Intercession: Day 6

"​Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last." Luke 23:32-46

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Throughout the rest of the Gospel, Jesus has forgiven sins of his own accord, but now as he is hanging from the cross, he pleads with the Father to forgive sins. Jesus clearly has the divine authority to forgive sins, so why would he now turn and ask the Father to do so?

Jesus does so in order to reveal himself as the Intercessor for sinners, the Great High Priest who pleads for the forgiveness of his guilty people. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing, fulfilling a line found in Isaiah 53:12: “Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

The timing of his intercession (while suffering on the cross) is even more significant. Charles Spurgeon remarks on its importance: “The attitude of Christ when He prayed this prayer [Father, forgive them] is very noteworthy. His hands were stretched upon the transverse beam. His feet were fastened to the upright tree and there He pleaded! Silently His hands and feet were pleading and His agonized body from the very sinew and muscle pleaded with God! His sacrifice was presented complete and so it is His Cross that takes up the plea, “Father, forgive them.” O blessed Christ! It is thus that we have been forgiven, for His Sonship and His Cross have pleaded with God and have prevailed on our behalf.”

At the same time that Jesus is praying for our forgiveness, he is pouring out his blood to make that forgiveness possible. Jesus is granted the forgiveness of our sins because, as he asks, those very sins are being laid on him in his suffering. Alongside his words, his wounds plead perhaps the more loudly, for by his wounds he answers his own prayer.

And don’t forget that when Jesus said this, he was looking down on a Roman soldier whose hand still held the hammer that nailed him to the cross. He was looking down on his own people that praised him a week earlier, only to curse him now as a fraud and a failure. These are the kinds of people on whose behalf Jesus pleads. Likewise for you, reader, no matter if you hold a hammer in your hands or bear a curse on your lips, forgiveness is offered to you – reach out and take it! Take it from One who will not only make intercession for you but will become your intercession by his own blood. Whether you are as unfit for the kingdom as the thief next to Jesus or as unworthy as the soldiers below him, receive the offer of pardon ratified by his blood!

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1. Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them.” Who is “them”? Does this just refer to the people in the scene or does this have wider theological implications?
2. Why does Jesus ask God the Father to forgive his persecutors’ sins rather than forgiving them himself?
3. What is significant about the timing of this request to his Father? Why is it so appropriate?
4. Jesus prays for the forgiveness of the people who crucified him. Why ought this to give us hope about the possibility of the forgiveness of our own sins?
5. Why couldn’t God just have forgiven sin outright? Why did a punishment and a death have to take place for him to forgive sin? And why did it have to be the punishment and death of his own Son?

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