They Know Not What They Do
Luke 23:34
Colossians 1:15-20
A Sermon Prepared for the Hollywood Presbyterian Church
November 21, 2010
Rev. Stephen A. Herring
When Jesus was nailed to the cross he said; “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Today we need to allow these words to enter the deepest place in our hearts. We need to hear Jesus saying; “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
First, we need to ask, who it is that needs to be forgiven, and who it is that does not know what they are doing? I believe that we are the ones who need forgiving, and we are the ones who do not know what we are doing. Now I know I need to tread a little lightly here because I know that nothing gets me more upset more quickly than the suggestion that I do not know how to do my job. I think most of us are that way. We have grown up learning how to develop our own sense of competence. We try hard to live our lives in such a way that we clearly demonstrate at every turn that we do know exactly what we are doing. We also hate it when anyone suggests for a moment that we do not know what we are doing.
So today I am going right ahead and I am going to suggest that we do not know what we are doing nearly as well as we should. I am also going to suggest that these words of Jesus; “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” are part of the fabric of the reality in which we live. When Jesus spoke these words, he was saying something fundamental about us and about the world in which we live.
How many times have we done things which had unintended consequences? How often do we think how nice it would be if we could somehow undo what has been done? If we could go back in time, we could change some minor decision we made. We could do something differently, and make everything different. We can’t go back though. We can’t change anything about the past. We can only change the present. Things are the way they are in this moment because we have made the decisions we have made.
The problem we all face as we live every day is that we seldom fully understand what we are really doing. What we do not understand are the consequences, good and bad, that may result from our actions, or lack of actions.
There are several examples which illustrate this. First, when something really bad happens, we process that event by asking ourselves, sometimes over and over, if things would be different if we had done something differently. Might some small change make it different? This is part of a condition we now know as post traumatic stress syndrome, or PTSD. The event plays over and over and each time we ask ourselves, could I have done something differently?
Another example comes from the hardest chapter human beings ever have to live through. We often see high profile bad things people do, and we form opinions about the people who do those terrible crimes. Think for a moment though about the parents of those criminals. They ask themselves over and over, could I have done something differently? They ask; “When I raised this child, did I really know what I was doing?” They grieve like anyone else, but their grief can’t be consoled because of the actions their child took.
There are many other examples of the way we do not fully grasp the fullness of our actions or of the consequences of our actions. Often our failure to understand what we have done leads us to become stuck in the badness of it all. We get stuck in the darkness where we can’t get away from regretting what has happened.
Jesus says “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32) The truth which sets us free is the full knowledge of the consequences, both positive and negative of our actions. Notice that I underline FULL KNOWLEDGE. Knowing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the actions we have taken, and the words we have spoken is the path to true freedom. The Apostle Paul says; “Now we see something in a mirror that we do not understand, (it’s an enigma), but then, we will see face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.” (I Corinthians 13:12)
You see, none of us can go back and change anything. What we can do is bring it all to the cross. All the sorrow, all the trauma, all the regrets, all the times we wish we could do over, it all needs to be brought to that cross. At the cross we find forgiveness and restoration. At the cross we find the liberating truth of the fullness of the blessings we have brought to this earth. At the cross we find the liberating blessings of forgiveness for all the wrong actions we have taken and the wrong decisions we have made.
Jesus says; “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Note that he uses the present tense. This is what we are doing right now in this moment today. We do not possess the mind of God. It is impossible for us to understand where our actions may lead. By faith we can believe though that it is all good in the end. By faith we can believe that it is all good because it is all redeemed. By faith we can believe that we are forgiven and that we will see the wholeness God has for the whole picture as it all fits together in God’s wisdom.
It is all in the blood of Christ shed at that cross. “He is the image of the invisible God, the First Born of All Creation. For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.” (Colossians 1:15-16) This is a statement of cosmology. This is a statement about the nature of our universe. Every single thing that has happened in every time and in every place, every action and every reaction has been created in the Logos-WORD, the ultimate reason that is the person of Jesus Christ. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17) It all holds together because all of the imperfections, all of the dissatisfactions, all of the failures, all of the pain and all of the sorrow is forgiven in his blood. “For in him all the fullness (Greek Pleroma), the total abundance of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, on earth and in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20)
So here we have it. In any moment, we do not understand, we do not fully comprehend exactly what we are doing. Like the soldiers who drove the nails into the Lord’s arms and feet, we are only doing our jobs as well as we know how. For good and for bad, for better and for worse, we are doing our jobs as parents, as children, as spouses, and as workers. Yet we do not comprehend the depth of the wisdom of a God in whom all things are ordained and for whom all things serve a purpose. We do not know the whole story of why things are happening to us or where it is all leading. We lack that information.
There is one more amazing mystery that needs to be lifted up here. That is the idea of redemption. I believe with all my heart that all the bad things that have happened in this world are not only forgiven by the blood of Jesus, they are redeemed. Redemption is the heart of the scripture which says; “All things work together for Good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) This means that even those things which we see as completely bad might have some good outcome in the eventual wisdom which is the will of God.
This means we constantly need to live carefully and we need to live gently upon this earth. We need to fill our thoughts, our words, and our actions with love at every turn. We need to remember that, even though we do not fully comprehend what is going on around us, it is all forgiven. It is all healed, all reconciled. It all finds the wholeness, the peace, the Holy Shalom of God at the foot of the cross. Amen.
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