“Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.”

So, here’s the question: Which them was Jesus referring to when He asked the Father to forgive them?

I wasn’t standing among the crowd that day, but that fact didn’t limit Jesus’s knowing that on a particular day and time, some two thousand plus years later, I would need His prayer—His forgiveness. And so, would you. It wasn’t necessary for us to be standing there as witnesses.

Love knows no limits…

There is no such thing as time and distance where love is concerned. Ask any parent—they’ll tell you the same. When it comes to reaching the child they love, nothing can stop them.

How much more God?

How much further reaching is the one that fashioned us in our mother’s womb—knows our every thought, and the number of each hair on our heads? The One who knows not only the moment He predestined us to be born—to live, but knows also, the exact millisecond He will ask for our breath to be returned to Him…

So, as Jesus hung dying on His Cross, just who was He asking the Father to forgive?

Was it for Pilot’s succumbing to the blood-lust of Caiaphas the high priest and his followers? —John 18:12-28. Maybe it was for the thief hanging beside him—the one chiding Him to, “Come down off your cross?”— Luke 23:39. Or, maybe He was asking the Father to forgive those underhanded religious leaders who had Jesus dragged, in the middle of the night, in front of some of the scheming and self-serving Sanhedrin. As if the cover of darkness could hide the darkness within them! —Mark 14:53-65. Or, is it possible that Jesus asked this forgiveness for the amped-up many who stood crying out to Pilot for His Blood? “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”, can you hear their malevolent cries…? —Luke 23:21. Was He asking forgiveness for the soldiers whose hands were still wet with His Blood? —John 19:18. Or, perhaps it was for those who’d been hunched over at the foot of His Cross, throwing dice for His clothes? —John 19:23-24.

More, Scripture tells us that this same Jesus that prayed this prayer as He hung dying, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. —Hebrews 13:8.

Thus, inferring that His desires, His intentions, remain the same also. Those being, in this instance, intercession and forgiveness. So, with that in mind, I would posit, and Scripture points towards, Jesus—in addition to each of those souls listed above, was praying in fulfillment of Scripture for you and me too. “…Because He [willingly] poured out His life to death, And was counted among the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore and took away the sin of many, And interceded [with the Father] for the transgressors.” Isaiah 53:11-12; emphasis my own. He was praying for the whole of humanity who—as with those above, had no clue—didn’t fully understand, the import, the weight of their sin. Nor did they understand what was being accomplished on that Cross…

Neither do any today who deny Jesus…

They’ve no understanding the far-reaching implications of their choice. If anyone in that blood-thirsty crowd, on that fateful day, had any idea that their words, spoken in frenzied mob speak, would bring about the death of the very Messiah they had prayed for—one must wonder if they wouldn’t have run around just as feverishly; physically covering up the mouths of any one shouting, “Crucify Him!” Who in their right mind would want to put to death the very person they had prayed would come and save them? That would be the equivalent of a drowning man refusing the life-saving buoy thrown to him…

“Mercy here!” but the drowning man gulping, says “Thanks, I’m good, I can swim!”

Yet, many that day did exactly that. Why? Because their help didn’t come the way they anticipated it would. Didn’t say, speak, look like, what they thought it would. So, they reject it. No, they made sure this “impostor”, this false Messiah, this blasphemer,  would never come back to tell His imprecate tales. And, for those in authority who were threatened by Him, afraid that if He succeeded they would fail—lose out. His being sent away wasn’t an option. They needed an end to Him and all He stood for. “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

All the while Mercy was praying—extending to “all who would”, the opportunity to be forgiven…

“Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”—Hebrews 10:17 (Also see: Hebrews 8:12; Isaiah 43:25; 1 John 1:9; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Psalm 103:11-12).

The good news is some, that fateful day, heard Jesus’s prayer—and said yes to His unfathomable offer of mercy and forgiveness of their sins. And, as I said at the start, I believe though you and I weren’t standing among those in the crowd that day—Jesus saw us.

We were included in His offer of forgiveness…

Cornelius, the Roman centurion at the foot of His Cross heard it—more, he received it. Listen: “Surely this man was the Son of God!”—Matthew 27:54. And the thief, the other one, not the one who chided Jesus, he too accepted Mercys offer of forgiveness, listen to his dying words: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”—Luke 23:42. So long as there is breath, there is hope. And, there was Nicodemus too, a member of the Sanhedrin. He said yes to mercy—along with his friend, Joseph of Arimathea—a secret disciple of Jesus. —John 19:38-40. Lastly, there were some three thousand who were gathered in Jerusalem. Whether any of them heard Jesus’s offer of forgiveness at His Cross is unknown—but they heard it nonetheless!Mercy reach is limitless. “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”—Acts 2:41.

And don’t forget me! I was sitting in a church pew in 2008 when suddenly Mercy said, You are mine. You’re forgiven, Now, come, follow me… And, by His grace, I’ve never looked back!

Friend, Jesus’s prayer to the Father for forgiveness is for you too…

There was a  piece of ground at the foot of His Cross with your name written on it. It’s purpose? To traverse across time and space that it might reach you today. If you’d just stand still and look up, right where you are, you’d be looking into the eyes of the One who is offering you forgiveness. More, an opportunity to go where He is and spend eternity with Him.

But, first, you must say yes to Mercy’s invitation…

Won’t you please say yes, now? Mercy has been praying for you. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”—Ephesians 1:7