Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do

There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.  And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.  Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."  And they divided His garments and cast lots.  And the people stood looking on.  But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God."  The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself."  And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew:

THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us."  but the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong."  Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."  And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

- Luke 23:32-43

Jesus is in Jerusalem and we approach the end of Holy Week.  Jesus has been betrayed by Judas, arrested and denied by Peter,  subject to beatings, mocking, and a false trial, questioned by both Pilate and Herod (who both found Him to be innocent), and given up to crucifixion in favor of freeing Barabbas.  In yesterday's reading, we were told that as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they had the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.  And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.  But Jesus, turning to them, said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!  then they will begin to say 'to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"'  For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?" 


There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.  And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.  My study bible tells us that the Greek word for Calvary means 'skull,' and the English 'Calvary' comes from the Latin word for skull.  It tells us:  "The place of crucifixion was so called either because the hill resembled a skull or because it was a place of death."

 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."  A note says, "Father, forgive them is a remarkable prayer, showing the boundless mercy of the crucified Jesus.  They do not know what they do means they -- both leaders and executioners -- have no insight into the profound mystery that they are crucifying the Lord of glory."  My study bible here cites 1 Cor. 2:6-8, in which St. Paul writes:  "We speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

And they divided His garments and cast lots.  And the people stood looking on.   But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God."  The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself."  And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew:  THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.  My study bible says, "The people are merely onlookers.  The sinister rulers and their sympathizers, who pushed for Jesus' Crucifixion, jeer Him.  it is unlikely the general public would actually insult one of their own as He was being crucified by the Romans."

 Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us."  but the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong."  Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."  And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."  A note tells us:  "The repentant criminal is the first person to enter Paradise with Christ!  This dramatic detail, reported only in Luke, demonstrates the unmerited grace of God toward penitent sinners, a magnificent expression of the heart of the gospel."  It goes on to point out that the prayer, Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom, is highlighted in the hymns and worship of the Eastern Church.

Today's reading gives us a sense of the great drama being played out in Jerusalem, with the backdrop of the history of Israel in effect as well.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus told the women of Jerusalem:  "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!  then they will begin to say 'to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"'  For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?"  There is a kind of continuation of the history of Israel here in the prophetic words Jesus quotes above from Hosea which link us up with the beginning of the Gospels regarding Jesus' ministry, which always begins with the warnings of John the Baptist.  In Luke's Gospel, John tells the leadership who comes to him they must "bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Against all these warnings and hints about the destruction to come in Jerusalem, there is the drama of personae and characters taking place here on Golgotha, the "place called The Skull" (as the Greek reads).  There are the women who weep and lament for Jesus, there are the people who look on as they see One of their own, widely regarded as a holy and righteous man, crucified by the Romans.  There is the leadership that sneers and jeers Him.  There are the Roman soldiers and commanders who put Him on the Cross, there are the two thieves on either side of Him.  What the Gospel pushes us to recall in this scene on Golgotha is that each one of these people has a part to play in this drama, and each one -- even every single one of the people -- has a point of view that is a part of this drama and a part of the relationship to Christ as central figure.  Each one of the thieves on either side of Him isn't merely "a transgressor," but even here we get the difference between one and the other.  The act of repentance assures that one of them will be first that day in the Kingdom with Christ.  My study bible points  out the differences between the cynical power-driven leadership and the people, and Luke tells us of the women who weep for Jesus.  Because of so many references, we understand what is to come in Jerusalem and we are invited to wonder what will become of each one of these people.  In the center is Jesus, who extends forgiveness to those who "know not what they do."  As St. Paul in the quotation above from 1 Corinthians teaches us, to really know what is happening here requires an understanding of a profound mystery that extends far beyond the picture of an innocent man who is crucified with the thieves.  But Jesus is true to Who He is to the end.  He teaches His identity, His Person, His truth.  He is the center of the drama around which all else revolves and continues to revolve, as history will play out in Jerusalem, as it plays out even today.  Our central relationship is to this crucified Christ who lived in our world and dwelt not only in a kind of acclaim allotted to the extraordinarily holy but also in this horrible place of death and pain and humiliation and scandal, and never stumbled but remained true to the mission and to His Person, the gift He gave us of Himself -- even here upon the Cross.  Let us not forget that the drama plays out within each one of us, just as it does at this moment captured in Luke's Gospel.  From the Cross He's reaching out to us to understand and to enter into His Kingdom with Him, to reach into His mystery and His life, to come to His love.