Wednesday, April 12, 2017

FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO (PART 1)

When you ask most people who know about Jesus concerning His Mission, what you will be told in one form or the other is that He came to the earth to die for the sins of mankind. If one probes further they may explain that mankind have sinned against God and because the wages of sin is death, Jesus came to die in the place of sinners. The crucifixion of Jesus is explained as a propitiatory sacrifice meant to appease God. In fact, many seriously believe that man’s salvation is predicated on the sacrificial death of Christ! The adept will point to scriptures and interpret such to the effect that the Almighty Himself made all the provision for this sacrificial death of His Son as the best that can be pleasing and acceptable to Him!

This thinking which has prevailed for over 2000 years is questionable in the face of the statement made by Jesus as He was nailed to the cross. He said “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”


The words “forgive them” can only imply that the event under reference is wrong at the least. But in reality the actions of that momentous Friday were sinful and an outrage against the Father Who sent Jesus. The whole process that led to the crucifixion was a show of hatred to a Person Who is Love Himself, mockery of justice culminating in a most gruesome murder! Love and Justice are two attributes of the Most High but the mindless hatred leading up to the mockery and trial of Jesus all show an opposition of men to God’s Love and Justice! By the acts of the majority of people, mankind shunned the Love that inclined to the earth in the Person of the Son of God. 

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