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“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
The Jewish nation surely had had plenty of evidence as to who the Lord Jesus was. He had fulfilled every prophecy about Himself in the Old Testament scriptures. The Romans too had observed Him throughout His earthly ministry; they certainly knew what He had been doing, and all the miracles He had performed. But when they crucified the Lord Jesus, He gave them “the benefit of the doubt,” as we might say, and asked that they be forgiven. He said that they did not know what they were doing.
In some ways this was true, for they did not realize the purposes of God in it all. All they knew was that they hated the Lord Jesus for exposing their sin, and they wanted to get rid of Him. But how gracious the Lord was to say those words, as they drove nails into his hands and feet! This is the first of seven things that the Lord Jesus said when He was on the cross.
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