The Truth That Sets Us Free (Even When It’s Ugly)
Today has me in a weird funk. I spoke in my life series about the matriarch who abused me as a child, and I want to clarify that sharing my story isn’t about placing blame, shaming, or anything negative. Sadly, it is simply the truth—and often, the truth isn't pretty. It can be incredibly hard to hear or even to say. However, we are taught that the truth sets you free. For a long time, I remained silent about my trauma because the reality was so difficult to face. I carried a whirlwind of emotions, as anyone naturally would, and for years I wasn’t able to speak about it at all. Even today, I experience ups and downs. I cycle between feelings of anger toward her and the understanding that "hurt people hurt people." While she made horrible choices, I’ve come to realize that unhealed generational pain passes down. Breaking those patterns is incredibly hard. I see now that I’m not making excuses for her; I’m stepping back to understand the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that we all make mistakes—big or small, hurtful or not. The Lord has really pushed me to learn the power of forgiveness. I’ve realized that, much like grief, forgiveness is not linear. It is, however, incredibly freeing, no matter how hard it is to actually practice. At least that’s what I heard.
In Luke 23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” They drew lots as a way of dividing up his clothing.
There are two ways we look at this verse: the definition and then the historical context. Looking into a concordance, the word forgive is a compound word made of Apo and Hiemi. Apo means “off”, “away from” , or “separation.”
Hiemi means “to send” or “to go.”
When reading this, we see that the Bible defines forgiveness as not just a feeling; it is an action. It literally means, as we see, “to let go” or “to send away”. In the King James Version, it shows that the same Greek word is used for the words
Leave 52 times
Forgive 47 times
Suffer/let 14 times.
Forgiveness is a choice to leave it behind. Just as you would leave a physical house. In Luke 23:34, when he says “forgive them”, he isn’t saying “what they did was okay”. He is saying “Father, release them from the legal debt of this act. Send away the requirement for punishment.”
Looking now at the historical context, we first have to look at the environment. Under Roman law, crucifixion was the ultimate punishment, reserved for slaves, rebels, and those deemed “enemies of the state.” Executions were intentionally public and humiliating. When Jesus speaks these words, he had already gone through a Roman trial under Pontius Pilate and a scourging. In the Roman era, a scourge was a short whip consisting of several leather thongs often with jagged pieces of bone or lead balls. Scourging was a brutal form of corporal punishment used to weaken a prisoner before execution. It wasn’t just a whipping; it was designed to strip the skin and muscle from the back, to expose the ribs or spine. When we look at the “them” in this verse, we see he is talking about the executioner.
Next, we have to look at the time; this occurred during the Passover. The Jewish leadership (the Sanhedrin) viewed Jesus as an agitator. An agitator disrupts “the Peace” by introducing ideas that make the current leadership look illegitimate. From the Sanhedrin’s point of view , Jesus was an agitator because He challenged their interpretation of the Law and their authority over the temple. For the Romans, any religious leader who gathered a large following was a potential rebel. The Roman Emperor was considered a god. Jesus was a direct political threat. In the Gospels, the primary fear of the authorities was that Jesus’ popularity would lead to a riot, especially during holidays like the Passover. Figures like Martin Luther King and civil rights leaders have been called “religious agitators” by those in power because they used their faith to demand social change.
I say this all to say that in these last moments where Jesus’ spine was exposed carrying an estimated weight of 75-125 lbs, typically 7-9 feet tall for 600-800 yards, and his last words to God were saying, “Forgive them!” How can I sit here and not forgive? I don’t know the end goal of what God has in store for me. I do know that even in a time of great distress, Jesus stepped back and saw the pride, the pain, the confusion of his people and was able to ask the creator of the universe to send away the requirement for punishment. However, I also know I am human, and every day I choose to run to Him instead of my own cross, I am stepping closer to who He created me to be. I am stepping closer to being able to break generational pain, healing, and most of all, love.