Posted on 03/02/2021 5:25:45 AM PST by Cronos
One of the most powerful things Jesus said from the Cross was, “Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” It is beautiful in its graciousness and loving in its leniency.
But it is also enigmatic. Did they not in fact, know exactly what they were doing? They had been plotting for several years to set up Jesus and trap him. They infiltrated his ranks and found a betrayer. They held a mock trial full of false and contradictory testimony and references to his teaching that were completely out of context (Mk 14:53). Even Pilate marveled at their obsession and rush to execute a seemingly harmless and unpretentious Galilean who spoke of a kingdom, “not of this world.” They jeered at him from beneath the Cross and walked away self-righteously to prepare the Sabbath which was a solemn one that year (Jn 19:31). Yes, it seems they knew exactly what they were doing.
And further, there is no evidence that they sought forgiveness. They were proud of what they had done and would continue to persecute the early Christians with the same bloody resolve.
“Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” An extravagant mercy to be sure but also a puzzling one that seems to jettison the accountability of which Jesus often spoke; that we would be accountable even for every idle word (Mat 12:36).
St Aelred provides a loving, even daring reading of the Lord’s forgiveness which we read in the Breviary last Friday:
It was not enough to pray for them: he wanted also to make excuses for them. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. They are great sinners, yes, but they have little judgment; therefore, Father, forgive them. They are nailing me to the cross, but they do not know who it is that they are nailing to the cross: if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory; therefore, Father, forgive them. They think it is a lawbreaker, an impostor claiming to be God, a seducer of the people. I have hidden my face from them, and they do not recognize my glory; therefore, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. (From the Mirror of Love by Saint Aelred, abbot; Lib 3, 5: PL 195, 382).
This passage does two things. First it is a beautiful interpretation of the Lord’s merciful prayer. Second, it helps contextualize the Lord’s extension of mercy and not over-apply its meaning to every sinner everywhere. They are to be spared the sin of deicide (the killing of God), but they are not being given a blank check for all their sins. Such a stance would rob the human person of his freedom and dignity, in effect assuming that people are just too stupid to go to hell or be responsible for what they do. It would also force a kind of general absolution on people even when they did not seek or want it. Most of us have some occasions of invincible ignorance (an ignorance of the facts that is hard to overcome), but most of us also know exactly what we are doing in most cases. Of such things we will be accountable if we do not first seek the Lord’s mercy. Many sins we also commit in weakness not in malice. But weakness is not powerlessness. And hence, here too, we must seek mercy and strive to grow in strength.
God’s mercy is precious. But repentance is the key that unlocks its floodgates. May Lent continue to be a time that we acknowledge our need for God’s mercy and seek it constantly.
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I’ve understood that to be referring to the Roman soldiers who crucified him. They were following orders. It hasn’t ever occurred to me that it was talking about Caiaphas.
What they didn’t know they were doing was setting the stage for His resurrection. Which was His purpose for coming down here.
So the veil was torn from above, not below, which opened up access to The Father to all mankind.
We are saved by the efficacious grace of Christ's One-time sacrifice
During the mass - as St. John visualized it, we are transported to that victory of Christ
Van Eyck showed it perfectly
As Jesus himself tells us, “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13)
1 Tim. 4:10 For therefore we labor and are reviled, because we hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of the faithful.
Rom. 11:17-24 And if some of the branches be broken, and thou, being a wild olive, art ingrafted in them, and art made partaker of the root, and of the fatness of the olive tree, [18] Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. [19] Thou wilt say then: The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. [20] Well: because of unbelief they were broken off. But thou standest by faith: be not highminded, but fear.
21] For if God hath not spared the natural branches, fear lest perhaps he also spare not thee. [22] See then the goodness and the severity of God: towards them indeed that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee, the goodness of God, if thou abide in goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. [23] And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. [24] For if thou wert cut out of the wild olive tree, which is natural to thee; and, contrary to nature, were grafted into the good olive tree; how much more shall they that are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
As the Bible says, We are already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8),AND we are also being saved (1 Cor. 1:18, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), AND we have the hope that we will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15).
Like the apostle Paul we work out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13)
When saying the rosary I always include that last when i I recite the fifth reflection (mystery) on the crucifixion. Before saying that I include the exchange between Our Lord and the good thief, then the cup of vinegar administered by the Roman.THen the exchange Our Savior had between His Mother and the apostle John.
It’s been my experience that offering forgiveness is more beneficial to the forgiver than to the forgiven. On the cross, Jesus was leading believers by example.
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The Passion is complete and fully accomplished.
However - as St Paul said - there is something lacking in Christ's suffering. As Christ's Passion is indeed perfect and entire, this missing piece can only be our engagement, our joining with it.
Let us join ourselves daily to the Passion of Our Lord. We should suffer for others, pray for others, accept humbly what God gives us as we live for His sake.
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The two sins against Hope are presumption and despair.
The Pharisees presumed that they were saved.
Judas Iscariot (on the other hand) despaired of being saved. He might have become St Iscariot: however he did not repent and seek forgiveness.
Christians hope for salvation, and 'work out their salvation with fear and trembling'. They hope for salvation, and do not presume that they are saved.
It's best not to presume anything about our own salvation: we might be hard-hearted, we might lack charity, we might be sunk in any kind of sin and not know it.
If we are sinful, then we have separated ourselves from the (fully accomplished) work of Christ.
It would be a terrible thing to die as a goat. You and I and everyone should embrace works of charity: we must not disdain them due to presumption.
Hope this was helpful.
Agreed. On the surface, they were sinning in their human vileness and ignorance. The prayer for forgiveness demonstrated the pity and mercy of God to their decrepit selves. God had other plans. Paving the way for the resurrection, and final proof that God had visited his people and brought salvation, and eternal life to the world.
Amen.
He understood that they were acting out of what their earthly teachers had been teaching them.
Sadly, many people are still under that sort of tutorship. I know I was for decades.
Whe I recite that is when reciting the sorrowful decadea and i mention all of that before I begin that last decade.
Well said
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