God our only Hope:
You sent your Son to redeem us. We killed Him. As He died, He offered us grace: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
The religious authorities who asked for his death didn't know what they were doing. They thought they were doing right. They thought they were defending you, defending your honor, protecting your holy faith, protecting your holy place, protecting your people from a dangerous heretic. In their own minds and hearts, they were making a difficult but necessary choice. They were murdering their Messiah. They didn't know.
The Romans who executed him didn't know what they were doing. They thought they were serving their nation, the greatest nation on earth. War is ugly, and insurgents on the other side of the globe needed to be contained to avoid compromising national security. They thought they were serving faithfully, risking their lives as they left families and comfort a world apart in sacrificial service to an important cause. But they were murdering the Son of God. They didn't know.
Today, our world is spiraling out of control. We are taking it apart with our own hands in our effort to do what we think is right. Forgive us. We don't know what we are doing.
Iraqi Islamicists think they are serving you. They think they are working for a day when your word will bring peace and stability to their culture. They think they are driving false doctrine and heresy from the land. They think they are creating a nation that needs no longer be rent apart by civil strife because they are making a land in which everyone agrees. They know it will be ugly for a time, but it will be worth it eventually, they tell themselves. So they murder Christians. And Muslims who think differently than themselves. They drive entire people groups into hiding in the mountains. They draw blood and tears. They destroy those who were made in your image and likeness. They think they are serving you. Forgive them, for they don't know what they do.
Palestinians have been pushed to the brink, huddled in encampments, starved and harassed. They push for dignity. They fight with desperation of one shoved into a corner. Many are Christians, afraid that the faith of our Lord is being systematically driven out of the land of His birth, even as we, their brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, ignore their plight. So they send rockets into general population centers. They see their effort as self-protection. But they invite uneven reprisal. They have no good answers, so they choose poorly. They play into the cycle of escalating recrimination. The tears of grieving Jewish mothers do not bring the end of the tears of grieving Palestinian mothers. They think they are doing all that they can do. Forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Israelis have lived in the shadow of violence as long as they can remember. Their nation was borne from the world's horror over the genocide of the holocaust. They have been threatened by their neighbors with extinction. They have combatted terrorism in their neighborhoods. And so, they think they are defending themselves, and You, and their destiny, and the dream they believe was born from Your heart. You have chosen them. Yet you have not chosen them merely to survive. You have chosen them to do justice, to treat the stranger as their brother. They think they are doing your will, serving You, serving Your cause. But they have forgotten that the Gentile, the Muslim Palestinian, the Christian Palestinian, was made in Your image, that Abraham's children were blessed so that they might bless every nation, even the hostile nation, even the enemy. Jesus knew. He said so. They didn't understand. They still don't. Forgive them. They don't know what they do.
Fearful young men in Missouri think they are doing what needs to be done. They think they are showing courage, putting themselves in harm's way, showing strength to bring right in a world full of wrong.
Some of these fearful young men are police officers. They see crime and the potential of crime in decayed neighborhoods. They think that if they act tough, if they show no weakness, if they intimidate potential criminals, they will keep troublemakers in line. They think that if they stop and frisk, if they follow suspicious looking kids around, if they check into sketchy situations, then the good kids will understand and the bad ones will be warned or even deterred. They think they are protecting and serving. They can't understand how it feels to be a suspect because of the accident of the situation of one's birth. They can't see that each person they harass is made in the image and likeness of God, that treating them like criminals when they've done no wrong humiliates them, crushes their spirit, ignites a simmering rage, diminishes their sense that they are infinitely more precious in the sight of God than in the fearful eyes of our culture. Those fearful angry young officers think they are serving the public. They forget that young black men are the public. Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.
Some of these fearful young men are the ones clashing with police into the early hours of the morning, the few violent protestors among almost entirely peaceful demonstrators. They think that mayhem and the expression of anger will draw attention to their cause. They think that they will scare the world into bringing them justice. They think that if the world sees the hate that they have learned through a lifetime of mistreatment, that the world will give them what they want and treat them differently. They are wrong. They do not know that the community they damage is their own, that their actions play into the very stereotypes that cause the world to see them not as precious human beings but as threats that need to be locked away. Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.
Vladimir Putin knows not what he does. Bashir Al-Assad knows not what he does. Wall Street tycoons, corrupt politicians, angry fundamentalist preachers, white supremacists, pornographers, felons, abusive prison staff, over-aggressive prosecutors and ambulance chasers, lazy religious bureaucrats and relentless religious entrepreneurs. All convinced they are the good guys. All breeding chaos and crushing the human spirit. All crucifying you again. Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
I see the wrong in others. I can identify how they crucify you again. They can't. So, maybe just maybe, it's me crucifying you again. Maybe it's me who needs forgiveness, because maybe it's me who knows not what I do. Maybe it's me whose efforts to stem the tide of suffering and chaos are only making matters worse. Maybe it's my zeal that puts you on a cross.
Father, forgive me, for I know not what I do. Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do.
Amen.
