Trent Renner

Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.
Luke 23:34(NLT)

If Jesus would have used Twitter to send this message to His followers it would have had to have been delivered by the hands of someone else. Jesus was hanging on the cross when He “sent” this message. His hands were nailed down. He had just been severely beaten. He would have been deeply dehydrated. As I write out the remaining messages that were short enough for Jesus to have actually tweeted back in His day…the remaining “tweets” are all His final phrases before He dies on the cross. The next 7 “tweets” are going to be intense and serious. Each message that Jesus sends out from this point forward is a message He sends in the final moments of His life.

I like to say that when a person knows they are dying and they only have a few moments left…what they say is of vital importance for they only focus on the moment and what is deeply in their heart.

Jesus says, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

As this message is going out, think about what was happening all around Him. Soldiers are gambling for His One Piece Undergarment. Bystanders are yelling at Him, spitting at Him, mocking Him, rolling their eyes, thinking He deserves every bit of what is happening to Him. He is literally bleeding out. He has two men, one on each side yelling at Him. He is being used as a warning to all Jews in the area. The warning is this…”Don’t mess with the Religious Leaders and Don’t mess with the Roman Empire.” Position and Power are dangerous things in our world. Jesus defied them and it got Him killed. Oh, He knew it was going to kill Him and even though He didn’t like the fact He was to die…He knew what would happen in a few days.

Imagine you are alive and well in Jerusalem at this moment in time. You are one of His followers and you actually receive this message in the form of a tweet. After reading it, “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing,” what would you think or do? I think I would instantly recall things I had spoken about Him behind His back. I would have flashes of unholy behavior from recent times in my life and then think about how He walked around and healed that blind man, and how that woman stopped bleeding when she touched Him, and how Lazarus came out of his own tomb after being dead for like four days, and remember how He walked on the Sea of Galilee. I would remember him putting his hand on my shoulder and encouraging me to believe in myself even when important people in my life mistreated me and kept putting me down. I would think about that day He prevented a sinful woman from being stoned to death and how He stared into the eyes of her accusers and got them all to drop their stones and walk away embarrassed by their judgmental demeanor, knowing that their hypocrisy had been exposed.

What a tweet.

Even though you and I are guilty of all sorts of sins, and those sins actually separated us from our God…Jesus’ moments on the cross and His final breath, His shed blood, His sacrifice, took all of God’s anger towards us and our sinful actions and washed it away with our sins.

When Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing,”

Mankind’s very worst collided with God’s very best!

When the collision took place in that moment of history…who was stronger? God’s Best or Man’s Worst? God’s Best or Your Worst?

NO COMPETITION!

God wins. Yet in a crazy kind of way in this competition, we won too! You win. You are forgiven.

What’s your very worst? Can it even compete with God’s power, and love, and patience, and kindness? No way! Once again, No competition!

So if you are allowing your crap and your filth of your past and yesterday’s stupidity to hold you back and make you feel worthless…STOP IT!

If God can forgive it/you, why can’t you?

Here’s the deal…What Jesus says…Happens! How do I know that? Because Jesus said in the Great Commission noted in Matthew 28, “I have been given ALL AUTHORITY in Heaven and on earth and under the earth.”

If Jesus has been given all authority and He says, “Father Forgive them.” Then its done.

Be Free…Be Forgiven. And since you have been forgiven so much….make it a priority to forgive those who have hurt you. It’s worth it. Forgive. If I can help you work through forgiveness, just ask. I’ll do my best.

I challenge you to memorize this passage…”If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.” Thats 1 John 1:9.

Always remember that GOD LOVES YOU!
When He looks down upon you from Heaven, He smiles WAY more than He frowns.
Believe it. Live it. Share it.
Amen?