LUKE 23:34
Father, forgive them, for they
don’t know what they are doing.
SECRET HISTORY
Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” Longfellow’s words are an important reminder that every person has a context—a story. There were events that contributed to shaping them into the people they’ve become and that impact our encounters with them. We know our own history of joy and pain, success and struggle. And we need to recognize that others have their own life-shaping history as well.
When Jesus hung on the cross, the events swirling around Him involved people who also had stories. Soldiers made brutal by years of combat, religionists hardened by years of trying to obey the law, crowds desperate for rescue but without real hope. None of that excused their hate-filled actions, but it may help to explain why Christ showed them mercy when He cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (LUKE 23:34).
While never condoning or excusing the pain that people inflict on one another, we can learn to appropriately show mercy when we understand that there’s a secret history behind the pain people cause. After all, as Jesus said, even our heavenly Father “is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked” (6:35).
BILL CROWDER
How could you remind yourself to give people the benefit of the doubt? What difference would this make in the way you view or interact with them?
Father, thank You for the mercy You’ve shown me for all the wrongs of my life and the gift of forgiveness offered at the cross. Please give me a heart of forgiveness and mercy toward those who wrong me.
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | LUKE 23:32–43
32 Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.
33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine.
37 They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
38 A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”
40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?
41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
