A Gift from the King

It may seem strange, the weekend before Thanksgiving to read Scripture about Jesus’ crucifixion. In the church year, today is the last Sunday of the year. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of the new year as we begin our Advent journey. So, how should the church mark the last day of the year? In 1970, the celebration of Christ the King, which was first established in 1925, was moved to the last Sunday of the church year. I love that it offers us perspective as we begin Advent. Without the cross, we can not begin to understood the meaning of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem. The shepherds came to see him and left excited to tell everyone, what? Angels filled the sky and praised God, promising peace. The wise sages came to see him and brought him gifts fit for a king, and left by another way to avoid the current ruler, who would surely get rid of this threat to his power. Mary pondered all these things in her heart. Joseph likely wondered how his life would unfold and named him “Jesus” – “He will save.”

Never would he have imagined it unfolding in this way. The elders of the people, the chief priests, and the scribes led Jesus to the Jerusalem Council, the highest authoritative body of the Temple, where he was asked, “If you are the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One, tell us.” And he answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe….from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” They pounced, “Are you the Son of God, then?” “You say that I am,” he answered. It seemed as if he was being blasphemous. Claiming to be God. So they took him to Pilate because only the Romans could crucify him, the Jerusalem Council, the Jewish authority, did not have that power. They accuse him of keeping them from honoring the Roman Emperor, Caesar, and of claiming to be anointed by God as King.
Pilate asks him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus responds as he did to the Jerusalem Council, “You say that I am.”
Pilate sees that the charges are bogus, so when he finds out Jesus is from Nazareth, in the Galilee region, he is relieved that he can transfer the case to the governor of the Galilee, Herod. Now, Herod is excited to meet Jesus because he has heard about him, and he wants to see him perform one of his signs. But, Jesus didn’t perform a sign for him, in fact, he didn’t even speak. Herod and Pilate talked. Neither found any fault with Jesus. They called together all the people who had brought Jesus to them and suggested that he be chastised and released. Three times, they repeated their verdict and the crowd roared, “Crucify him.”
So, they did, between two criminals on a hill outside the city wall of Jerusalem.
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Depending upon your Bible translation, there may be a footnote that says that this quotation was omitted in some early manuscripts. The earliest manuscripts that are missing Jesus saying “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do” are from 300CE – about 270 years after Jesus’ crucifixion.

Some have argued that perhaps it was an addition, since these early manuscripts don’t have it. I believe its omission is even more evidence that Jesus DID say it.

Why? First, the meaning is a bit unclear. Scholars have debated who Jesus meant for God to forgive. What are “they”? The elders, priests, and scribes? The Jerusalem Council? Pilate and Herod? The people who cried out “Crucify him”? The criminals on either side of him? The soldiers there at the cross about to cast lots for his clothes?

Second, by 300, Constantine is the ruler, and Constantine is Christian. He makes Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The breakup between Judaism and Christianity is complete, but there are still hard feelings. Perhaps as the manuscript was being copied, forgiveness was omitted. It can be tempting to omit forgiveness.

Third, it is not likely for an addition to match our earliest accounts of the crucifixion. Remember, I said the manuscripts that don’t include these words of Jesus from the cross are from around 300, but before that, we have Jesus quoted in writings by Tatian and Hegesippus and Irenaeus in the late 100’s, and by Hippolytus, the Syriac Didascalia, Origen, and Archelaus in the 200’s.

So, it seems likely that it is an accurate quote. So, what does it mean?
“Father, forgive them (not sure who Jesus meant), for they know not what they do.”

Part of the meaning is revealed by the introduction to the quote. In English it translates, “And Jesus said.” Nothing particularly enlightening about that… but in Greek, “said” is in an unusual verb tense, the imperfect indicative. It is typically used when saying something that has happened, is the case now, and will continue to be the way things are.

If King Charles of England says “I am king.” There is a moment when he became king, and he will have a ceremony of coronation to become king, but he will have already been king, and presumably, he will continue for some time into the future as king.

Jesus said, Jesus says, Jesus continues to say, “Father, forgive them.” The Word that was in the beginning and said, “Let there be light” became flesh and dwelt among us and said, “Forgive them.” Is there still light? Every day. Are we still forgiven? Every day.

For we know not what we do. It is harder to claim that for ourselves. It is much easier to think of the Jewish or Roman officials as the ones Jesus is talking about, they surely didn’t know what they were doing. Or the criminals who were on either side of him, perhaps they had some justification for their crimes. But us? We know not what we do! We like to think we are pretty rational, that we make decisions based on facts, that we know what we are doing.

“Forgive them,” the Word proclaims, “for they know not what they do.”

When we are honest with ourselves, about the complex issues our world faces, when we humble ourselves, we know it is true. Our wisdom is limited and our motives are consistently selfish.

The climate is changing. Everyone can pretty much agree that the climate has always been changing and always will be changing. What our role in the current change is? There, you will get a WIDE range of answers. What would be best for us to do? We have been set as stewards, caretakers of the earth. Yet, there is so much we don’t know, even as we make decisions that have consequences.

Several years ago, we were on the Tennessee River and my dad pointed out a Great Blue Heron. The rest of that trip, and on future trips, they were a regular sighting. Why had I not seen their 6-foot wingspan all my years on the river growing up, I wondered. I did a little research. From 1976-1986, they were on the in-need-of-management list of endangered species. Why? DDE, a compound related to DDT, an insecticide, was causing the shells of their eggs to be too thin, so they weren’t hatching chicks. It wasn’t that the farmers were intentionally eliminating their species. They just didn’t know. Life is complex. Sometimes we only see the impact of our decisions years down the road. Sometimes we NEVER realize what our actions have caused.

International relations are complex. Ethical medical questions are complex. Immigration and refugee problems are complex.
Some of these complex problems we put on our car bumpers. From “Save earth. It’s the only planet with chocolate” to “I’ll worry about global warming when I’m done Bigfoot-proofing my house.” But these fail to guide us, or even offer us a way forward. They deny the complexity of the issues. And now we have memes on social media to be our bumper sticker for all our “friends” to see. And some of them will like them because they are on our side, in our group.

You see, we have allowed these complex problems divide us into factions, competing ideologies with each side waiting for the other to come to their senses. We create borders and groups, but Jesus is king of all. We create political parties, conservative/liberal, but Jesus is Lord of all. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” is as much for me as it is for you, as much for us as it is for them. In Christ, we are one.

Y’all we need forgiveness for things we don’t even know we are doing. We need forgiveness for things we are so sure we are right about, but we’re not. Every act that is not loving – not loving toward God or not loving toward God’s creation and creatures – has moved us, farther separated from God. We need forgiveness for even every thought that is not loving.

As we unpack our Christmas decorations and put out our nativities, may we remember that this baby we welcome was born because God of God’s love. God wanted to know, first hand, what it was to be human, to understand fully our limits and to eradicate, wipe away, everything, every sin, every not loving thing that we have done or said or thought, that separated us from God. And in that one sentence, it was done, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” May we be truly thankful for this amazing gift of grace – Jesus. He will save. Amen.