Jesus Versus Justice
The Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood
Senior Pastor, St. Paul Community Baptist Church
Brooklyn, New York

(This sermon is also available in audio.)

At St. Paul's Church in Brooklyn where I am privileged to serve, now going on 27 years, we greet each other with a Sanskrit word from the Hindu culture. The word is "namaste" and it means, "The divinity in me salutes the divinity in you." So I greet you today with the word, "namaste".

I enjoy coming to Calvary for several reasons. Number one, first and foremost, it is without a doubt a great preaching station. But I also like coming because at least once a year I get to dress up like an Episcopalian, and I almost pass for an Episcopalian-at least for a little while. And then, without a doubt, there is no heart, I think, in this country, like the heart that is found in Douglas Bailey, the pastor of the Calvary Episcopal Church. It is just great to be around good people.

Doug came over and said to me, "I want you to be at home." That could be dangerous when you tell a Baptist or even a Pentecostal, African-American in particular, "Make yourself at home," because sometimes we have a tendency to forget that we live in time. We become conscious only of eternity, so y'all just bear with us.

I'd like to do this, if you don't mind -- I've not done this in the three years that I've been coming, so y'all just work with me on this--I want to sing something. It is simple, and you can do it a cappella, so just whatever you hear me say, that's what you say, all right? This is what we call, "The Hallelujah Chant."

Hail Jesus, you're my King, your life frees me to sing.
I will serve you all my days; you're perfect in all of your ways.
Hail Jesus, you're my Lord, I will obey your word.
I want to see your kingdom come, not my will, but yours be done.
Glory, glory to the lamb, you take us into the land.
We will conquer in your name and proclaim that Jesus reigns.
Hail, hail line of Judah, how wonderful you are.
Hail, hail line of Judah, how powerful you are.
Hail Jesus, you're my King, your life frees me to sing.
I will serve you all my days; you're perfect in all your ways.
Hail Jesus, you're my Lord, I will obey your word.
I want to see your kingdom come. Not my will, but yours be done. Amen.

Thank you. All right, that makes me feel good already.

Fred Goldsmith picked me up at the hotel this morning, and we had a great laugh together. We pulled up in the parking lot and Fred said with a certain kind of hesitancy, "Um, it would be shorter if we went this way. It's the back way." And I might have felt a little bit of what Fred's hesitancy was, and I said to Fred, "We don't mind going through the back as long as it isn't mandatory." Amen. Amen

The word that's on my heart to share on this day, and it is not just particularly around the death of Dr. King, but it is a word from the cross that fell from the lips of our Lord. According to Luke's Gospel, Chapter 23, verse 34: "Then, said Jesus, 'Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.'"

I've entitled insight into this text, "Jesus Versus Justice." How could Jesus do this? "Then, said Jesus, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'" How could he do it? Now, I know he said that this is the way for us to operate when he taught: "Love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you. Bless those that curse you and pray for those that despitefully use you."

I know Jesus said to do it this way, but the rugged realities of my own life force me to confess that it is way easier to preach than it is to practice. Thus, again, I inquire, how could Jesus do it? When I raise that question, and then when I reviewed the extenuating circumstances and still hear the plaintive plea emanating from the heart and falling from the lips of this man on that middle cross, the question becomes even more intense. How could he do it?

The record says, "Then, said Jesus." "Then." That is an adverb of time. "Then." It means directly after. "Then." It means following close on the heels of something previous to it. "Then." It means immediately succeeding. Luke said, "Then, said Jesus." "Then." Directly after having been illegally arrested. Directly after having been unjustly tried. "Then." Directly after having been unduly convicted. "Then." Directly after having been whipped all night long. Directly after having carried that hated instrument of torture up to the point of execution upon his shoulders, with only the assistance of Simon. Directly after, y'all, having had his head pierced with a crown of thorns. Directly after having had his hands nailed and his feet riveted to that old, rugged cross. Directly after having been offered vinegar for water. Directly after all of this, Jesus blurts out a prayer that changes the whole scene: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Oh, this might indeed be a most providentially fitting text for maybe my brothers and sisters even in those moments incalculable on the balcony of that Lorraine Motel after that bullet sounded out. Dr. King might have fallen and still up out of his heart of love, the prophet of non-violence might have cried out, "Father, forgive them." "Father."

Look at what Jesus did. First of all, he prayed. He prayed. We ought to learn a lesson from this. But it is not always easy to learn that whenever life slings and shoots its arrows of outrageous fortune, whenever life is just up and down, undulating, as we know. Whenever the lights go out and the crowds get thin, whenever friends turn out to be false, and family so distant that they cannot sense what is going on in life. When it seems as if even God has exited from our lives and left no forwarding address, prayer is still in order.

