FATHER, FORGIVE THEM
2023_Luke23_26_56_M_MatthewJKim
Luke 23:26-56
Luke 23:34a
“Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.””
Who likes Spring? I like Spring the most out of the four seasons because I can play basketball in the park. Obviously, that’s not the main reason. It is because of what nature provides. In Spring, nature brings beauty, new birth, and the power of resurrection. Green sprouts emerge from the ground and the trees. And various colors of flowers – pink, yellow, white, and red – adorn the fields and mountains. Romans 1:20 says “…since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen…” I believe that God intended the power of resurrection to be manifested during the spring season. I hope that by witnessing the abundant evidence of resurrection power in nature and listening to the message of resurrection at this conference site, we can be assured of Jesus’ resurrection.
Throughout human history, there have been numerous groundbreaking inventions such as the wheel, printing press, electricity, personal computer, and the internet. Undoubtedly, these inventions have greatly improved our material well-being. However, human beings require more than just material comfort. Despite these blessings, we still experience feelings of loneliness, hatred, and broken relationships. Every day of our lives, we earnestly seek forgiveness for we make mistakes every day and do wrong to others. We also desperately seek love that can heal and mend our broken relationships. Then, where can we find forgiveness of our sins, and where can we find the love that heals us? Yes, we can find them from Jesus on a cross. I pray that through today’s message, we can receive forgiveness for our sins and experience His perfect love, so that we can be healed and restored from any brokenness.
This is an outline of today’s message. Don’t worry, it won’t take too long. These key points simply provide an overview of what I am going to say.
Weep for yourselves
Let’s read verse 26 together. “As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.” This verse reveals how broken and exhausted Jesus was. Since we are jumping into the middle of Chapter 23, let’s review what happened to Jesus until this point. Jesus was up all night in anguished prayer and then arrested. From daybreak Jesus went through 3 separate trials. As part of Pilate’s political maneuvering, Jesus was “punished” which meant he was flogged nearly to death. The Roman soldiers whipped Jesus’ body with full force. With one lash of the whip, Jesus collapsed, and with another, his body trembled in agony. The metal pieces attached to the whip tore off his skin, leaving his body covered in blood. Isaiah 52:14 prophesied of Jesus’ suffering in this way. “…his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.” With his body disfigured and badly damaged, Jesus struggled to carry the heavy crossbar, which weighed about 90 pounds. He fell repeatedly under the weight of the cross. The Roman soldiers noticed that Jesus was too weak to carry it any further, so they forced Simon to carry it behind him.
Look at verse 27, “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.” In this procession, women who had received Jesus’ love followed Him, mourning and wailing. Jesus was too exhausted to comfort them very much at this moment. But he had to say some sort of last words to them. Look at verses 28-31? Let’s read Verse 28. “Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.” Jesus did not want them to weep for him, but for themselves and for their children. Jesus saw that times would come when, they would wish they had no children. In our church, Ariel, Rebecca and Lukas, our baby girls and boys, bring us joy and make us smile. But they would wish they had no such cute children and want mountains to fall on them and hills to cover them. Why? In the year 70 A.D. the Roman commander Titus seized and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and slaughtered the people inside. According to the historian Josephus, the city was ravaged by murder, famine and cannibalism, meaning that people ate the bodies of infants and children. Over one million people were killed and 97,000 were enslaved. Jesus knew that a great disaster would come upon the people of Jerusalem. If they could see the impending destruction that awaited them, they would have wept for themselves.
When do you weep for yourself? It is not common to weep for ourselves. Last year, I heard news that a man missionary passed away due to cancer, leaving behind his wife and three children. I could hear his wife weeping because she knew that life would be tough raising their children by herself. We weep for ourselves when we are faced with inevitable destruction. Those who reject Jesus cannot see what awaits them, but when their spiritual eyes are opened, they will weep for themselves because there will be no way to hide from God’s judgment. If we reject Jesus and do not accept Him as the savior of the world, we can only weep for ourselves.
Father, forgive them.
Jesus continued to take steps toward the place of His execution. He was not hesitant and didn’t want to push back. He was like a lamb led to slaughter by Roman soldiers. Let’s read verse 32, 33. “Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals-one on his right, the other on his left.” Two criminals were also led out with Jesus to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals. Luke does not describe Jesus’ crucifixion in detail. He simply says, “they crucified him.”
