Luke 23:47 Commentary and Bible Study

The dying Saviour’s prayer was answered. Among the little band at the foot of the cross there was the Roman soldier who testified, ‘Certainly this was a righteous man.’ What kind of a man could behave as Jesus did? Maybe the soldiers had seen others crucified, full of hatred towards their executioners, cursing, resentful, bitter or else collapsing in fear at the thought of death, all the bravado gone out of them, reduced to nothing by the experience, crying out uncontrollably for mercy. What would a man cry out as he knew he must die, as his conscience racked him in his dying moments. Every second was an extension of his agony, but worst still, death lay ahead. Trapped between life and death, he would promise anything, plead everything if only he could be released. But what hope of mercy was there from hardened Roman soldiers who would sneer at the suggestion? They were trained to ignore cries of terror of those who stared death in the face. Yet this man was quiet. When he was reviled by his enemies he did not revile them back in return. When he suffered so greatly he did not respond with threats. How many in the same predicament must have had their innermost being exposed by the experience as they were unable to control themselves any longer! This man however was magnanimous to his enemies. He showed no desire for revenge. In death he was fully in control, seeming to know where he was going, unsurprised by events, not fretful to be delivered, not wishing that he had somehow acted differently and avoided this moment. Rather, he spoke as one who was above the whole situation; there because he planned to be there, there with a work to do which no one but he could understand and which none could help him with. He did not seem to want anything from the crowds that passed by. He did not ask for deliverance. He behaved as if they could take nothing of any value from him. No amount of evil words or treatment could provoke him to speak a single word of resentment. He absorbed it all. Instead he prayed for their forgiveness -'Father, forgive them; for they not know what they do.' He still spoke words of kindness even after all they had done to him. What an extraordinary reversal of roles! Instead of the Jews showing mercy to him, Christ was showing mercy towards his persecutors. And he was pleading in their defence – it was the Jews who did not grasp the danger that they were in. Christ alone understood the real reason why he was transfixed to that cross. The centurion saw that Jesus was the Messiah; he was one come down from heaven. That was the only way to account for what he had witnessed there. And this man was a Roman, not a Jew. He might have said with Pilate, ‘What concern is this to me? Am I a Jew?’, but he was deeply affected by what he had seen. He saw the sun darkened, and he knew this was no natural phenomenon. He heard this man yielding up his spirit to God who he called his Father. He saw him having complete control over his own life, and voluntarily commending his spirit to God at the moment of his choosing. He did not know why these things were happening, but certainly this was a righteous man who should not have been there dying on that cross like a criminal. Perhaps the others also were moved by this officer and made more thoughtful. Then there were others around that cross. There were even members of the Jewish Sanhedrin Council. And the way it's put in the Gospel of John indicates that they had been thinking – Nicodemus, who we meet with in John 3, and Joseph of Arimathea. But the Gospel records suggests that it was Calvary that finally moved them, and they saw the point. The prayer uttered by Christ from the cross was answered. They became forgiven men, and others also. Within a few weeks on the day of Pentecost three thousand among the Jews were cut to the heart and repented and came to Christ. A few days later, another five thousand believed. And that was just the beginning of the opening of the flood gates and the beginning of the Christian church, and its rapid spread across the lands and across the nations, as the prayer of Christ, the remarkable prayer, the unexpected prayer, the astounding prayer, the prayer of love and compassion and mercy, was answered. It has continued to be answered down through the centuries ever since. ‘Father, forgive them.’