Father, Forgive Them (Luke 23:32-38)
Gary McManus, 03/19/2017Part of the God's Love; Beyond Belief series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
March 19, 2017 Luke 23:32-38 (p.1046/ p. 1059)
. . .familiar words from Jesus’ lips.
These are words from the cross for us.
Dying words for us to live by.
“Father, forgive them. . .”
1. March 5th: “Father”: Jesus instructs us ALL
to call God “Father.”
2. March 12th: “Forgive” –not defined as we often
think; just no penalties for the offender.
More importantly, we noted Our forgiveness
FROM God is tied to OUR forgiveness of our
neighbor. It is an unavoidable conclusion.
[See The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13),
Matthew 18:35, and the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 6:12-14.]
Today, the whole phrase:, “Father, forgive them.”
Who is THEM?
Easy for some. Hard for some.
Forgiving oneself; easy for some, hard for some.
“Forgive and forget” is not only nearly
impossible, the phrase is not even in the Bible.
Shall we “gain our brother”? (Matthew 18:15)
To truly forgive, we probably need to remember
the entirety of the sin committed against us.
(Matthew 18:27)
Who are those THEM?
Jews? Romans? Everyone involved in Jesus’
crucifixion?
It might be worthwhile to remember how horrible
these two groups were.
And Jesus said, “Father forgive them. . .”
Application for us: . . .who is YOUR THEM?
The prophet Micah (6:8) said,
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and
to walk humbly with your God.
We are to act justly, not demand justice.
What does the Lord require?
. . . to love mercy . . .
forgiveness is merciful isn’t it?
We are called to LOVE mercy.
Mercy can be a humble walk.
When you walk it, you are not alone,
you are with Jesus. . .
Amen.
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