Palm Sunday
April 13, 2025
Luke 23:1-49

From the cross, as they are hammering in the nails, Jesus forgives them. I’m capable of holding grudges for years; and here is Jesus. Forgiving them as they are still in the act of sinning against him. Here I can only stand in awe and wonder that this God, that this man, can love so much. That even as the nails have pierced his hands and his feet, he can let it go. He can love even those who are killing him. As one old theologian put it, “How can there be too much love, if dying for love was not too much?”¹

But there’s more to that line. Jesus says, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” They do not know what they are doing. The soldiers are simply carrying out their orders. The crowd has been riled up by their leaders. Pilate is just doing what the Emperor would want him to do. They do not know what they are doing. And they are forgiven. 

But that bothers me. If they don’t know what they’re doing, then of course they should be forgiven. We shouldn’t hold it against the soldiers that were just following their orders; if they didn’t know how bad it was. If the crowd didn’t know what they were doing, then how can we hold them responsible for this horrific crime? So of course Jesus pardons their ignorance. But that seems so obvious. 

And in turn, am I only to forgive the people who sin against who didn’t know what they were doing? But that seems so cheap. It seems like an easy loophole for me to hold on to my grudges. 

So I prayed with this saying of Jesus, and I realized the next, haunting question into this spiritual journey of forgiveness. Do I really know what I’m doing? Do I really know what I’m doing? Do I really know the consequences of my actions? Am I aware of all the hurt I have caused, am causing, and will cause? Do I know all that I have done wrong, and all the wrong done on my behalf? What about the times I thought I was doing the right thing, but it was actually the evil thing? What about the times I was just following orders, does that let me off the hook? What about the times when I’ve had to make an impossible decision, a decision that may have been good for somebody and painful for somebody else? I look back on all of that, and I realize, to my sorrow, that I don’t hardly ever know what I’m doing. I’m just out here trying my best; trying to hold it all together; trying to do the best I can with what I have. I do not know what I’m doing. 

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Thanks be to God. Not only does Jesus forgive, not only does Jesus let go our sins and offenses, but he also knows. He knows everything about us, things done and left undone. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And still, he forgives. That is the most amazing grace. 

Notice, too, what those words of forgiveness from the cross do. Those words of grace open up that conversation Jesus has with the criminal. Forgiveness creates space for relationship. The one criminal that begs for mercy – he speaks with Jesus. And the criminal hears those words of promise, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” That’s what forgiveness does – forgiveness opens up new relationships, new opportunities of grace. Forgiveness is not about wiping the slate clean; it’s not just about clearing the spiritual scoreboard of your sins; it’s about creating new relationships. 

We are forgiven – for what we know and what we don’t know. And that also allows us to have relationships with each other. We who have been forgiven are now invited into a relationship, into a community, into this thing we call the Church. The Church is not for perfect people – the Church is for people who know that we don’t really know what we’re doing. The only thing we know for certain, is that we are in need of grace. And that allows us to live together in the Church. And it invites us to be a sign to this broken world, that even sinners like us can learn to love each other; a love based on those words from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

Finally, in so much of my pastoral work, people will ask me – “how do I forgive somebody for the things they have done to me?” You want to know a method, a process, a psychological or spiritual trick to help you forgive that person who hurt you.

But, I’ve come to the terrible conclusion, that there is no method, no process, no trick. There is no magic prayer to make it all better. But what I do know is that forgiveness opens up relationship. Because the resentments, the grudges you hold now, they are holding you back from God and from each other. I can’t give you the manual on forgiveness, but I can show you the dream. I can show you what happens with forgiveness. And it looks like this story – like Jesus speaking words of grace to a criminal.

So when you are having trouble forgiving someone – for something they know they did or for something they don’t know that they did – turn your heart back to the cross. I cannot show you how to do it, but I can show you what it all means. And it’s what I hope you can latch on to when you are working on forgiving someone else. Forgiveness looks like a relationship – it looks like Jesus turning to a dying a man and promising paradise. Hear again those words, and even as the nails are going into your heart, even as you are struggling with those who are sinning against you, remember these words – “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

Further reading

Szkredka, Sławomir. “‘Father, Forgive Them’ (Luke 23:34a): Conflicting Interpretations and the Lucan Territory of Forgiveness.” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 84, no. 1 (December 31, 2022): 80–96.

1. F.D. Maurice ↩︎