Jesus prays, "Father, forgive them." He really used the Aramaic word, Abba, a little closer than Father. Father for some of us, particularly me, I only said Father when I was talking in formal settings. Other than that, it was "Daddy" or "my old man," you know, or another word or term of endearment, but "Father" was pretty formal.

Jesus here utters the word Abba which is informal, meaning "Daddy," more or less. "Daddy, forgive them," he prays. So he prays when physical pain is most pronounced. When it looks like the machinations of mean men are the dominating force, he blurts out this prayer and changes the whole scene, "Abba."

But then I remember that in this prayer there must be some knowledge, some faith, some information, and there is, in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 26, verse 53. Jesus said one day to those that were within earshot of his words, "You look at me and you see me as being a loner. I look as though I am one solitary figure, but let me inform you quickly that I am not alone. My Father has twelve legions of angels ready, waiting, to come to my rescue whenever I need them." That is what Jesus informed us. "My Father has provided twelve legions of angels." Now, a legion was 6,000, and twelve legions would be 72,000, and 72,000 angels were ready to come to Jesus' rescue if ever he need them. Now, my brothers and sisters we read in the Scriptures that two angels turned Sodom and Gomorrah into an ash heap. Now, if two angels could do what they did, imagine what 72,000 angels could have done.

So it tells me, that while hanging on that hated instrument of torture, Jesus never lost consciousness of what was going on the other side of the existence. He stayed in tune with the Father. When he was in the Garden that night praying, they walked up on him -- Judas, with his betraying self, walked up on Jesus with the enemy. Imagine it this way: Jesus was talking on the phone to the Father and didn't get a chance to hang up the receiver; he just dropped it when the enemy showed up. You got to be careful messing with a child of God when that child of God is praying because God the Father overheard everything that was going on in that Garden. Be careful messing with a child of God while a child of God is praying.

Jesus was praying because what's going on is God the Father is angry. He is upset at this point about what is being done to his Son. He is angry, and you know every now and then that the Old Testament tells us that God repented. There were signs and times of judgment where God just got sick of what was being done. I believe that was what was getting ready to happen is God the Father on his own was getting ready to dispatch those 72,000 angels as militia. He was getting ready to yell, "Charge," and Jesus looked up and said, "Father," and when he said, "forgive them," coded in there is hold those angels. Hold those angels. God the Father was about to release this celestial militia on the human race. And Jesus, who is the liaison between God and man, (somebody said he reached up and got God and pulled God down, and he reached down and got God and pulled God up and brought us back together again) is the reconciler. Jesus says, "Hold those angels."

Elsewhere in the Scriptures Jesus is described as our advocate, and in this day of Court TV, we know what a lawyer is. Jesus became our lawyer right there on Calvary. Calvary became an impromptu courtroom and Jesus, I believe, began to argue our case. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them. Hold those angels." Don't destroy 'em. Hold the angels." And again, with the imagination that we have to preach in our culture, I can hear God the Father saying, "Why should I forgive them?" and Jesus saying, "Number one, you've got too much invested in humankind. You've got too much invested. Remember, God? Remember, Father, when you got ready to make man that you mirrored yourself in the waters and you made man in your image and after your likeness? You did that so if you destroy humankind you will be destroying a significant part of yourself. I make a motion that you hold the angels."

"Is that all?" "No, I make a motion that you hold the angels because you must remember the presence of the adversary. If now you destroy humankind based on what's happening here at Calvary, then what will happen is that Satan himself will be able to say, 'I told you don't make man. I told you man was going to mess up. No, you kicked me out and you destroyed the first creation and then you put man over your second creation. See, man messed up, too.' And you know Father that you are too wise to make a mistake. I make a motion that in order that the adversary not get the wrong idea about you that you hold them angels."

"Is that all?" "No, if you dispatch those angels what will happen is that my mission will be terminated before it is completed. I've got a stake in this also; remember? I stepped down through 42 generations. I came through the womb of Mary, and I spent those years and those days in Bethlehem and then those years in Egypt and then those years in Nazareth and now here I am carrying out the mission that I am all about. I don't want my mission aborted, so if you hold the angels I will be able to take this to completion. I've got an investment in this too, Father. I make a motion that you hold the angels."

God the Father said, "Is that all?" Jesus said, "No, one more argument. Notice my prayer. I'm not asking you to take me off the cross. I'm asking you to forgive them. I am willing to live up to Isaiah's testimony that he was 'wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our inequities and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are all made whole.' I am willing to take on the sins of the world. I am willing to be the scapegoat. I am willing to do that. I am not asking you to take me off the cross. I am asking you to forgive them. It's my brow. It's my back. It's my hands. It's my feet. I'll go through with what you want me to do. I am making intercession on their behalf. I make a motion that you hold those angels. Father, forgive them." God the Father said, "All right. You want them forgiven?" Jesus said, "Yes, forgiven -- not pardoned -- forgiven."

