Father, Forgive Them
Bob Yandian
Look at Luke 23:34. Here is the first statement Jesus made from the cross: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ And they divided His garments and cast lots.”
I want you to notice that little word “Then.” No word in the Bible is there by accident. “Then” means man had done his worst. For thirty-three years men had tried everything they could to get rid of Jesus. Herod tried to kill Him as a baby. The religious leaders tried to ambush Him and discredit Him. His own hometown crowd tried to push Him off a cliff. Even the Roman government found no fault in Him but still crucified Him. False arrest, mock trial, beating, crown of thorns, nails driven into His hands and feet, the cross lifted up in front of a mocking crowd. Men had done everything possible. And then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them.”
When everyone has done all they can against you and you’re still breathing, what do you do? Do you lash out and curse them as you’re dying? Or do you pray, “Father, forgive them”? Even in His dying breaths, Jesus prayed for sinners. That’s why He came to this earth. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Jesus hated sin, but He loved the sinners. Hebrews 1:9 says He loved righteousness and hated iniquity. He told the religious leaders off when they turned the temple into a marketplace and started selling products. He pulled out whips and drove them out because the temple was supposed to be a house of prayer. But He still loved the people trapped in religion.
Look at 2 Peter 2:1: “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies…even denying the Lord who bought them.” Even the false teachers who deny the Lord—Jesus still bought them on the cross. He loved them too. The first statement from the cross was not a complaint or a curse. It was a prayer: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Prayer is bigger than us. It reaches beyond our voice, beyond our hands, beyond where we can travel. It is not bound by time or distance. Jesus had reached His physical limits on the cross, but He had not reached His spiritual limits. His hands that once healed the sick were now nailed to the cross. His feet that once brought the good news of deliverance were nailed fast. His time to live on this earth was short. But in those last hours, Jesus prayed for other people—specifically for sinners.
Why did He pray that? Because they didn’t know who He was. The Book of Acts tells us that if the rulers of that day had known who Jesus really was, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. They looked past everything He said and everything He did. The Romans thought He might be trying to start an earthly kingdom. The religious leaders were jealous of Him. They saw Him only as a man. But Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them.”
Isaiah 53:12 says He “bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” Everyone standing around that cross was a transgressor—except His mother and John. The soldiers, the religious leaders, the crowd—they were all there to mock Him and spit on Him. Yet Jesus made intercession for them.
In heaven right now, Hebrews 7:25 tells us that Jesus “ever lives to make intercession” for those who come to God by Him. He still prays for sinners today. Jesus practiced what He taught. Matthew 5:44 says, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
Even in the last minutes of his life, Stephen followed the same example. As he was being stoned, he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And that prayer was answered. Not long afterward, Saul of Tarsus was knocked to the ground on the road to Damascus, blinded by a light from heaven, and became the apostle Paul.
Was Jesus’ prayer on the cross answered? Yes, it was. Right after He died, the centurion and those with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, the three hours of darkness, the veil in the temple torn in two, and the graves opened. Matthew 27:54 says they “feared greatly, saying, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” The very soldiers who had nailed Him to the cross got saved.
Jesus prayed for more than just the people standing in front of Him that day. The night before His arrest, in John 17:20 He said, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” That includes you and me. He prayed for us before we were ever born. At Pentecost, three thousand souls were added to the church in one day. His prayer was still working.
Prayer has no time limit. Prayers you prayed years ago can still be answered today. Once a prayer is released in faith in the name of Jesus, it keeps working and working.
Remember Anna the prophetess in Luke 2:36-37. She was eighty-four years old and had lived as a widow for many years. She did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. She had been praying for the coming of the Messiah. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus into the temple for His dedication, Anna saw Him and knew her prayers had been answered. She gave thanks to God right there.
We often wait until we get older to discover the real power of prayer. But Jesus knew that power from the beginning. He began His public ministry with prayer. He taught His disciples how to pray. He prayed all through His ministry. And now, at the very end of His earthly ministry while hanging on the cross, He prayed again.
Prayer is where the power and the anointing come from. I’ve preached sermons that I thought were pretty good, and even my wife has looked at me and said, “You kind of missed it today.” Looking back over the years, my mistakes have rarely been from lack of preparation. They’ve usually been from lack of prayer.
You may reach a time in your life when you can’t get around like you used to. Your hands may not be able to lay hands on people anymore. Your feet may not be able to carry you across town or around the world. But you can still pray. Your prayers go where you cannot go. They can reach a missionary on the other side of the globe. They can touch the heart of a sinner who doesn’t know what he is doing. They can reach your children and grandchildren.
Jesus couldn’t get off that cross to lay hands on anyone. He couldn’t walk anywhere to preach. But He could pray. And His prayer was answered. Prayer is timeless. It is not bound by our physical body or by time itself.
I trust this first saying from the cross will wake you up to the power of prayer. Jesus prayed for sinners when He could do nothing else physically. He still prays for sinners today. And He prayed for you and me long before we ever believed.
No one is beyond the reach of prayer and simple faith in Jesus Christ. Let the same spirit of intercession rise up in us. Pray for the lost. Pray for those who despitefully use you. Pray without ceasing. Because prayer still works—today and for all eternity.
In the end, everything comes back to those first words Jesus spoke from the cross: “Father, forgive them.” In the hour of His greatest suffering, when man had done his absolute worst, Jesus chose forgiveness. He chose intercession. He chose love for the very people who were putting Him to death. That prayer revealed the heart of our Savior—the heart that still beats with compassion for sinners today. What a powerful example He left us. May we never forget the mercy and grace that flowed from the cross in those simple yet profound words.
