Walking With Christ

Luke 23:34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.(ESV)

Luke is the only one who includes these words from Jesus and not all manuscripts have these words. Many who read them believe that Jesus was talking about the soldiers who were casting lots to divide His clothes. Some, like me, believe that He was speaking in far more general terms. Remember that Jesus could speak to the Father in a unique way because He had full knowledge of the plan and the elevated perspective that the Father does.

How does this passage tie into the messages from the last few days and the original design view that we’ve been looking at?

I believe that these words are the second bookend words in a supernatural conversation that the spans the existence of humanity. I believe that this passage is actually the Son answering a question that the Father asked back in Genesis.

In Genesis 3:13 we read the first recorded words that God ever spoke to Eve.

Genesis 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”(ESV)

The Father asks, “What did you do?” The Son responds, “Please forgive them. They don’t know what they’ve done.”

An interesting concept here, Adam and Eve ate the fruit without knowing what the true results were going to be. They could not know the cost, the true and complete cost. A transgression was made and a price had to be paid, Genesis 2:17. The Father is just and will (from our perspective, already has) collect what is owed. Jesus knew exactly what the results of the fall were (and will be). When Jesus spoke those words in Luke, He was answering the question the Father asked in Genesis and asking Him to forgive that transgression. It’s through that transgression that we all inherit the original sin and through the acceptance of the forgiveness of that transgression that we receive grace. Jesus asked the Father to forgive and in doing so accepted the transfer of the responsibility of that sin, and all sins the resulted from that sin, to Him.

The vital part of this concept is that God honors contracts. The original sin required a death because of the only rule that God ever gave to Adam in Genesis 2:17. Jesus essentially offered to pay that price for anyone who would accept His offer. The ones who do not accept His offer will keep their portion of the cost. If we accept the free offer from Jesus and enter back into a covenantal relationship with Him so that we can be saved by grace through our faith, then we must acknowledge that Jesus forgave all sins, not just ours. It might be tempting to believe that some people are not or cannot be forgiven of their sins because of this or that. We have to remember that we can’t know their hearts anymore than they can know ours. Only God sees the full truth.

One more interesting thought, it was dark for the entire time that Jesus was being crucified. From the words He spoke in Luke 23:34 until He said “It is finished” and He gave up His spirit, it was dark. God, the Father, could not look upon His Son in that time. In Matthew 27:46, Jesus referenced Psalm 22:1 when He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I suspect that when Jesus said the words in Luke 23:34 He began to take on the sins of the world and when He said it was finished He had taken the last one. The darkness during this time was a global visualization of God’s judgement on sin and Jesus bearing the full weight of that judgement on our behalf.

Those words, “It is finished”, were the neat little bow that finished the entire saga of human history. The plan was completed at that point. Jesus had fulfilled the requirements of the law, took on the full penalty of sin, an thus provided a path for humanity to return to God.

This concept might be a bit hard to conceptualize since we can’t see the past, present, and future all at the same time (as God can because He exists outside of the concept of time), and the bible simply doesn’t confirm who Jesus was referring to when He spoke in Luke. What we do know is that Jesus was called “the second Adam” because He fixed the mistakes of the first Adam and made a way for humanity to be restored in relationship with the Father.