This blogger has no clue as to what Jesus meant by the words in Jesus' last prayer [2] but proceeds with his analysis anyway.
First of all, who were the ones that Jesus asked His Father to forgive, Pontius Pilate, Herod, the Roman soldiers, members of the Sanhedrin, the people who called for his crucifixion and those who stood by with indifference? Or was Jesus speaking prospectively as well, to the current church leaders who pay lip-service to God but whose real interests are money and politics, to the general populace who are obsessed with what is secular and to the children who are consumed by social media and all things virtual, but pay little to no heed to what is holy and eternal?
Secondly, was Jesus praying for a blanket forgiveness for all or for only those who did not know what they were doing? If Jesus had prayed for unqualified forgiveness, His words could have been: "Father, forgive all of them" but those were not the words. His words were "forgive them" and He followed them with a reason as to why they ought to be forgiven: because they did not know what they were doing. What if some of them knew what they were doing? Would they be forgiven too? Would Judas have been forgiven since he supposedly knew what he was doing? Could Judas have been forgiven if he could claim temporary cognitive insanity [3], not knowing the nature of his betrayal was wrong, or claim that he knew right from wrong but was unable to resist the impulse to commit the wrongful act [4] of betrayal because he was possessed by Satan or because he was there to fulfill the destiny of Christ as God intended? Or, was Jesus trying to provide an excuse for everyone who played a part in His crucifixion, being that they had no idea what they were doing, including Judas, and everybody else prospectively, including those in the present day and beyond, because of Original Sin, so that His Father in Heaven would have mercy on all the sinners, making the last prayer of Jesus a prayer asking for forgiveness for all?
This blogger has no answer to any of the questions above and does not expect to have them during his lifetime, but thinks that it is not important to know the answer to any of these questions. What is important is the implication contained in the words that were unuttered. Here, one must ask why did Jesus bother to say this prayer to His Father in Heaven? Did He know something nobody else knew? Of course He did. He is the Son of God after all. So what did He know?
This blogger believes firmly that Jesus was so forgiving and loving that He did not want to see those who did not know what they were doing punished by His Father even as He was dying in pain brought on by the very people who put Him there because the punishment would for them had they not been forgiven be eternal and so severe that Jesus could not bear it and if it was the last thing He could do as a man in the flesh to save them it would be to give to His crucifiers His undying love by His last prayer.
So who were Jesus' crucifiers? The obvious ones were the Roman soldiers who hammered the nails into his hands and feet. Did they know what they were doing? Of course they did. Back in those days they did not have the internet to check on the news reported two hours ago on a certain "criminal" that Pontius Pilate did not want to put to death, and that the people wanted Him crucified, but being in a relatively small community of people in which Jesus would have easily stood out by the words He said and the miracles He performed, they would have known who Jesus was, and if they had any doubt who the bloodied individual carrying the cross to Golgotha was, they only had to read the inscription they nailed to Jesus' cross identifying Him as Jesus, King of the Jews. [5]
The Roman soldiers were not the only crucifiers. Indeed, any sinner who sins is a crucifier of Jesus, for it is the death of Jesus that had allowed for the redemption of Sin and all of Sin's variations from the birth of Sin to the death of Sin.
Furthermore, no sinner sins unknowingly. In other words, all sinners know what they are doing when they sin, and when they sin they become crucifiers of Jesus but that does not mean than no sinner will benefit from the last prayer of Jesus on the cross.
The last prayer Jesus said to His Father was a private, intercessory plea. When son and father converses, the communication is more than the meaning of the words alone. Jesus' last prayer in the flesh to His father is no different. [6] When Jesus prayed to His Father, He was asking His Father to forgive and not punish those who have sinned knowing how severe and unbearable the punishment would be. Therefore, the words "for they know not what they do" according to this analysis would mean that the sinners know not what their individual punishments would be, but if that were known to them, they would not sin against God. Because sinners act without knowing the Truth, they truly know not what they do.
First of all, who were the ones that Jesus asked His Father to forgive, Pontius Pilate, Herod, the Roman soldiers, members of the Sanhedrin, the people who called for his crucifixion and those who stood by with indifference? Or was Jesus speaking prospectively as well, to the current church leaders who pay lip-service to God but whose real interests are money and politics, to the general populace who are obsessed with what is secular and to the children who are consumed by social media and all things virtual, but pay little to no heed to what is holy and eternal?
