Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing…
Q: Lent is a time of preparation of our hearts going into Easter. How do Jesus’ words of “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” prepare us for Easter?
To me, Easter has always been about reminding ourselves of the sacrifice that God made by having Jesus die on the cross for everyone’s sins. Everyone — those who believed in him then and those who didn’t, those who believe in him now and those who don’t.
And no matter how many sermons, Sunday school lessons, workshops, books, podcasts etc. we may have throughout our lifetimes about this sacrifice, I don’t think we ever truly will fully grasp how great that sacrifice was. For a superpowerful being to submit itself before these beings you created, have them kill you, so that you can take the punishment that was meant for them (which they don’t even necessarily know about), so that they have a chance to spend eternity with you later. Not to mention, even before the act of the actual crucifixion itself, Jesus WILLINGLY went through a lot of the humiliation and torture and ridicule. It just blows my mind.
Jesus knew that the the people who were humiliating him, ridiculing him, torturing and killing him didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. They didn’t understand their role in the bigger picture. They didn’t understand the implications of what they were doing and how it’d be noted down for generations and generations of human beings to read and study and discuss for thousands of years. Jesus understood though and asked His Father, who also understood, for their forgiveness.
So after all that rambling, I’d say that phrase prepares me for Easter because it reminds me to slow down and take the time to truly reflect upon the magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice and his attitude towards it and those involved (“the bigger picture”).
But if I can, I’d say this also serves as a reminder for me to think about my daily attitude when it comes to others in my life (“the every day impact”). Whether it’s big or little interactions, people with important roles or smaller/aquaintance roles, I remind myself that I can’t change the other people or what they do. I can only control/change my attitude towards them or their action. If they hurt me, I can strive towards forgiving them no matter what — doesn’t matter if they don’t apologize, doesn’t matter if they haven’t even realized they hurt me. I can look beyond myself and how I feel, and towards Jesus instead. I can remind myself of His example and pay it forward.
