Father, Forgive Them

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," Jesus said, after being crowned with thorns and spat upon, scourged and made to carry his own cross, stripped of his garments and crucified. What an example of forgiveness that is! 

I'm not a theologian but I think there is more to learn from these words, too, beyond the lesson of forgiveness.

"They know not what they do," and yet, surely the soldiers knew, in some place in their being, that they were going even beyond their job of crucifixion – unspeakable as it is – going beyond it, by humiliating and torturing someone beforehand.  And surely, those who called for the death of Jesus had followed the news of the day and knew at some level that this Man had done good to so many people.

In some ways, I would think, they knew some of what they were doing. But perhaps they didn't know the full gravity of it. Most importantly, they didn't know Who this was!

Today, too, I'm guessing that people who persecute, humiliate or injure others probably know, in some place in their heart, that what they are doing is wrong or unkind; but I'm guessing that often, they don't know who this is. 

For one thing, we don't always know what someone has been through. That cashier who wasn't friendly could have lost a child last week. Or, she could have come to work in spite of being in some kind of physical pain, because if she doesn't come in, she will lose her job. What if we treat her with patience and welcome friendliness wherever we find it without requiring it as part of our service?

That mother in the store, who is yelling at her two little children, may struggle each and every day to overcome the abuse she received as a child. She may be a kind, warm parent who studies child development in her quiet moments, and treats her children with firmness but respect. But this day, when she goes out to the store and her children misbehave, she hears the inner voice she grew up with and succumbs to the scrutiny of those around her. In frustration at her children's misbehavior and her own shame, she lashes out. It's only a blip on the radar; it's not who she is. As another customer, observing a few moments in her life, we don't really know who she is.

For those who think the mother in the store should be more in control of her children, we can look at a similar story. That woman whose children are running around may struggle each day to overcome the abuse she received from her parents and the abuse she received in foster homes. When she's in the store, she worries that she will strike out, even though she has never done it; she worries that someone will report her and take her children away, even though she has done nothing to warrant it. At home, she may set limits, but she doesn't usually take the children with her to the store. Today, she did. And we see her. But we don't really see her for who she is.

Outside the store, a homeless woman asks for money or food, and someone calls her a panhandler and tells you that the woman should get a job. We might not know that she actually has a job, but she hasn't been able to find a full time job recently and her part time job doesn't pay enough. We might not know that she did have a place to live, but it got flooded out. Just walking by, we don't know that she has a college degree, or that she used to be every bit as prosperous as the people walking into the store, but for lay-offs that left her without a decent income; a divorce that she didn't ask for; and medical bills that she could not pay.  

These people I've been sharing are fictional (except for Jesus, of course!), or they are composites of several different people. But they all resemble, in some way, real people whom I've known, or known about, people who have been shamed or shunned, neglected or wounded. There are so many more, so many worse stories which I know personally, but they are not my stories to tell.

But still, I see someone, often even someone online, and still I occasionally make an instant judgement. We see one aspect of someone, and we often think we know them, but we really don't know who they are.

Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

And he gives us examples of who are his brethren…not those who some of his listeners would have expected. He gives us the examples of the woman at the well; and of the Good Samaritan, the foreignor who helped the man by the side of the road; and of Zaccheus, despised as a tax collector; and of the woman caught in adultery. His followers didn't know who those people really were. They only knew who they thought they were. 

But Jesus knew who they were. He always knows.

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Scripture references:
Father forgive them – Luke 23:34
The least of these – Matthew 25:40