Father, Forgive Them

Father,  Forgive  Them

Uranda   April 16, 1954

We are gathered this afternoon, on this Sixteenth Day of April, 1954, in a recognition 
of the fact that the world pauses today to remember the tragedy of the crucifixion, and with so many people in the world under the pressure of sorrow and sadness there is need for a release of the Spirit of the Living Christ that all who will may
 come to realize that in spite of those things which have been in the world there is 
an opportunity and a privilege awaiting us, that each may receive of the Spirit of
 Love and the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Life in bringing about a renewal, a transformation, that those who live on earth may sense a personal sharing in the Spirit of Victory which our LORD revealed so long ago.

As we consider this great atrocity and recognize the significance of it in relationship to the outworking of events in the world today, it might be well for us to pause for a moment to consider something from the magazine, Western Farm Life under date of April 1, 1954. This was written by Dick Biglin.

“Within a short time now Easter will be here. Despite the fact that Americans have added their traditions to the day, it still is and always will be a religious feast day to commemorate the Resurrection of Christ. During the Lenten season preceding Easter many persons practice fasting and self-denial to parallel in some way with the Life of Christ in His trial and conviction for claiming to be the Son of God. His claim to divinity was considered at the time to be blasphemy. And so to better understand the agony and suffering that preceded the resurrection, let’s look at this infamous trial that is considered even to this day as the outstanding example of a travesty in justice.

“First of all, there was no precedent for the charge of blasphemy made against Christ. His arrest was illegal because it took place at night in violation of Hebrew law, and the arrest also employed the use of a traitor, Judas Iscariot, in direct violation of a provision in the Mosaic code and Rabbinic  rule.

“The private examination of Jesus before Caiaphas shortly after his arrest was illegal. No judge, sitting alone, could interrogate an accused judiciously or sit in judgment upon his legal rights.

“The indictment against Jesus was illegal in form. Under the law, there was no written accusation. Witnesses were the accusers. But in the case of Jesus, the accusation was made in part by Ciaphas, the High Priest, who was one of the judges of Jesus, while the law forbade any but leading witnesses to present the charge, which in itself was vague and indefinite, in violation of the Mosaic law.

“The proceeding at the Sanhedrin, which consisted of seventy-two members, were illegal because they were conducted at night. The court convened before the offering of the morning sacrifice.

“The proceedings also were illegal because they were conducted on the day preceding a Jewish Sabbath; also on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread and the eve of the Passover. According to law, no case of capital crime could be brought to trial on Friday or on the day before any holiday, because it was not lawful either to adjourn such cases longer than overnight or to continue them on the Sabbath or holiday. The reason for this rule is that the law required the execution of a criminal immediately after the passing of the sentence.

“Where life was at stake, Hebrew law required that the trial should last
 at least two days in the case of the conviction of the accused. In the case of an acquittal, the trial could terminate within a single day. Before condemnation could 
be finally decreed a night had to intervene, during which time the judges could sleep, fast, meditate and pray.

“The trial was based upon the uncorroborated confession of Jesus. Testimony of witnesses appearing before the court did not agree. Under the
 law, the court was required to reject contradictory testimony and discharge the
 prisoner if the state was unable otherwise to prove its case.

“Caiaphas made accusations against Jesus and demanded that He answer them. Jesus refused, but even so, Caiaphas violated the law in that it attempted to force Jesus to incriminate Himself.

“The judges became the accusers, in violation of the law, since they were actually supposed to be the defenders of the accused and the protectors of justice. The merits of the defense were not considered in the trial. Conflicting testimony was heard, accusations were hurled, but Jesus did not have opportunity to present His full defense. Thus the absence of such a defense of the accused actually meant that the trial was invalid.

“Jesus was tried before the Sanhedrin, an Ecclesiastical court, on the charge of blasphemy. Then He was taken before Herod and Pilate in a civil procedure to obtain the sanction of the Roman authorities for the death sentence.

“Pilate, who declared that he could find no fault in this man, yielded to the clamor of the mob and ordered the prisoner to be crucified. Christ's crucifixion on Golgotha on the afternoon of the same day ended the most ruthless trial in the history of man.”

