The Last Words of Jesus: Seven Sayings from the Cross (The Word of Forgiveness)

Before he died, Jesus made seven statements from the cross. During the weeks leading up to Easter, we’ll look at what Jesus said and how we might apply these words to our lives. Below is a list of the six topics based on seven passages from the Gospels of Mark, Luke and John.

• February 18 – The Word of Forgiveness (Luke 23:34)
• February 25 – The Word of Salvation (Luke 23:43)
• March 3 – The Word of Relationship (John 19:26-27)
• March 10 – The Words of Humanity (Mark 15:34 & John 19:28)
• March 17 – The Word of Triumph (John 19:30)
• March 24 – The Word of Reunion (Luke 23:46)

On Sunday, we considered the words of forgiveness offered by Jesus in Luke 23:34:

Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people! They don't know what they're doing.” [Luke 23:34a, CEV]

A recording and the text of the sermon is below. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EST)

You know, I think it’s kind of interesting. As y’all know, it snowed most of the day yesterday. Man, I could see it coming down from my office. And I could hear the wind blowing. And I could feel a little bit of the chill coming through the window. I’m telling you, it really felt like Winter. And what was I doing as the snow was blowing and the wind was howling and the chill was creeping? I was writing a sermon to start getting us ready for Easter. I mean, in just seven weeks, we’ll be surrounded by tulips and dyed eggs and little white bunnies. At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

But regardless of the weather, Easter is certainly coming, of that we can be sure. You see, this last Wednesday, we entered the season of Lent, forty days that give us the chance to get ourselves ready to remember and to celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And this year, to do that, we’re going to focus on the seven statements Jesus made when he was on the cross. Now we’ll be drawing these last words of Christ from three different gospels, simply because none of the seven appear in all four. As a matter of fact, if you compare Matthew and Mark with Luke and John, the very last thing he said is very, very different. And so, we’re not going to sort of combine them all together into one narrative. Instead, we’re going to look at each of the seven and consider six different lessons we might be able to take from what Jesus said. 

And we’re going to start this morning, with something that’s found only in the Gospel of Luke. Now this was what the Evangelist wrote:

When the soldiers came to the place called “The Skull,” they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing.” [Luke 23:33-34a, CEV]

Now that’s what Luke wrote. And so, this morning, we’re going to start this series by focusing on forgiveness, something that makes a lot of sense, at least, to me. I mean, whether we want to admit it or not, forgiveness is often pretty challenging both to offer and to accept. And I’ll tell you, it sure seems as though holding on to grudges and resentments and bitterness is a whole lot easier and more socially acceptable than forgiving others as we’ve been forgiven. And yet, if we’re not careful, all these negative feelings and attitudes can surely get in the way of celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

And so, for that reason, that’ll be our focus this morning. And to do it, we’re going to look at two aspects of the kind of forgiveness about which Jesus spoke from the cross. You see, first, we’ll consider how forgiveness is a gift we can claim. And then, second, we’ll talk about how it’s also an example we can follow. And hopefully, by the end of our time together, we’ll have a better handle on how we might become the kind of people known for our ability to be genuinely forgiving.

And like I said, we’re going to start by considering how forgiveness is a gift that we can accept. In other words, it’s something that’s been given to us that we can sort of incorporate into ourselves. And I’ll tell you, I think calling it a gift, man, that’s spot on. I mean, just listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

Christ sacrificed his life’s blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven. Christ did this because of God’s gift of undeserved grace to us. God has great wisdom and understanding, and by what Christ has done, God has shown us his own mysterious ways. Then when the time is right, God will do all he has planned, and Christ will bring together everything in heaven and on earth. [Ephesians 1:7-10, CEV]

Trust me, when “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing’” [Luke 23:34a, CEV], man, he wasn’t just whistling Dixie, not according to Paul. You see, whether we realize it or not, when Jesus died on the cross, we died with him. And without our help, the power of sin was broken. And without our permission, we were forgiven. And that’s why I think it’s not a stretch to say that forgiveness really is a gift. 

And because of this gift, we’ve been set free. Man, we’ve been set free from sin and shame and disgrace. I’ll tell you, we’ve set free from that emotional anchor that he can hold us back from becoming everything God created us to be. Brothers and sisters, we are free, something that John described in his first letter:

If we say we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth. But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus washes all our sins away. If we say we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth isn’t in our hearts. But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away. [1 John 1:6-7, CEV]

And so, just like there’s power in the blood, there’s forgiveness on the cross. You see, this is God’s gift to us.

And because it is, it’s something that we can accept, in other words, something that we can claim and integrate into our lives. And I’ll tell you why that’s important. Although forgiveness really is a gift, there’s no way we’re going to appreciate it much less be shaped by it, if we don’t trust that it’s been given. You see, for forgiveness to make any difference to us as we go about living our lives, man, it’s got to be accepted. And I’ll tell you, when it is, when this gift is claimed because we’ve decided to trust the giver, man, it’s going to change us. For example, it’s got to change how we feel, something that I think the Psalmist understood when he wrote this:

Our Lord, you bless everyone

whose sins you forgive

    and wipe away.

You bless them by saying,

    “You told me your sins,

without trying to hide them,

    and now I forgive you.”

Before I confessed my sins,

my bones felt limp,

    and I groaned all day long.

