Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

If you have your Bible, you can open it up to Luke 23. Does your mind ever go to morbid places? Mine does. I don’t even know why I think about some of these things, but I do. For example, I’ve thought about what my last meal would be if I was on death row. Isn’t that stupid? Sure it is. And how many of you have thought about the same thing? I used to think I had my last meal all mapped out, and then I had dinner with several families in our church last Sunday. My last meal has now changed. My last meal will now consist of Lisa Pyle’s turkey and Dawn Coppola’s tiramisu. Ladies, I’ll be sure to let you know if I ever need you to cook for me before I walk the green mile.

I have thought about what I would want my last meal to be. I’ve also thought about what I would want my dying words to be. Suppose I lived to this ripe old age and I had one more chance to say something before God took me home. What would I say? I’m not sure that I know. It’s interesting to see how others have handled this.

Karl Marx is most well known as the socialist who co-authored The Communist Manifesto. Warren Wiersbe tells the story of the day that Karl Marx died. It was March 14, 1883. On that day, Marx’s housekeeper came to his bedside. Knowing he was dying, the housekeeper said, “Tell me your last words and I’ll write them down.” Marx sternly replied, “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!”

I disagree. Last words can actually be very revealing. What a person says in death often reveals what they have valued in life. Maybe that’s why as entrepreneur P.T. Barnum lay dying, his last words were, “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” Humphrey Bogart’s last words reportedly were, “I should have never switched from Scotch to Martinis.” Leonardo da Vinci apparently said as his last words, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.” The last words of John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church, were, “The best of all is, God is with us.” The great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said with his last breath, “Jesus died for me.”

What a person says in death often reveals what they have valued in life, and that was never more true than with the dying words of Jesus. In the Bible, there are seven statements recorded that Jesus made while he was hanging on the cross. And his dying words are some of the deepest, most power-packed words that he ever said during his time of earth. In this new series that begins today, we’re going to look into these last words of Jesus. These seven statements call us into the life that God has planned for us. They are lighthouses that we can use to navigate through the darkness and fog of our world and arrive where God wants us to be. In this series, we’ll discover that, while Jesus was hanging on a cross, he was dying for us to live.

This morning, we’re going to listen to the first statement that Jesus made from the cross. It’s found in Luke 23:34. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34, NIV) Isn’t interesting that the first words Jesus uttered while he was hanging on the cross were a prayer.

Understand that it was not uncommon for the victims of crucifixion to speak. Many times a person would hang on a cross for a long time. One man actually hung on a cross for nine days before he died. And the time spent on the cross was a time filled with excruciating pain. There was searing pain from the 12” spikes driven through the wrists and ankles. Often victims were scourged, as Jesus was. The scourging was done with a whip known as a cat of nine tails. It was a stick with ribbons of leather attached to it. Tied to the leather ribbons were lead balls and sheep bones. The scourging would rake away ribbons of flesh, from the neck all the way down the back of the victim until they had reached the bottom of his calves. Imagine the pain when your open flesh and even exposed vertebrae from this scourging came into contact with a crude, rough, splinter-filled wooden cross. The purpose of crucifixion was not just to execute someone. It was to inflict maximum pain upon the victims before they died, and the Romans, through a variety of horrendous experiments, learned how to dispense this pain very well.

And in this pain that most of us could never fathom, crucifixion victims would often speak. But their words were usually filled with absolute hatred and contempt. They would attempt to spit on the people standing around the cross. Often the incredible pain would drive a person insane, and the words that they shouted out reflected that they were raving mad, absolutely out of their minds.

No, it wasn’t uncommon for a person on a cross to speak, but it was unheard for that person to pray. And not only did he pray, but Jesus prayed for others. Even with all that he was going through, his first words from the cross were a prayer of forgiveness!

There is something that is missing in our English translations of this verse from Luke. When we read this verse, it sounds like Jesus said this one time. Actually, the original Greek indicates that Jesus repeated this prayer several times. As they laid him down upon the cross, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As they drove the spikes into his wrists and ankles, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As they placed a crown on thorns on his head and drove those thorns deep into his brow, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As they hoisted the cross into the air, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As the dropped the cross into the ground and Jesus received the painful jolt, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” As he hung in the air on two rugged beams of wood, he prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

We can’t overstate the significance of Jesus repeating this prayer over and over again. The reason it’s so significant is because forgiveness is what the cross is all about. It’s why Jesus died. As we explore the depth of this simple prayer that Jesus’ offered, two things become apparent.