See, pardoned, I heard, means that you keep the record that something was done, but you just seal it. Forgiveness means you tear up the record that anything was ever done in the first place. "Father, I want Paul to be able to write one day that if 'any human being be in Christ he is a new creature. All things are passed away and behold all things have become new.' I want the whole idea of the rebirth to be authentic. I make a motion that you forgive them -- total new start."

God the Father said, "You've got a sound argument, Son. Now, who is it that you want forgiven?" and Jesus said, "Them, Daddy." "Them?" "Yes." "Who is them?" Jesus said, "All of them." "Be more specific," and Jesus said, "I want forgiveness to well up right here at Calvary. I want it to well up so that the soldier at the foot of the cross can receive it, and then in a few more minutes I want to be able to tell this thief on my right, 'Today, you are going to be with me in paradise.' That's right here, but I also want it retroactive. I want forgiveness to flow all the way back to a Garden called Eden, and I want a man named Adam and a woman named Eve to be eligible for this forgiveness. I want them forgiven back there. I want them forgiven right here, and then I want forgiveness to flow far enough into the future that when Ida and Calvin Youngblood give birth to a bouncing black baby boy named Johnny, forgiveness will be waiting for him when he exits from the womb. Then I want it to flow far enough ahead that his children and his children's children will receive this forgiveness. Father, forgive them -- hold them angels."

God the Father said, "All right, Son, you are just like me. No wonder you told them, 'If you've seen me you've seen the Father.' No wonder you said to them, 'Have I been so long with you, and you don't know who I am?' I understand now, Son. My judgment kind of took over, but my love is prevailing now."

"I've got one more question. Can you say one thing about why they deserve this forgiveness?" And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them because they don't know what they are doing." "They don't know, Son?" "No, Dad, see, they think they know. They got a zeal of God, but it ain't according to knowledge." "They don't know?" "No. They don't know." "What don't they know?" "Well, number one, they don't know that I am your Son. They've never experienced incarnation before. They don't know I'm your Son. They know I am Mary's baby and Joseph's, maybe. They don't know that I am your Son. They know I am from Nazareth. That is why they keep raising the question, 'Can anything good come out of the ghetto, I mean, out of Nazareth?' They don't know that you've done a new thing in terms of the word being made flesh. Father, forgive them because they don't know."

"Is there anything else?" "Yeah, they don't know that they are the instruments of the adversary." "What do you mean, Son?" "They don't recognize that Satan, the adversary, is so slick that he can adorn himself as an angel of light and almost fool the very elect of heaven. They think they are doing the right thing. They think that their customs are worth protecting. They don't know that I frowned on it, and they won't hear the fresh new message of revelation. They don't realize that they are instruments of the adversary, and Father, on that I rest my case. I ask that they be forgiven."

God the Father heard the argument of Jesus who is the bishop of our souls. He is our advocate with the Father. God the Father heard that, and when He finished hearing it He looked over to those angels to whom He was about to say, "Charge," but looked back a second time and said, "At ease." When He said, "At ease," they sheathed their swords, and they were transformed from militia into messengers.

Forgiveness became available right then and right there, and you know how I know it became available? Because that thief got last minute reservations on the evening train to paradise, and you know how I know he got forgiveness? Because one day I met God for myself and He fixed me up. He picked me up and turned me around, planted my feet on solid ground and let me know that He was my Savior. I know that He got forgiveness because Saul of Tarsus became to some even the second Christ. And I know he got forgiveness because you and I sit here today in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and because he got forgiveness we don't have to fear angels. In fact, you can grow up as a child, I know I did, singing all night and all day, "The angels keep watching over me." That's a whole lot better than warring against me. "All night and all day the angels keep watching over me. Here now I lay me down to sleep. The angels keep watching over me." I can sing and you can sing, "He walks with me, and he talks with me and tells me I am his own," all because we've been forgiven.

Hey, why do I walk bold in the Spirit of Jesus Christ? It isn't that I don't have any skeletons in my closet. No, no, I am part and parcel of the whole human pilgrimage, but the reason I walk boldly is because "on a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. It was the emblem of suffering and shame," but I am here today from Brooklyn to let y'all know "I love that old cross -- from the dearest and blessed -- a whole world of lost sinners was slain." Jesus cried out, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," and here we are today. I don't care what you say, that's good news. That's good news. Hear ye, the word of the Lord.

Copyright 2001 The Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood

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