As Africans, we take the last words that someone says very seriously. Unfortunately, many times, this is motivated by a superstitious reverence of the dead. When it comes to Christ, however, every word that He spoke is precious. That is why this week we are focusing on His last sayings before breathing His last. The first of those for today is when He looked at the very people who were crucifying Him, and He  asked that they be forgiven because they did not know what they were doing. In other words, they were acting out of ignorance by crucifying the Son of God. In what they thought was an exercise of power, they did not know that the One who had all power chose to silently endure it all. They fulfilled the Scriptures even without their knowledge. Indeed, they did not know what they were doing.

Our merciful High Priest, even at the point of His death, shows mercy. The words He spoke were not just meant for the people in that time, but they were meant for us as well. We, too, do many things akin to crucifying the Son of God. We choose the pleasures of sin over His eternal pleasures. We exchange the glory of God for a lie. We worship created things rather than the Creator. Yet we seem completely clueless about the end result of all these. We, surely, don’t know what we are doing. And although ignorance is no defence, Jesus still looks to the Father and pleads, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” He is always making intercession for us before His Father (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). What a glorious joy to know that this is the disposition of my Lord towards me. Indeed, the character of God, as He revealed Himself to Moses, comes alive:

What a glorious thought to know as well that Christ purchased, through His death on the cross, the very forgiveness He was asking and continues to ask for us. Hallelujah!

1. Do you feel overwheighed by sin? Look to the One who pleads for your forgiveness.