They Don't Know (Friday Devotional)

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

- Luke 23:33-34

Imagine you’re waiting in a line, the kind that feels like it never moves. Every few seconds you check your watch nervously—after all, you had allotted twenty minutes for this and it’s already been half an hour, with no end in sight. You think about your next appointment, the one you’re going to be late for, maybe even miss completely. You stress about whether you’ll be able to complete all your other errands for the day. But mostly, you wonder what’s taking so long.

That’s when you crane your head to get a glimpse at the front of the line and you spot the source of the problem. Some lady is dealing not only with the cashier but the manager too, trying to sort out whatever her issue is. With what seems to you like complete disregard for the people behind her, she’s holding up everybody else—including you—for her own sake, refusing to leave until her problem is resolved. Of course, she doesn’t know about the rush you’re in—in fact, she doesn’t know you at all. But far from making you more sympathetic, her ignorance only makes you angrier. She should know better.

That's how we tend to think, isn't it? When people don’t have all the information or insight into a situation that we have, when they can't see things like we do, their obliviousness is aggravating at the very least, and sometimes downright infuriating. Our response to their ignorance almost always comes from a place of judgment: we condescend, we condemn, sometimes we even take advantage. After all, why should we suffer just because they don’t know what they’re doing?

On the cross, Jesus showed us a different response to the ignorance of others, even and especially when their ignorance hurts us: not judgment, but forgiveness. A person’s lack of understanding, he says, is no reason for us not to forgive them—it is exactly why we should forgive them. “Father, forgive them,” he gasped with one of his final breaths, “For they do not know what they are doing.”

Every day you deal with people who don't understand things that should be self-evident, people who you are certain ought to know better. When faced with such people, the temptation is to lose your patience, to talk down to them, and to judge them, to see them as somehow less than you. Jesus points us to a more compassionate way, offering grace even to unenlightened, misinformed sinners.

Such mercy doesn't eliminate ignorance, but it does eliminate hostility. Forgiveness doesn't educate or discipline, but it saves. The gospel of Jesus Christ offers grace to those who deserve it the least—so may your life bear witness to that grace. For those who don't know Jesus, you can offer no better lesson.