First of all, Jesus forgiveness reaches to us. When Jesus prayed for forgiveness, it wasn’t just for the Roman soldiers who crucified him. It wasn’t just for the Jewish leaders who conspired against him. It wasn’t just for Pilate who sold him out to an angry mob. When you understand that the cross is all about forgiveness, then you understand how far-reaching this prayer really is. It is a prayer that reaches through all time and space. It is a prayer that extends to this state, to this town, to this room and to the very chair where you’re sitting right now. Jesus’ prayer of forgiveness was for you and for me.

When Mel Gibson was filming the movie, The Passion of the Christ, he knew he would not be playing a role in the film. But he did decide that, though his face wouldn’t be seen, his hands would be. In one of the scenes where the spikes are being driving into Jesus body, it was the hands of Mel Gibson swinging the hammer. He later said that he thought it was significant that he do this because it was his sin that nailed Jesus to the cross.

The cross is all about forgiveness. Forgiveness for you and for me. But the cross doesn’t just forgive us. The cross transforms us. In the book of 2 Corinthians, it says that, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV) Some of you have known that passage for a long time, but don’t just gloss over it. Let those words really sink in. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV)

Jesus lived a life of sinless perfection. And yet, on the cross, God took all of my sin and all of your sin and put it upon Jesus. And this is tough for us to understand because we look at the cross and we say, “That doesn’t look like sin to me.” Mark Moore points out that we’re looking at the cross through the wrong eyes. If you could look at the cross through God’s eyes, you would see the darkness of your sin on the cross. On the cross, Jesus took our sin upon himself. And in return, this verse says that we become “the righteousness of God.”

Jesus knew this was true. When he prayed, “Father, forgive them,” he knew what he was asking. He was asking to receive the raw end of the most unfair trade in history. He was asking God to transform him into our sin and transform us into the righteousness of God.

This would be like you walking into the trial of Saddam Hussein. You stand up and say, “Your honor, I know this man has committed many atrocities. He is responsible for the deaths of countless people. And even though I had nothing to do with these murders, I want you to punish me instead. I want you to punish me for his crimes and I want you to allow him to walk out of this courtroom a free man.” That’s what Jesus did for us when he prayed, “Father, forgive them.” He was asking God to take our guilt, our sin, every lie, every fit of anger, every lustful look, every word of gossip, every evil act we have ever committed, Jesus said, “Punish me for it! I’ll take it all!” And in return, we receive Jesus’ perfection. The cross does more than forgive us. It transforms us into the righteousness of God.

We not only need to look at the cross through God’s eyes, we need to look at ourselves through God’s eyes. If we see our sin on the cross, then we need to see ourselves as the righteousness of God. Some of you look at your lives, and you see a mess. You see sin and shortcomings. You love God and you want to live for him, but you keep falling short. You look at yourself and you see a sinful, screwed up mess. If you could see yourself through God’s eyes, you would be amazed at how clean and pure you are. If you have accepted the forgiveness that is available because of the cross, you are the righteousness of God! The forgiveness that Jesus prayed for is a transforming forgiveness. It takes a life that is messed up, and transforms it into a life that is spotless, pure, and holy in God’s sight. Jesus’ forgiveness reaches to us.

The second thing that becomes apparent as we hear Jesus’ prayer from the cross is that Jesus’ forgiveness reaches through us. As people who are forgiven, Jesus’ prayer compels us to forgive.

Jesus’ crucifixion took place during the rule of the Roman Empire. We’ve already mentioned that the fact that Jesus’ prayed while on the cross was probably an unprecedented act. It wasn’t something the Roman soldiers expected. But then, imagine their surprise when they heard the content of his prayer. “Father, forgive them.” This would have been almost beyond their capacity to understand. One of the Roman gods was named Revenge. Literally, the Romans worshipped Revenge. Forgiveness was not valued, or even understood, in Roman culture.

