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“Father Forgive Them”
Reflection by Heather Rhoads
When I think about today’s state of affairs, my mind takes me back more than 2000 years ago, during the life of Jesus. Back to a time of considerable division among the people. The Jewish Pharisees debating Torah, trying to follow the letter of the law. Even debating Torah with Jesus himself! Can you even imagine?
Today, it is easy for us to say, “how could they?” Don’t they know who he is? Yet they called him a blasphemer. They were enraged by the audacity that Jesus would heal a man on the Sabbath.
Jesus came and challenged the things that the Pharisees knew. That they grew up being taught to be true. So much so, that he was crucified all because they were trying to live in obedience to God’s word. Pretty ironic, don’t you think?
Fast forward to today, the year 2025. We see a similar division. People dissecting the Bible, an ancient and complex text which, in my opinion, often holds conflicting viewpoints on the same issue. Cherry picking Bible verses that align with their own worldview, convinced that they’re understanding is right. Convinced that what they grew up with, what they have been taught their whole lives is the truth.
That their interpretation of this ancient text is the correct interpretation, and by this truth they should live their lives. They’re right after all, aren’t they? Were the Pharisees right to challenge Jesus? I suppose they were in their own minds and in their own hearts. Nevertheless, they handed Jesus over to be crucified.
Jesus was mocked and beaten and at maybe one of the lowest moments in his life and even after they had signed his death sentence, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”.
It seemed that all hope was lost to the followers of Jesus but we all know how that story goes. His story wasn’t over, and he rose from the dead only 3 days later. And just as Jesus died and rose again, just as his story was not over then, all hope is not lost to us now.
This is not the end of our story. This is not the end time, no, it is the in-between time and Jesus will come again. I believe that just as Jesus prayed to God to forgive those who persecuted him, Jesus would call for us to forgive those who have understood differently than us.
To forgive and to love our enemies or those who have persecuted us. To not be so consumed in believing that we are right in our own understanding, that we miss the whole point, to love one another. Afterall, Proverbs 3:5 reminds us to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”.
As some of you may know, I work for the Children’s Division in Jackson County, and part of my job is foster care case management. One day we were informed that the director of the Children’s Division at the time, director Missey, was planning to come visit our office to speak.
This was supposed to be a big deal. I was skeptical. I thought to myself, what does he know? He’s at the top, he’s not on the ground and on the frontline with us. When the day came and director Missey came to speak with us, I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t remember everything he said but there was one thing that he said that stuck out to me.
It is one thing that I try to carry with me not only at work, but in my everyday life as well. I don’t recall his exact words but it was something to the effect of, to treat each interaction that you have with someone as though they know something that you don’t.
It was a concept so simple, yet profound. A beautiful reminder that every person that we meet is a new opportunity to learn and that each person we meet in life has a unique set of God given gifts, knowledge, and experiences that we can learn from if only we allow ourselves.
Though Jesus was the Jewish Messiah he embraced diversity. Through his ministry, he offered salvation and healing to non-Jews regardless of their nationality or ethnicity. He extended healing to Gentiles and Samaritans alike. His disciples included some of the most unlikely, and even unpopular choices, including a tax collector, a zealot, fishermen, and even women. Jesus didn’t call the qualified, he qualified those whom he called.
Peter denied Jesus three times and Judas handed Jesus over to the authorities for a price of 30 pieces of silver. Even knowing that Peter would deny him and that Judas would betray him, he offered them bread and wine, his own body and his own blood.
This reminds me of a really cool analogy in the Bible that I love. Some of you, maybe most of you, are familiar with 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31. Now, I am no biblical scholar by any means but here is the message I believe that I received from this scripture:
That we are all interconnected members of one body under Christ. Every single member of that body has a specific purpose and has God given gifts for which to use to the benefit of the whole. What affects one of us, affects all of us and that even the members that may seem insignificant to us are indispensable parts of the whole.
We see this concept show up in other places as well, such as in the book of Romans.
“For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another. Romans 12:4-5 NRSVue.
This verse serves as another clear illustration of our inherent interconnectedness.
In Ephesians it says, “but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” Ephesians 4:15-16.
All of this to say, I believe that in order to love ourselves, in order to love God, we must love each other. We must recognize the divinity that exists within one another. 1 John 4:20 says, “Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”
No, it’s not lost on me, and yes I understand in my own way that this is me cherry picking to draw on evidence which aligns with my own worldview. I think we are all guilty of cherry picking scripture but I believe the important lesson here is that it is important to recognize what our cherry picking says about us. Are we cherry picking love or are we cherry picking hate?
I used to view the conflicting nature of the Bible as incredibly problematic and an inherent flaw in its design and with some time and reflection, I have come to believe that it indeed is problematic but only because we make it. I now believe that these conflicts in scripture exist by thought-provoking design.
Maybe Scripture was designed as a means of starting a conversation, and not of settling a dispute or answering all the world’s questions. Perhaps as in the words of author Rachel Held-Evans, “the tensions and questions produced by Scripture aren’t obstacles to be avoided, but rather opportunities for engagement, invitations to join in the Great Conversation between God and God’s people that has been going on for centuries and to which everyone is invited.”
We need each other. Think about all the people around you. Each person in this room has a unique set of God given gifts, knowledge, and experiences for us to benefit from, to help us grow and to thrive as the body of Christ. In order for us to do that, we must nurture our interconnected nature, we need to stop fighting it. Everyone in this room and every single person that you meet has a purpose even if we don’t understand it. We may not always understand or agree but we don’t have to. Afterall, we were not called to agree with each other, we were called to love. Amen