And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. [Luke 23:34 (ESV)]
In one of our small group sessions earlier this year, we heard the story of a man who spent more than twenty years imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. The evidence proving his innocence had been suppressed by the police and he was a bitter angry man. Sixteen years into his incarceration, he became a Christian but he still struggled with forgiveness. Knowing Jesus expected him to forgive the men whose lies had stolen his life, he couldn’t find the power to do so. How can we forgive someone who has deliberately hurt us, someone who isn’t even contrite or repentant? Vengeance, anger, retribution, and revenge come much easier than forgiveness and yet forgiveness is what God calls us to do.
It was when this prisoner read Jesus’ words on Calvary that he understood where the power to forgive lay—in God the Father. “Father, forgive them!” said our Lord as He hung on that cross. Like him, Jesus was an innocent man and yet He prayed for His executioners. His words were not those of anger or complaint but of pity and compassion. The sinless tortured one was praying for his sin-filled torturers. Mind you, the people for whom He was praying hadn’t asked for forgiveness; they were neither remorseful nor repentant. Many had eaten His bread, seen His miracles and heard him speak, but they’d chosen the criminal Barabbas over him. Mocking Him, the soldiers were gambling for his clothing. While blood was dripping down his forehead and seeping out of the wounds on his hands and feet, the suffering Jesus was praying for pardon not revenge; He didn’t ask for justice but for forgiveness. It was on the cross that radical forgiveness met radical injustice and triumphed. If our sinless Savior can forgive, how much more should we?
Jesus’ words on Calvary told this prisoner that he didn’t have to forgive under his own power but that forgiveness was possible through God’s power. Like Jesus, he prayed for those who had persecuted him and he was finally able to forgive. Truth eventually prevailed several years later when his conviction was overturned but he’d been made a free man many years earlier when he forgave those who wronged him so horribly. It was Alexander Pope who wrote, “To err is human, to forgive, divine.’” Indeed, it is.
The Holy Spirit, thank God, often enables people to forgive even though they are not sure how they did it. [Lewis B. Smedes]
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. [Galatians 4:4 (NLT)]
Richard Williams was watching TV when he saw a tennis player awarded a $40,000 check for winning a tournament. He decided then that his as yet unborn children would become tennis stars. Williams wrote a 78-page plan detailing their future, taught himself how to play tennis and, when his girls were four, started teaching them to play the game. Before they were even born, he’d planned the future for tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams.
A friend of ours has several jewelry stores in Colorado. When he opened a store in a posh resort town, he priced his goods as he always has: reasonably. To his chagrin, plenty of wealthy shoppers came into his shop but no purchases were made. After three days of disappointment, he re-tagged everything with higher prices. The following day, instead of leaving empty-handed, most shoppers left carrying pricy purchases (and they continue to do so today). Apparently, his rich customers believe affordable means second-rate or shoddy and that quality only comes with an exorbitant price tag.
Occasionally, bands of marauding Arameans would go out into neighboring nations. It was during one of those raids into Israel that they captured a young girl and brought her back to Aram. Picture her fear as she stood on the auction block and was sold to the highest bidder. This child, a spoil of war, became the servant to Naaman’s wife. The commander-in-chief of the army, Naaman developed leprosy. Had I been that girl, I probably would have rejoiced silently at his plight. He was the enemy; it was because of his soldiers that she’d been kidnapped and made a slave in a strange land. A lesser person would have thought Naaman deserved all the pain and misery he could get! Although it would have been easy to remain silent and watch him suffer, this nameless slave girl didn’t. Instead, she sang the praises of Elisha and told her mistress that Naaman should go to “the prophet who lives in Samaria” where he could be healed.
But Samuel’s sons did not live the same way he did. Joel and Abijah accepted bribes. They took money secretly and changed their decisions in court. They cheated people in court. [1 Samuel 8:3 (ERV)] 
Devotions of the Heart 