Lent: Week One

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

It's hard to forgive people. It's especially hard when they've hurt you deeply. It's especially especially hard when they've done so unjustly. Sometimes, it's a fight simply to not hate them. I want to hold on, to get repaid for the hurt, to make sure they know the pain I've felt. After all - how are they going to every know any better if they don't feel the sting of my rebuke? It's even harder, having willed myself not to loathe a person, to seek their good - to stand with them, and represent them with someone I may be able to influence.

Surely, this was unfair. Evil men, given the freedom to execute a lamb, not simply by slitting its throat, but by beating, abusing, flagellating it, and then nailing it on a pole to slowly suffocate for the amusement - the enjoyment of others. Here was a man that everyone knew was on the cross because he was seen as a threat by the rulers. He was a warning - a sign that these authorities are not to be crossed.

Why, here, is ignorance suddenly an excuse? Surely they know enough to know that this is wrong, so why is "for they do not know..." the justification for seeking forgiveness? In times past, God has used evil men to accomplish his purposes - the Assyrians, and the Babylonians for instance. But that did not free them from judgement for their attacks on God's people. Why now?

Why should Jesus stand beside the justly condemned - guilty, unrepentant men wallowing in their own wretchedness - and seek pardon?

Is it too little to say "Because that's what Jesus came to do?" To stand alongside fools wallowing in the dirt, and to enter the Most Holy Place by his own perfect sacrifice and intercede before the Father for us.