_His Words to the Father_.
"_Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do_."
This prayer for His murderers is a revelation of the wonderful nearness
and capacity of love. The Saviour passes from pole to pole of human ken,
to find a ground on which He can plead for the forgiveness of those cruel
and wicked men; and He finds it in their ignorance of the stupendousness
of their sin against Him. It seems as though He chooses to remain in
ignorance of what they did know, and to dwell only on what they did not.
"They know not what they do!"
It was ever so with Him! He has no pleasure in iniquity. Wrong-doers are
so precious to Him that He never will magnify or exaggerate their
wrong--no, not a hair's breadth. He will not dwell on it--no, not a moment,
except to plead some reasonable ground for its pardon, such as this--the
ignorance of the wrong-doer, or the rich efficacy of His sacrifice. He
will only name sin to the Father, in order that He may confess it for the
sinner, and intercede for mercy and for grace.
This is the old and ever new way of dealing with injuries, especially
"personal injuries." _Is it yours_? Are you seeking thus after
reasons for making the wrong done to you appear pardonable? Is your first
response to an affront or insult or slander, or to some still greater
wrong, to pray the Father for those whom you believe to be injuring you,
that His gracious gift of forgiveness may come upon them?
That is the principle of Calvary. That is the spirit, the mind of Christ.
That is the way in which
He won the meed and crown:
Trod all His foes beneath His feet,
By being trodden down.
"_Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit_."
Death has always been held to afford a final test of faith, and here the
human soul of Jesus passed through that mortal struggle which awaits us
all when heart and flesh shall fail. "_Into Thy hands_"--that is
enough. As He passes the threshold of the unknown--goes as we must--into
the Valley of the Shadow, faith springs forth and exclaims, "Into Thy
hands." All shall be well. In this confidence I have laboured; in this
confidence I die; in this confidence I shall live before Thee.