Have you seen the movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’? It was released in 2004. Already 19 years have passed, let’s watch the scene of the crucifixion for those who haven’t watched it before. [Watch video] I don’t think I need to describe more about how Jesus was crucified. But there is one thing I want to add. Crucifixion was invented by the Persians around 300 B.C. It is quite possibly the most painful death ever invented by humankind. Its purpose was to inflict excruciating pain on the human body, slowly and relentlessly.
Why did Jesus have to die in such a brutal way? Why did God choose to sacrifice his son through crucifixion? It is because our sins are horrendous crimes against God! The sins of human beings are so evil they deserve an evil punishment. Because of we’ve done, this kind of gruesome sacrifice was necessary for God to forgive us. God who is our Father and Creator, did not want us to die in sin. Instead, He desired to save us from sin and death. However, He could not simply nullify the consequences of our sins. So, God chose to lay all punishment on His own son Jesus, in order to forgive the sins of mankind.
What do you expect to receive when your sins are exposed? You would expect to receive mockery and feel shame as if you were naked in front of people. If you do something really bad, you deserve to be beaten and spit on. Once you commit sin secretly, you feel like you are carrying a heavy wooden beam on your shoulders. Then, who took the punishment you deserve? Jesus did. Isaiah 53:4,5 say “Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Jesus was mocked, punished, stricken, afflicted, pierced, and crushed for our iniquities to bring us peace with God.
Is there any cool thing that could forgive your sins? Even if you wear an Apple Watch on your wrist and AirPods in your ears, they cannot do anything for your guilty conscience and sin-sickness. Such things will never be able to heal our wounds and restore our broken relationship with God and with each other. However, on the cross, Jesus prayed to his Father “Father, forgive them” while taking our punishment upon Himself. Jesus’ prayer of forgiveness not just for those who were there, but it reaches to those who live today and those who will live tomorrow. It reaches every single person on Earth. Jesus’ forgiveness of sins has reached a man from South Korea like me, a man from Nigeria, and a man in America. Jesus’ cross is God’s greatest gift to mankind that forgives our sins, heals our wounds, and restores any brokenness among us.
For they do not know what they are doing
When Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”, He understood the problem that all sinners face. Sinners do not know what they are doing. There were four active participants who were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus: the chief priests and teachers of the law, Pilate, the whole crowd, and the Roman soldiers. However, none of them realized what they were doing. The chief priests and teachers of the law falsely accused Jesus out of jealousy. Pilate, who was 100% confident in Jesus’ innocence, handed Him over to be crucified to keep his position. The whole crowd just followed the wave of public opinion and shouted, “Crucify him, crucify him!” The Roman soldiers enjoyed the acts of violence without any guilty conscience. Have you ever been like the chief priests, Pilate, one of the crowd, or Roman soldiers? Or have you lived one day as a teacher of the law being filled with jealousy and another day as Pilate?
Sin corrupts our conscience and distorts our common sense. Sins like self-centered thinking, greed, pride, lust, disobedience, and jealousy are not visible to our eyes. So, when people behave based on these sins, they don’t know what they are doing. But these sins are deadly viruses that can hurt and destroy others, not to mention ourselves. These sins are the main cause of breaking our relationships with friends, parents, children, and others. Then, it’s hard to forgive those who don’t admit their sins. But Jesus died for us while we didn’t know what we were doing. Romans 5:7-8 says, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, / though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God’s unconditional love was demonstrated when Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
Save yourself!
Look at verse 35-39. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” At the last moment on the cross, Jesus was challenged three times with the same idea, “save yourself”. I think this was Satan’s last and the most powerful attack on Jesus. But Jesus didn’t come down from the cross, instead he remained on the cross to save mankind.
I think I can guess what your motto is and your priority and principle. Even I can summarize thousands of self-help books into just two words: it is “Save yourself.” We make every decision based on the calculation that would lead to saving our life. Otherwise, we will be considered foolish. The whole world and the whole universe seem to say to you, “Save yourself.” However, the Bible says differently. Luke 9:24 “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” Does this make sense to you? If you want to save your life, you have to lose it!