Secondly, was Jesus praying for a blanket forgiveness for all or for only those who did not know what they were doing? If Jesus had prayed for unqualified forgiveness, His words could have been: "Father, forgive all of them" but those were not the words. His words were "forgive them" and He followed them with a reason as to why they ought to be forgiven: because they did not know what they were doing. What if some of them knew what they were doing? Would they be forgiven too? Would Judas have been forgiven since he supposedly knew what he was doing? Could Judas have been forgiven if he could claim temporary cognitive insanity [3], not knowing the nature of his betrayal was wrong, or claim that he knew right from wrong but was unable to resist the impulse to commit the wrongful act [4] of betrayal because he was possessed by Satan or because he was there to fulfill the destiny of Christ as God intended? Or, was Jesus trying to provide an excuse for everyone who played a part in His crucifixion, being that they had no idea what they were doing, including Judas, and everybody else prospectively, including those in the present day and beyond, because of Original Sin, so that His Father in Heaven would have mercy on all the sinners, making the last prayer of Jesus a prayer asking for forgiveness for all?
This blogger has no answer to any of the questions above and does not expect to have them during his lifetime, but thinks that it is not important to know the answer to any of these questions. What is important is the implication contained in the words that were unuttered. Here, one must ask why did Jesus bother to say this prayer to His Father in Heaven? Did He know something nobody else knew? Of course He did. He is the Son of God after all. So what did He know?
This blogger believes firmly that Jesus was so forgiving and loving that He did not want to see those who did not know what they were doing punished by His Father even as He was dying in pain brought on by the very people who put Him there because the punishment would for them had they not been forgiven be eternal and so severe that Jesus could not bear it and if it was the last thing He could do as a man in the flesh to save them it would be to give to His crucifiers His undying love by His last prayer.
So who were Jesus' crucifiers? The obvious ones were the Roman soldiers who hammered the nails into his hands and feet. Did they know what they were doing? Of course they did. Back in those days they did not have the internet to check on the news reported two hours ago on a certain "criminal" that Pontius Pilate did not want to put to death, and that the people wanted Him crucified, but being in a relatively small community of people in which Jesus would have easily stood out by the words He said and the miracles He performed, they would have known who Jesus was, and if they had any doubt who the bloodied individual carrying the cross to Golgotha was, they only had to read the inscription they nailed to Jesus' cross identifying Him as Jesus, King of the Jews. [5]
The Roman soldiers were not the only crucifiers. Indeed, any sinner who sins is a crucifier of Jesus, for it is the death of Jesus that had allowed for the redemption of Sin and all of Sin's variations from the birth of Sin to the death of Sin.
Furthermore, no sinner sins unknowingly. In other words, all sinners know what they are doing when they sin, and when they sin they become crucifiers of Jesus but that does not mean than no sinner will benefit from the last prayer of Jesus on the cross.
The last prayer Jesus said to His Father was a private, intercessory plea. When son and father converses, the communication is more than the meaning of the words alone. Jesus' last prayer in the flesh to His father is no different. [6] When Jesus prayed to His Father, He was asking His Father to forgive and not punish those who have sinned knowing how severe and unbearable the punishment would be. Therefore, the words "for they know not what they do" according to this analysis would mean that the sinners know not what their individual punishments would be, but if that were known to them, they would not sin against God. Because sinners act without knowing the Truth, they truly know not what they do.
[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+23%3A34&version=KJV
[2] "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" was not a prayer; it was a question asked in painful desperation by an impatient Son addressing His Father, and therefore this was not Jesus' last prayer as Pope Benedict XVI had indicated. As much as this blogger respects the knowledge and intellect of Pope Benedict XVI, on these words of Jesus, he diverges from the Pope Benedict XVI's interpretation at http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20120215.html
[3] http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Insanity+Defense
[4] Ibid.
[5] http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-t001.html
[6] Behind Jesus' words was His unconditional love for sinners with whom He lived in the flesh as man. He understood their challenges, their pains, their propensities to sin and their failures. Jesus had put Himself as part God and part man between God, the Creator and man, the sinner, even as He was suffering and dying on the cross, He found it important to say His last prayer as man in the flesh with love for the salvation of souls because prayers that are said with love in the flesh are heard clearly in Heaven and are answered.
[2] "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" was not a prayer; it was a question asked in painful desperation by an impatient Son addressing His Father, and therefore this was not Jesus' last prayer as Pope Benedict XVI had indicated. As much as this blogger respects the knowledge and intellect of Pope Benedict XVI, on these words of Jesus, he diverges from the Pope Benedict XVI's interpretation at http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20120215.html
[3] http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Insanity+Defense
[4] Ibid.
[5] http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-t001.html
[6] Behind Jesus' words was His unconditional love for sinners with whom He lived in the flesh as man. He understood their challenges, their pains, their propensities to sin and their failures. Jesus had put Himself as part God and part man between God, the Creator and man, the sinner, even as He was suffering and dying on the cross, He found it important to say His last prayer as man in the flesh with love for the salvation of souls because prayers that are said with love in the flesh are heard clearly in Heaven and are answered.
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