“Father, forgive them; they know not what they do”

Jesus’ first spoken words during the darkness of Good Friday are words of indescribable grace. He offers forgiveness to those who crucify him, affirming that they don’t really know what they are doing.

These are also powerful words of grace for us to hear early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Over these first several dizzying weeks, many of us have had the sense that we do not know what we are doing. It feels as though we are breathing different air. We are adjusting to different patterns of living and worshiping and loving. Those of us tasked with making decisions are trying to absorb overwhelming amounts of information. Sometimes in hindsight we may already wonder whether if we had known more sooner we would have acted differently, or more decisively.

Today, Jesus speaks words of grace to us…grace that recognizes that we are finding our way in a dark and unfamiliar world, grace that demands that it be shared with one another.

But it is not cheap grace. Grace offered from a cross can never be cheap. It demands that we be faithful stewards of costly grace. We steward it by sharing it. We steward it by doing the best we can.

Watch the first installment of a special 7-part Holy Week video series with CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley titled “Words in the Dark: The Seven Last Words of Christ.”

Watch the entire “Words in the Dark” video series at www.cbf.net/holyweek.