I felt that this outline of a viewpoint presented in such a magazine is something which is significant. We have here a recognition of a principle which extends to us in our time, in this day. It is observed in this outline that the entire proceeding was on an illegal basis, contrary to law. We recognize that to whatever degree we violate the expression of the Christ Spirit in the earth, for whatever supposed reason, such action is on an illegal basis, a basis contrary to law. This refers, here in the outline, to legality under the law of the land at the time. We are not interested in setting aside the laws of the land. We are interested in maintaining the legality of function under the laws of the land. But in this regard my thoughts turned to the fact that we are interested, as our Master was, in the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth, the Kingdom of Heaven which, He declared, was “at  hand.”

This Kingdom of God likewise has certain laws. The tendency on the part of human beings is to attempt to function on the basis of the laws of the land and on the basis of personal desire, without too much regard to what is legal and illegal from the standpoint of a citizen of the Christ Kingdom. This destruction, or crucifixion, of the form through which the Spirit of Christ was made manifest at that time is something which has continued to this present day, as we have noted. The world, the Christian world, is inclined to view with sadness and sorrow the action of man toward our LORD when He was on earth. But to what degree does that sadness and sorrow go deep in the human heart in relationship to the manner in which it extends into our present time?—the illegal function of the human being which disregards the Laws of God and tends to destroy the manifestation of the Christ Spirit on earth, not to destroy the Spirit but to destroy the means by which the Spirit
 should appear.

It is comparatively easy for human beings to look back through the centuries and examine within the scope of that which is portrayed in history the outworking of some certain events, and feel, rather self-righteously, that we would not have done any such thing—to condemn the action of others, to regret it, to feel
 sorrow because of it. That which has been of the past, which we see and with which we do not agree, causes sorrow to some extent. But there were those among the accusers who had convinced themselves in their self-delusion that they were genuinely serving God, that this man was a danger to the peace of the community and the well-being of the people. They imagined that they were acting correctly. They could look back in history to the time when the prophets were persecuted, and feel self-righteously that they would not have done any such thing. But here, in their case, it was different. Obviously this man was a trouble-maker and He made a claim—or at least appeared to make a claim—which sounded fantastic and ridiculous to the people, that He was the Son of God. They did not know that they were Sons and Daughters of God. They could not see that the Master was inviting them to accept their heritage as Sons and Daughters of God and that He declared that He was the Son of God, come forth from God to remind the children of men that they were Sons and Daughters of God and that they should act like it, and live in the realization of that Truth. So they 
felt justified. They felt that there was an excuse for themselves.

But we, in this present day, looking back, feel that there was no real excuse for them. There is the tendency to judge and condemn, and to say, “We would not have acted that way.” But we, in this day, with good intentions, for seemingly legitimate reasons, crucify the form through which the Spirit of the Living Christ should manifest in our day and time. It is extended to us. As that circumstance extended to them from out of the past, 
so it extends on to us from out of the past. And there is sorrow and sadness in the world this afternoon because of the crucifixion in the long ago. But how much sorrow and sadness is there in the world because of the crucifixion in which human beings today are participating in this time? Will future generations look back to this time and say, “How blind they were”, and condemn us while they themselves in turn continue an extension of the evil pattern into their own day? I trust not, for just as surely
 as right function on the part of those who then lived would have allowed an altogether different pattern of outworking, so now, right function on the part of those who now live will allow an altogether different pattern to appear. Human beings may cease sharing in the crucifixion; they may cease being agents of Judas Iscariot, betraying the trust of God, betraying God's Love, betraying the opportunity to move into a pattern of life designed of God. Following afar off, betraying, denying, failing to hold the pattern of being—is such function limited to a time nineteen centuries
 ago? Human beings must begin to see the true nature of their own function under the design of their own choosing before they can relinquish that design and accept that which is of God.

This afternoon, knowing these things, what shall our function be? Shall we sit in judgment upon our brethen, the men and women in the world who live in this time, condemning them, that they continue to share in the crucifixion? Or shall we face the issue with respect to ourselves, that we, clearing and being forgiven of God, may do what? That we may look with self-righteous superiority upon others? Or, in the Secret Place, share in the Intercession?

Our Master came into the world to reveal the Spirit of the Living Christ. The form of manifestation through which that Spirit appeared was subjected to the indignities of the trial, the illegal
 trial, to the atrocity of crucifixion. And yet He is spoken of as the intercessor. In spite of all, with almost the last breath that He drew in consciousness upon the cross. He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

We, now, share membership in the body through which the Spirit of the Living Christ is made manifest on earth. What will our pattern of action be? Will it not be in conformity with the nature and the purpose for which that Christ Spirit is made manifest through the children of men? In spite of all the things that are not what they ought to be, in spite of the injustices or indignities or difficulties in whatever form, in spite of all these 
things, as human beings turn their thoughts to this atrocity of the past, what will
 our attitude be with respect to them in the present? Will we not say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?”