In the fall of 1955, a young woman named Miss Sarah Barry, at the age of 25, boarded a boat to South Korea as a missionary. In her biography, she recounts how her mother wept for her departure. At such a young age, she chose to lose her life for the sake of Jesus. But did she really lose her life? Or did she save it, and even save many more lives? Through her love for Jesus and Korean campus students, our UBF ministry was established along with Dr. Late Samuel Lee. When she made the decision to get on that boat and lose her life, God used her to save many others. So, I ask you this: even though the world constantly tells you to “save yourself,” would you always listen to it, or would you choose to LOSE your life for Jesus sometimes? Look at Jesus, who remained on the cross, losing his life to save us.
Today you will be with me in paradise.
While one criminal hurled insults at Jesus, the other criminal saw Jesus differently. He defended Jesus, rebuking the rude criminal: “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” This man stood on the side of truth. He knew that Jesus was innocent and indeed the king of the Jews, who would establish his kingdom. So, he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus accepted this man’s request and promised that he would be with him that same day in paradise.
In 2021, Dr. Paul Chung, the husband of Msn. Sarah Chung went to heaven. In his last message, he mentioned the word “Paradise” several times. I have copied and pasted one paragraph here. “Why didn’t God destroy the Garden of Eden? Because God wants to bring his children back to his Kingdom so that his children can eat the fruit of the tree of life again. God had great hope to restore them, hope to save them from sin and Satan, and to bring them back to himself and his Kingdom, the Paradise.” The criminal who asked Jesus for forgiveness in his last moments was welcomed to be with Jesus in paradise. It is certain that those who serve Jesus as their Lord will also be welcomed by Jesus into paradise. As we serve the Lord today, we can have confidence that we will be with Jesus in paradise. One beautiful day of spring is just a preview of the glorious eternal paradise that God has prepared for us.
Look at verses 44-45. It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. For the last three hours, the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. In the Old Testament days, animal blood was necessary to enter the Most Holy Place for high priests. But through Jesus’ broken body and shed blood, temple sacrifices are no longer necessary. Hebrew 10:19-20 says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…” Finally, Jesus called out with a loud voice on the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he said this, he breathed his last.
In verses 50-53, we learn who took Jesus’ body and where it was placed. Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish Council, asked Pilate for Jesus’ dead body. He took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock. All four Gospels record Jesus’ death and burial after the crucifixion. Why is Jesus’ death and burial important? Death was the final penalty for our sins, and Jesus’ burial shows that he completed the task of taking our sin penalty. He did not complete it 90% nor 99.9%; he took the penalty of our sins 100% when he was buried in the tomb.
Perfect love vs pretending love
Since we have received Jesus’ love for us, let us take some time to reflect on our own love. If Jesus were with us now, what would he be interested in? He would be interested in our love, not our achievements or living conditions. So, what does our love look like? About three years ago, on a spring day, I had a dream or vision where I was taken to see Jesus. At that moment, I was afraid that Jesus would judge me based on every single sin I had committed. But he did not check a list of my sins; instead, he drew something for me.
This is what Jesus drew, and he said to me, ‘This is your love.’ I tried to understand the meaning of the heart and soon agreed that ‘Yes, this is my love toward Jesus and others.’ The love I have has the shape of love, but it is not perfect because there is a small gap or opening at the bottom. Even though I try to love Jesus and others, because of this tiny gap, my love leaks endlessly. I may love others, but I am more likely to pretend to love them. Among us, I believe that the love between Shepherdess Angela and Msn. Emanuel is close to perfect, but I am not sure if they love each other with perfect love. What about you? When you love your husband, wife, parents, children, or your Bible students, is there a tiny opening in your love? Does self-centeredness, an unforgiving heart, or pride keep the gap open? If so, your love doesn’t have the power to heal and mend brokenness.
On the cross, Jesus prayed “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus forgave your sins not just by a word but taking the punishment in your place. This Jesus died for the person next to you also. He also died for the person whom you cannot forgive. We are all healed and saved from sin by Jesus’ forgiveness and his perfect love. And Jesus wants us to love one another as he loved us. Today, let us fill that tiny gap in our love with Jesus’ forgiveness of sin. Let us make our love perfect toward husband, wife, children, sheep and campus students in America. So that we can expand God’s kingdom on earth.