The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross-5

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

2. Here we see Christ identified with his people.

"Father, forgive them." On no previous occasion did Christ make such a request of the Father. Never before had he invoked the Father’s forgiveness of others. Hitherto he forgave himself. To the man sick of the palsy he had said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee" (Matthew 9:2). To the woman who washed his feet with her tears in the house of Simon, he said, "Thy sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48). Why then should he now ask the Father to forgive, instead of directly pronouncing forgiveness himself?

Forgiveness of sin is a divine prerogative. The Jewish scribes were right when they reasoned "Who can forgive sins but God only?" (Mark 2:7). But you say, Christ was God. Truly; but man also - the God-man. He was the Son of God that had become the Son of Man with the express purpose of offering himself as a sacrifice for sin. And when the Lord Jesus cried "Father, forgive them" he was on the cross, and there he might not exercise his divine prerogatives. Mark carefully his own words, and then behold the marvellous accuracy of scripture. He had said, "The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins" (Matthew 9:6). But he was no longer on earth! He had been "lifted up from the earth" (John 12:32)! Moreover, on the cross he was acting as our substitute; the just was about to die for the unjust. Hence it was that hanging there as our representative, he was no longer in the place of authority where he might exercise his own divine prerogatives, therefore takes he the position of a suppliant before the Father. Thus we say that when the blessed Lord Jesus cried, "Father, forgive them", we see him absolutely identified with his people. No longer was he in the position "on earth" where he had the "power" or "right" to forgive sins; instead, he intercedes for sinners - as we must.