Consider now the path by which you have come to this hour in your sharing in this Ministry. Can you look back to any time when, blindly and wilfully, albeit perhaps with good intentions, you did that which was illegal, thinking that you were right or that you somehow were doing good? Has there been any time along the way in our relationship when you have become conscious of a prayer from the secret place, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?” Have  you ever felt, in the days gone by, the result of my prayer for you, “Father, forgive  them, for they know not what they do.” Others have looked upon you and seen your short-comings and your wrong function, your misdeeds, your faulty expression of word and attitude, and they have condemned and they have found fault, and some with self-righteousness have drawn aside, and they assumed that the fault was mine—and yet, as I looked upon them, was I blind to your faults or your fallings, or did I wait with patience in the secret place praying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” If you have any awareness, any consciousness, of the fact that this prayer has been prayed for you, that it was expressed by our Master in the long ago, and that in His Name I have given expression to these words for you, would you join with me this afternoon in sharing the current of this prayer for the children of men.

Oh LORD of and KING of Kings, in humility before Thy Throne we would yield body and mind and heart to the working of Thy Spirit, that Thy Spirit may reach forth 
to others, even as others before us have yielded to Thy Spirit to let Thy Spirit
 extend to us, for we remember how it was in the days long ago when our LORD and KING Himself walked on earth, how He allowed the Christ Spirit to extend out into the
 world so that we ourselves have felt and known the working of Thy Spirit. As Thy Spirit has extended to us so would we let Thy Spirit extend to others,
carrying Thy healing power to the body of each responding one, soothing the fevered brow, quieting the terror-stricken heart, soothing the mind, fulfiling Thy Will. And wheresoever there is, before Thy Throne on earth, action, in attitude, in thought or word or deed, which violates the dignity of Thy Law and the body through which it appears, we may pray Thy Prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

But this is
 the prayer of One who was Himself without fault. Are we without fault? Are we without fault? Have you ever prayed the prayer, “Father, forgive me, for I knew not what I was doing.”

“Father, forgive me, for I knew not what I was doing.”

"Father, forgive them; Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Let the Spirit of the Living Christ flow forth in Victory to the children of men, that the Spirit of Love may enter into each heart wheresoever the door is open in response to the LORD our GOD, that the Spirit of the Living Christ in the form of the Spirit of Truth may enter into each mind that is open to the Divine Design, that the Spirit of Life may enter into each one who yields his flesh to the control of Thy Kingdom, the Spirit of Life in the body, that whereas the body seemed subject to death the body may now be seen as subject to Life. Let each responding one see and know and understand.

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The Spirit of Love is a Comforter to those who let themselves be drawn by the irresistible cords of Love to a Centering in God, and the Spirit of Truth is a 
Comforter to those who accept the Divine Design of Truth, yielding to the beauty of Being. But the Spirit of Love is not a comforter to those who fight against Love—it, rather, becomes a sore torment unto the souls of those who reject God and seek to crucify Him. And the Spirit of Truth is not a Comforter to those who reject
 the beauty of Truth, but is, rather, a cause of torment to those who seek to maintain that which is not true. Let each and everyone, of every land, of every color, every 
race, every creed, who feels the urge to seek the LORD our GOD respond and be so uplifted that there may be an awareness on earth of the Comforter, of that which God has designed.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” So is it established, and so shall it be accomplished in the Spirit of the Living Christ. Let 
the people of the world take heed lest they too share in the Crucifixion and fail to share in the Resurrection and the Life. Let each one take heed lest he too should share in the crucifixion and fail to share in the Resurrection and the Life. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I thank Thee, Father for those here gathered and for all who are with as in Spirit, 
for all who are yielding to Thee in this hour and shall yield in the days to come, that, altogether, we may in season come before Thy Throne and let the members of Thy Body be fused into that oneness of body and being by which Thy Spirit may again be made manifest on earth in the fulness of the essences of Thy Eternal Being to Thy Glory; for Thine is the Kingdom and the Power forever. Aum-en.

© Emissaries of Divine Light