FATHER FORGIVE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Luke 23:34a

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

With a day to try and process the evil that manifested itself within a Charleston, South Carolina, church, I have felt the Lord call me to write a special devotion today and so I will follow His lead as I always do and put my latest series from Isaiah on hold.

In pondering the absolute tragedy that has occurred, questions rush into our minds, fast and furious.

How could this possibly happen? How could someone do something so horrific? How could innocent people die in such a way as this?

Answers don’t come easy. Sometimes the search for them only conjures up more questions.

It’s hard to make sense of the nonsensical. It’s impossible to try and rationalize the irrational.

So where can we turn for some sense of understanding, some sense of comfort, some sense of hope?

As in many matters in life, I believe we need to look to the cross.

How does it connect to the tragedy at Emanuael AME in Charleston?

It connects in three ways:

1. Injustice happened.

Think about the life of Jesus. He had done nothing but teach and heal and love and lead others into a closer relationship with God, His Father who had sent Him to save all mankind from their sins. He even displayed His ultimate power and authority by resurrecting the dead during His ministry life.

Unlike the nine parishioners in Charleston, Jesus had never sinned and was perfectly righteous. He never erred and always spoke truth. And yet, He was arrested, falsely accused, brutally beaten, and then nailed to a cross like a criminal to hang and perish, an innocent man sentenced to death although He was perfectly innocent.

It was the greatest act of injustice in human history and as we see in the case of Charleston and other places in the world where people are being killed needlessly for the cause of Christ, injustice has not left our world.

2. Those who played a part in Jesus’ death did not know what they were doing.

There were many people who played a part in the death of Jesus, directly and indirectly.

For every high priest and high Jewish council member who set up a court where Jesus had no chance for acquittal, there was a man or woman who stood by and watched Jesus carry His own cross to Calvary, deriding Him along the way.

For every Roman soldier who brutalized Jesus before His crucifixion and cast lots for His clothing while He was hanging from the cross and struggling for life, there were people in the crowd who mocked and insulted Him while He was bleeding out the very blood that could cleanse them and wash them from their sins.

Indeed, there was plenty of company for Pontius Pilate who allowed the pressures of politics to overtake the decency of doing what was right and setting Jesus free after he had found no basis for the charges brought against Him.

There was a multitude of people who did not know what they were doing for if they had, they would have never murdered Jesus. I believe I wouldn’t be writing this devotion today if the man who gunned down these people of God had really know what he was doing as well.

And before I leave this subject, I would refer you to a New Testament figure that is beloved in the church, His writings being preached upon in sermons or taught in Bible study lessons. And to think this figure started out murdering Christians.

It’s true and you know it.

For before there was Paul, there was Saul, a persecutor and killer of people who were professing their belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. He murdered countless Christians and was on his way to murder more before Jesus met him on that road to Damascus to put a stop to it all.

You’ll remember Jesus striking Saul down blind for three days before Ananias, a disciple of Jesus sent by the Lord, visited him to restore his sight. Saul was no more and Paul came to life, never to kill Christians again but rather to help others come to know the Jesus he had encountered, the Jesus who had shown him mercy when he deserved none, the Jesus who forgave him because Saul had not known what he was doing.

3. Jesus forgave and showed us the way to forgive as well.

No mere human could have done what Jesus did while crucified and suffering. He could have called down curses on the people who had done Him wrong, legions of angels from the heavens to save Him and annihilate everyone else. But He didn’t.

Instead, He chose forgiveness. His words prove it:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34a

At the moment where the greatest injustice ever was taking place, Jesus acknowledged to His Father and ours, that forgiveness was needed because the people who had arranged His death had not known what they were doing. If they had realized who Jesus truly was, they could not have possibly condemned Him to death and saw that it was carried out.

If Saul had realized what he was doing, he would have never killed a single Christian and his past did haunt him as he referred to himself as the worst of sinners saved (1 Timothy 1:15). Yet, Jesus showed him abundant grace because when Paul was Saul, he acted out of “ignorance and unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:13).

I firmly believe the young 21 year old man who executed nine people in Christ in Charleston wasn’t much different than Saul or any of the people in Jesus’ story. For if he truly knew Jesus, there would be no way he could carry out the killings. He did not truly know what he was doing and was caught up in the same evil that led to Jesus being killed, the same evil that convinced Saul it was alright to murder Christ’s disciples.

Injustice happened in Charleston. Christians were killed. The murderer, void of the Lord in his life, did not know what he was doing.

When we look to the cross, we can see the same. And we can see the light of salvation burning through the darkness to shine hope upon us all.

Jesus rose from the dead and conquered the grave as well as the evil that put Him there. Those in Him will not perish but rise with Him in glory. Those now include:

Reverend Clementa Pinckney

Reverend Daniel L. Simmons

Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton

Cynthia Hurd

Tywanza Sanders

Myra Thompson

Ethel Lee Lance

Susie Jackson

Please keep their families and this church in your prayers.

For the assailant, when we look at how Jesus changed Saul to Paul, we see that there is hope for those who manifest evil, even murderers.

Father forgive him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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