserved for those who threatened Roman order, people say, who proclaim themselves, or be accused of being, king of the Jews. So they clearly know what they are doing. Now some will make the claim that Jesus says this because they don’t understand who Jesus is. That if they knew he was the Messiah, the son of God, that they wouldn’t do it, but it seems likely to me that if they truly understood they would want to make sure he was killed even more, because now he’s an even greater threat to their power. Because remember, this is not about religion; it’s about power, and money and all the things that go along with that, and so in pursuit of that they don’t really care who they hurt in the process, and that is just as true today for those who seek power, even if done in the name of religion, as it was 2000 years ago.
And then there are the roman soldiers, who, after all, are simply following orders. They didn’t order his death, they weren’t part of the conspiracy to have him killed, and yet are complicit in what is happening, just as really everyone is complicit. When we sing, “were you there when they crucified my Lord,” the answer is yes. We were there, we have been there, we will be there, because we too are complicit through sins of commission and sins of omission. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “some are guilty, all are responsible.” When we hear to terrible things that our government has done in other countries, or even done in our country, we are complicit, because it is we the people. Every time there is another mass shooting, and there will be many, many more, we are all complicit, because nothing is done to try and stop them from happening again. These are not tragedies we watch from afar, they are tragedies that take place because we allow them to take place. Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
In 2010, Hugo Yale-Tax, a homeless man in New York intervened in a fight between another man and a woman to protect her and he was stabbed, and collapsed onto the sidewalk and began to slowly bleed to death. Security cameras showed him laying in the middle of the sidewalk for the next hour as people walked by him not doing anything. Some people stopped as if wondering if they should do something, but then went on. For more than an hour he lay there until someone stopped and shook him to see if he was okay, and then rolled him over and saw the blood and called 911, but when paramedics arrived he was already dead. Now some said in response that if people had known he needed help that they, if they had known he was dying they would have done something, but they didn’t know. It’s not their fault; they are not guilty of anything. And yet, as Franciscan Priest Daniel Horran said about this incident, “what sort of a culture do we tolerate or even promote in our neighborhoods and country that allows us to bypass another human person sprawled on a sidewalk without even the slightest expectation to see if he or she is in need of help?” And I can think of times in which I could have easily been the one just walking by, maybe even averting my eyes so as not to be involved. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Throughout Jesus’ ministry he calls the entire system into question and says to us that we are called to live, and to do something different. To be aware of our sins of commission, sins of omission and sins of complicity, because there are corporate sins as well as individual sins.
And what forgiveness requires us to do is to name those areas in which we have failed. There is no such thing as cheap forgiveness. Forgiveness is always costly, whether it’s us seeking forgiveness and having to say “I was wrong, I’m sorry,” or even more costly of having to give forgiveness to someone else who has deeply hurt us. To say “God, forgive them” even if they are not seeking forgiveness. That comes with a cost. The criminal that Jesus says will be with him in heaven is the one who makes a confession that he has done wrong. Now does that mean that the other criminal will be condemned? The simple answer is, I don’t know, but here is what I believe, in 1 Timothy we are told that God desires for everyone to be saved, and that means that God’s forgiveness is extended and offered to everyone, but we don’t get to decide who receives it or not. We like to pretend that God’s grace is a zero-sum game, that by others receiving it that it limits the amount that we can receive. And besides, if we’re talking about eternal life, we would be much better off if some certain people weren’t there, am I right? But here’s the thing, last week I said that one of the lessons we learn from Peter is that we are more than the worst thing we have ever done in our lives. What that also means is that others are also more than the worst thing they have ever done in their lives, even if that worst thing was done to us. That not only is forgiveness offered to them, but that we are called to forgive them, and man is that hard. Because we don’t want to do that, we want to hold grudges, and I can hold a grudge with the best of them. But if Jesus, when he was hanging on the cross, can offer forgiveness to those who are killing him, by what standard do we get to say that what happened to us was worse than that?
Forgiveness is not something we do, forgiveness is a way of life, and it’s a way to the kingdom, because what the kingdom is is where God’s will is done. That’s what we pray all the time right, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Forgiveness is about letting go of our desire for revenge or retribution or simply to be able to hold a trump card against someone else, to be able to hold that over their heads forever. Forgiveness is about letting go of that, of letting go of our need to be in control, and when we learn to do that, then we learn to do God’s will. Forgiveness is the scandal of the cross, and it’s why it’s a part of the passion story, and traditionally the first thing that Jesus says from the cross. Before anything else happens, forgiveness is offered to those who crucified Jesus, and salvation is given not just to the criminal who seeks it, but its even offered to those who don’t know they are in need. Forgiveness comes with a cost. It is not free. But the price is paid, if we understand and live lives of forgiveness. Of course that forgiveness came even before the cross, because even on Jesus last night all of the disciples are there. Judas and Peter who will betray and deny, are there, gathered at the table, just as we gather at the table this morning. And Jesus says this is my body given for you, and this is my blood poured out for you and for many for what? For the forgiveness of sins. If we are anything as a people, we are a forgiven and reconciled people, but that means we must also be a forgiving people, giving freely the forgiveness that has been offered to us, judging not those who have injured and hurt us, but learning to let God and to live into the Kingdom of God, to live into paradise, where God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. And Jesus said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” and Jesus said “Today you will be with me in paradise." Amen.
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