This past week, my son Ryan and I took a long walk. My in-laws live in a very rural area in Brown County. Their house is situated down in the woods. Ryan and I starting walking through the woods and we came to an old country road that is all but abandoned. We walked down this road for a while. I just let him run to his heart’s content because I knew there wouldn’t be any cars. A deer, possibly. Maybe even some wild turkeys. But I knew there wouldn’t be any cars. It was one of those afternoons last week that was sunny and warm and we just had a great time together. The whole thing was one of those cool “dad” experiences. As we were walking down this forgotten road, Ryan started picking up rocks and throwing them in a little creek. This qualifies as big fun in Ryan’s world, so we kept looking for rocks to throw. When it was finally time to head back, Ryan didn’t want to leave his rocks behind. I put a couple of small rocks in his coat pockets for him to take back with him. But as we were walking, he kept adding more and more rocks to his pocket collection. I knew that all these rocks were going to start to really weigh him down, so before we climbed the hill leading back to the house, I had him empty his pockets. He threw every one of the rocks away and then we began to climb.

A lot of us are walking around, weighed down by unforgiveness. And it is keeping us from climbing to the life that God wants for us. To climb the hill, you’ve got to throw away all the rocks. For us, that means that we’ve got to learn to forgive.

God says in Colossians 3, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13, NIV) Forgive as the Lord forgave you. The Lord died for you and he died for me. He died to completely erase any wrong we had ever committed against him. The forgiveness was total. Absolutely complete. And this is the same kind of forgiveness that God calls us to extend to others.

When Paul wrote this verse, he was writing to a church in Colossae. And he gave this command to the church because he knew that unforgiveness can destroy a church. If there is someone in our church, someone in this room right now that you need to forgive, then Paul only gives you one option: do it. Forgive them. Hard feelings, dissension, and division can be a death sentence for a church.

I used to work at a church where there were two sisters who attended. These sisters had a long running feud and they wouldn’t even speak to each other. They would sit on opposite sides of the auditorium. If they ran into each other in the foyer, they wouldn’t even speak to one another. It was ugly…and not only ugly, it was pathetic. If we ever hope for our community to believe that Jesus can forgive them, they had better see us forgiving one another.

If that wasn’t blunt enough for you, then listen to the words of Jesus from Matthew 6. “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

(Matthew 6:14-15, NIV)

But, you don’t know what they’ve done to me! You don’t know how much they’ve hurt me! You don’t understand how hard this will be for me! Forgiveness isn’t fair. It wasn’t for Jesus. Forgiveness isn’t easy. It wasn’t for Jesus. We might as well save our breath, because Jesus can easily shoot down any excuse we could possibly come up with.

Whenever I come across a person that is difficult for me to forgive, I need to stop and remember that God has forgiven me more. No matter what wrong this person has done to me, I have done immeasurably greater wrongs to God…and yet He forgives me. And this forgiving love that reaches to me also requires that I let it flow through me.

When Jesus was on the cross, he was dying for us to live. Because of his sacrificial death, we can have life. We can have more and better life here, and we can have eternal life in God’s presence. Jesus’ words from the cross are invitations for us to enter this life. When Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them,” we see that his forgiveness reaches to us. His grace can forgive any and every sin found in your life. Nothing is too big for his grace. Nothing scares him away from forgiving you. It is complete.

And this complete, total forgiveness that reaches to us also has to reach through us. We are to be forgiven forgivers. This short little prayer of Jesus is the greatest hope and the greatest challenge of our lives, all wrapped up into one simple phrase. And it comes down to our decision. If you’ve never accepted the forgiveness that God is offering you through the cross of Christ, you can decide to reject. A whole lot of people do. God will never force it upon you. But you can also decide to accept it. It’s a free gift, and it leads to the kind of life that God had in mind for you all along.

We can also decide to withhold our forgiveness from other people. We can see Jesus’ forgiving example, we can hear his stern warnings, and we can still decide not to forgive. Or, we can decide to become a forgiven forgiver. It’s all our choice. It’s our decision. What will you choose?

Mike Edmisten