Night and day your hand

    weighed heavily on me,

and my strength was gone

    as in the summer heat.

So I confessed my sins

    and told them all to you.

I said, “I’ll tell the Lord

    each one of my sins.”

Then you forgave me

    and took away my guilt. [Psalm 32:1-5, CEV]

I’ll tell you, when that groaning, limp-boned, heavy-burden mess confessed his sins and accepted the gift, he became a new man, didn’t he? How he felt changed. 

But I’ll tell you, it’s not just about how we feel, accepting forgiveness also can change what we do, or at least, Jesus thought so. Just listen to this little story from Luke:

He turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Have you noticed this woman? When I came into your home, you didn’t give me any water so I could wash my feet. But she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You didn’t even pour olive oil on my head, but she has poured expensive perfume on my feet. So I tell you that all her sins are forgiven, and that is why she has shown great love. But anyone who has been forgiven for only a little will show only a little love.” [Luke 7:44-47, CEV]

Knowing that she was forgiven moved this woman to act. And what it did for her, it can do for us. I’m telling you, it can change how we feel and what we do. And that can happen when we recognize that forgiveness is a gift we can accept. You see, that’s the first thing we can do. But that’s not all.

Because, second, we can also believe that forgiveness is an example we can follow. In other words, it’s like a template we can apply to our own lives. And who do you think might offer a perfect example we might follow? Well, I think it’s the one who looked down from a cross on which he didn’t deserve to be nailed and “...said,’Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing.’” [Luke 23:34a, CEV] You see, for me, Jesus is a wonderful example of being forgiving, because forgiveness was something he announced throughout his ministry. And it didn’t matter whether he was talking to a sinner at a dinner party or to a woman about to be stoned for committing adultery or to a lame man being dropped through the roof so that he might be healed; the message was the same: you are forgiven. You see, I think we can use Jesus is an example of forgiveness. And I’ll tell you that’s probably the reason that the Apostle Paul includes being the kind of person who forgives in his list of things he believes Christians should be doing. I mean, just listen to what he wrote to the Colossians:

God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together. [Colossians 3:12-14, CEV]

You see, for Paul, we should forgive others, because we’ve been forgiven ourselves. And in that way, Christ really is our example of what forgiveness is all about.

And I’ll tell you, when we follow that example, I mean, when we choose to do for others what Christ has already done for us, in other words, when we decide that we’re not just going to pray about it or just think about it or just talk about it; instead we’re going to get ourselves up and we’re going to “put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does [us] wrong, just as Christ has forgiven [us]” [Colossians 3:13, CEV], that one decision is going to change the relationships we have the folks around us and even with God himself.

For example, if we make the conscious decision and make an intentional effort to follow the example of Christ and become more forgiving, man, that’s got to shape how we relate to others. Of course, when you think about it, that’s just common sense. I mean, it’s like the writer of the Proverbs said, 

You will keep your friends

    if you forgive them,

but you will lose your friends

if you keep talking about

    what they did wrong. [Proverbs 17:9, CEV]

Let’s face it, we don’t need Dale Carnegie to tell us that holding on to grudges and resentments and bitterness is not exactly the best way to win friends and influence people. It’s not rocket science; forgiveness can make a relationship even stronger. I mean, when you forgive someone for hurting you, it shows you care more about that person and your relationship than getting what you deserve. I’ll tell you, it shows that you recognize that the person is more than just the wrong they did. Forgiveness can change our relationships with others.

Just like I think, it can change our relationship with God. You see, when we recognize that we follow a forgiving God, one who is absolutely perfect in his love and his grace and his mercy, I believe our whole perspective on our relationship with him changes. I mean, instead of God being some impersonal force that can fill us with so much fear and apprehension that we feel the need to hide our own fears and weaknesses from him, when we trust in his forgiveness, then I think we’ll be able to approach God with the same kind of respect and openness felt by the Psalmist when he wrote this:

From a sea of troubles

    I cry out to you, Lord.

Won’t you please listen

    as I beg for mercy?

If you kept record of our sins,

    no one could last long.

But you forgive us,

    and so we will worship you.

With all my heart,

I am waiting, Lord, for you!

    I trust your promises.

I wait for you more eagerly

than a soldier on guard duty

    waits for the dawn.

Yes, I wait more eagerly

than a soldier on guard duty

    waits for the dawn.

Israel, trust the Lord!

God is always merciful

    and has the power to save you.

Israel, the Lord will save you

    from all your sins. [Psalm 130:1-8, CEV]

I’m telling you, if we choose to follow the forgiving example that we have right in front of us, I think that decision can change our relationships with others and with God. Why? Because along with being a gift we can accept, I think forgiveness is also an example we can follow. And that’s the second thing we can believe. 

And you know, for me, that’s why it’s so important to remember that, as he looked down from the cross, “Jesus said, ’Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing.’” [Luke 23:34a, CEV] You see, even though I think it’s easy to become extremely accustomed to hearing folks talk on and on about their grudges and their resentments and their bitterness, that’s really not the kind of life we’ve been called to live. You see, thanks to what Jesus said from the cross, we can now see forgiveness as a gift that we can accept as well as an example that we can follow. And if we do, we just might be able to carry this word from Christ through Easter and beyond.