Look inside this book.Where the Bush is Burning: A Daily Devotional by [Thomas Tice]

Tag: Luke 23

Father, Forgive Them

Father, Forgive Them

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Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided His garments and cast lots. 

Luke 23:34

How did Christ approach the practical outworking of forgiveness? The context of our text is critical to our understanding. He was hanging on the cross between two thieves. Roman soldiers were at the foot of the cross. For them, the crucifixion of three people was just another day at work. They attached no special significance to executing these people. They did it all the time. They were so hardened to the event that they gambled for the clothing of Christ. It was to these men Christ referred when He said, ‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ That He refers to them specifically is clear by the last remark of the verse, ‘And they divided His garments and cast lots.’ Christ was appealing to His Father to forgive these who were sinning in ignorance. Unpleasantly, some have seized upon this text to attempt to turn it into a statement of general amnesty that somehow refers to anyone who had anything to do with His death. Christ took special care to intercede for those who, by virtue of their circumstance, sinned against Him in complete ignorance.

Our Gracious and Kind Savior, 
we rejoice that You intercede for those who sin against You. 
We praise You that your grace is wide. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Father, Forgive Them

Father, Forgive Them

By |

Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided His garments and cast lots. 

Luke 23:34

How did Christ approach the practical outworking of forgiveness? The context of our text is critical to our understanding. He was hanging on the cross between two thieves. Roman soldiers were at the foot of the cross. For them, the crucifixion of three people was just another day at work. They attached no special significance to executing these people. They did it all the time. They were so hardened to the event that they gambled for the clothing of Christ. It was to these men Christ referred when He said, ‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ That He refers to them specifically is clear by the last remark of the verse, ‘And they divided His garments and cast lots.’ Christ was appealing to His Father to forgive these who were sinning in ignorance. Unpleasantly, some have seized upon this text to attempt to turn it into a statement of general amnesty that somehow refers to anyone who had anything to do with His death. Christ took special care to intercede for those who, by virtue of their circumstance, sinned against Him in complete ignorance.

Our Gracious and Kind Savior, 
we rejoice that You intercede for those who sin against You. 
We praise You that your grace is wide. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Father, Forgive Them

Father, Forgive Them

By |

Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided His garments and cast lots. 

Luke 23:34

How did Christ approach the practical outworking of forgiveness? The context of our text is critical to our understanding. He was hanging on the cross between two thieves. Roman soldiers were at the foot of the cross. For them, the crucifixion of three people was just another day at work. They attached no special significance to executing these people. They did it all the time. They were so hardened to the event that they gambled for the clothing of Christ. It was to these men Christ referred when He said, ‘Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ That He refers to them specifically is clear by the last remark of the verse, ‘And they divided His garments and cast lots.’ Christ was appealing to His Father to forgive these who were sinning in ignorance. Unpleasantly, some have seized upon this text to attempt to turn it into a statement of general amnesty that somehow refers to anyone who had anything to do with His death. Christ took special care to intercede for those who, by virtue of their circumstance, sinned against Him in complete ignorance.

Our Gracious and Kind Savior, 
we rejoice that You intercede for those who sin against You. 
We praise You that your grace is wide. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning
Christ’s Spirit of Forgiveness

Christ’s Spirit of Forgiveness

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Christ’s Spirit of Forgiveness

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Matthew 6:12; Luke 23:34

As we continue our consideration of Christ’s teaching on forgiveness, based upon His statement from the Lord’s Prayer, we come to contemplate how Christ demonstrated a spirit of forgiveness. Here is His famous remark from the cross: ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’ Who are ‘they?’ Within the context, ‘they’ are the soldiers who actually crucified Him, because the next line is, ‘And they divided His garments and cast lots.’ Christ had particular compassion upon the hard men at the foot of the cross to whom, executing a man by crucifying Him was just another day at work. ‘They’ killed people for a living. To them, Christ was not particularly exceptional. Therefore, ‘they’ did not know what they were doing. It was for these hardened men that Christ interceded. He prayed for God, His Father, to ‘forgive’ them. He demonstrates that spirit of forgiveness of which we have been speaking. He, Himself, does not actually grant them forgiveness, but refers the whole matter to His Father for action. It would be to God, the Father, to grant to them regeneration, to give them repentance and faith, and to bring them savingly to Christ. For His part, Christ demonstrated the spirit of forgiveness toward these hard men and prayed for them in His dying hours. Christ shows us how to live, and how to die.

Our Kind and Loving Savior,
we praise You that You show us everywhere Your Compassion.
We rejoice that You are ever willing to forgive
and to intercede for us, that we may be forgiven.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

The Utterly Faultless Christ

The Utterly Faultless Christ

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The Utterly Faultless Christ

So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”

Luke 23:4

God often uses people to speak better than they know. We have before us such an instance. As Christ stood before him, Pilate had to come to some very definite conclusions. The mob was howling for His Blood. The accusation they laid against Him was politically charged, because they had made it look as if He was inciting insurrection against Caesar. Although Pilate was, in many ways, a weak and indecisive person, he was going to be forced to make a life or death decision regarding this Exceptional Person. His conclusion is our text for today, and in that, he spoke better than he knew. Pilate found no fault in Christ, nor has anyone else. The Law of God has found no fault in Christ. All He has done in all His Perfect Life has satisfied the demands of the Law in every precept. Moreover, God the Father has found no fault in Christ, for He has ‘put Him to grief,’ and then accepted His Sacrifice. He proved that by raising Him from the dead. The Saints of God have found no fault in Him. In every way He has proven to be the All-Sufficient Savior, and the Sterling Template for all truly spiritual behavior. All down the ages, Christ has ever shown Himself to be the Utterly Faultless One. Forever the triumphant shout will ring through all the halls of heaven, ‘Worthy is the Lamb!’

Our most Holy and Wise God,
we rejoice in Your Abundant Wisdom,
in holding up before our eyes, the utterly faultless Christ.
We praise You that He draws our attention, on every occasion,
and that we cry out with all the saints above, ‘Worthy is the Lamb.’

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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