Father-forgive-them
Short answer: In Luke 23:32-38, Jesus is crucified between two criminals and prays, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." The soldiers gamble for his clothing and mock him; the rulers sneer, and a sign above him reads, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." He asks forgiveness for the very people doing this, while the wound is still open. The prayer does not mean the executioners had no guilt, and it does not cancel the need for repentance. It means Jesus intercedes rather than retaliates. He entrusts judgment to the Father, refuses to hate, and opens a door that some in that crowd — and a thief beside him — could still walk through. That is the pattern Stephen follows in Acts 7, and the pattern 1 Peter 2:21-23 calls believers to follow.
What Jesus actually prayed from the cross
Luke places the prayer in a sequence of deliberate details. Luke 23:32 says, "There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death." Jesus is not executed alone or in dignified privacy. He is numbered with lawbreakers, exactly as Isaiah foretold. Then comes the prayer, and immediately after it the soldiers divide his garments and cast lots. Luke is showing us a man praying for mercy in the middle of the act that is killing him.
The prayer itself is short. Jesus does not lecture the crowd or threaten them. He addresses the Father, not the soldiers, and asks that they not be held to account. This is intercession, not negotiation. He is not declaring that what they are doing is fine; he is asking the Father to show mercy to those who are doing something monstrous. The request is specific and costly, and it is spoken out loud, in front of witnesses.
Luke's Gospel has been building toward this. Jesus taught his disciples to love enemies and pray for those who mistreat them. Here he does it himself, at the worst possible moment, with no visible reward. Whatever else we conclude, we must see that Jesus' teaching about enemy-love was not a theory he abandoned when it became expensive. He practised it while being nailed to wood.
How the mockery frames the prayer
Luke 23:35-37 records three separate groups mocking Jesus. The rulers scoff and say he saved others, so let him save himself if he is the Christ. The soldiers join in, offering him sour wine and taunting him about being the King of the Jews. Even the sign above his head is meant as irony: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." Every layer of the scene is designed to humiliate him.
That context matters for how we read the prayer. Jesus is not forgiving people who have apologised. He is forgiving people who are mid-mockery, who believe they are winning. If forgiveness required the offender to ask first, this prayer could not have been prayed. Jesus forgives before there is any sign of remorse, which tells us that forgiveness begins in the heart of the one wronged, not in the behaviour of the one who wronged them.
At the same time, the mockery shows us that the crowd did not experience instant peace or transformation. The rulers kept sneering. The soldiers kept gambling. The prayer did not instantly change the room. It changed Jesus, and it left the door open for those who would later come to see who he really was. Mercy often works like that: quiet, unreturned, and slow.
Does this prayer mean everyone is automatically forgiven?
This is one of the most important questions about the passage, and faithful Christians answer it differently. Some read the prayer as Jesus asking the Father to forgive the specific people involved in the crucifixion — the soldiers, the rulers, the crowd — and understand that many of them later came to faith, as Acts records thousands in Jerusalem believing. Others read it as a general plea for mercy over the whole sinful world, which is finally secured at the cross.
What the text does not say is that repentance is unnecessary. Jesus himself preached repentance, and the apostles after him called people to turn. The prayer asks the Father to forgive; it does not announce that everyone is already acquitted regardless of response. The mercy Jesus prays for is real, but it is mercy that still runs through the door of repentance and faith. To say otherwise makes the rest of the New Testament unintelligible.
So the honest reading is this: Jesus intercedes for his killers, and that intercession is powerful and genuine. But it does not abolish the call to turn from sin. The thief beside him is the case study. He is not forgiven because the prayer was automatic; he is welcomed because he turns and asks to be remembered. The prayer and the thief together show mercy offered and mercy received.
The sign above the cross and the irony of the kingdom
Luke 23:38 records the inscription: "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS." Pilate meant it as a jab, but it is the truest thing written that day. The mockers unknowingly preached the gospel while trying to mock it. They said he saved others, so let him save himself — not realising that his refusal to save himself was precisely how he saved others.
This is the deep logic of the cross. Jesus could have come down. He had the power. But he stayed, and the staying is the salvation. His kingship is not displayed by escaping suffering but by enduring it, and by praying for the people inflicting it. The crown is a thorn crown; the throne is a cross; the royal decree is a prayer for forgiveness.
For us, that reshapes what we think strength looks like. The world defines power as the ability to make people pay. The cross defines power as the ability to absorb wrong without becoming wrong. Jesus is most clearly King not when he is acclaimed, but when he is mocked and still prays for his mockers.
Stephen prays the same prayer and shows us the pattern
Acts 7:59-60 records Stephen's death, and the resemblance to Jesus is not accidental. Stephen calls out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" and then asks that his killers not be held to this sin. He has learned the pattern from his Lord. The first Christian martyr dies the way his Master died, praying for the people throwing the stones.
Notice that Stephen's prayer does not require the crowd to be sorry. Saul of Tarsus was standing there approving, and he was certainly not repentant in that moment. Yet the scene left a mark. We cannot claim a direct cause and effect, but the church has long seen Stephen's prayer and Saul's conversion as connected. Mercy prayed in a moment of violence can travel farther than the violence itself.
This is what the New Testament means by following in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21-23 says Christ suffered for us, "leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps," and describes him as one who, when reviled, did not revile in return. He entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. Jesus and Stephen both hand the verdict to God instead of taking it into their own hands.
Forgiving without pretending nothing happened
It is important to say clearly: forgiveness is not denial. Jesus did not say the crucifixion was insignificant. He did not tell the soldiers that what they were doing was fine. He named the sin honestly — they did not know what they were doing — and then asked for mercy. Forgiveness faces the wrong squarely and chooses not to seek revenge, leaving justice with God.
This matters for everyday life. When someone has genuinely hurt you, forgiveness does not require you to say the harm was small. It requires you to release the debt to God and refuse to nurse the wrong. Ephesians 4:31-32 says, "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice." It goes on to command kindness and tenderheartedness, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. The standard is God's forgiveness, not the offender's worthiness.
Colossians 3:12-13 says believers are to put on compassion, humility, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Where tensions remain, this is not instant or easy. It is a long obedience, often repeated, and it does not always mean restored trust or restored relationship. Wisdom still matters, and safety still matters. But the heart posture Jesus prays from is the one his people are called to pursue.
How this prayer shapes our prayer for enemies
Jesus prayed for the people who were actively harming him. That sets the bar for how his followers pray. Matthew 6:14-15 says, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you," and then warns of the reverse. Jesus ties our forgiving to our being forgiven so tightly that we cannot read the Lord's Prayer honestly and skip the clause that follows it.
Praying for an enemy is one of the most concrete ways to forgive them. It is hard to keep hating someone you are genuinely asking God to bless. It does not always change them. Often it changes us, softening the resentment that was quietly poisoning us. Jesus' prayer at the cross did not stop the mockery, but it revealed what was in him, and it revealed what should be in us.
So the practical takeaway is not to feel guilty for finding forgiveness hard. It is to start where Jesus started: with the Father. Bring the wound and the person to God. Ask honestly for the desire to forgive, and ask for their good. Do it imperfectly, repeatedly, until the prayer becomes less of a struggle and more of a habit. That is the way of the cross, and it is the path he left for us.
Biblical fidelity check
Luke 23:32-38 clearly establishes that Jesus, while being crucified and mocked, prayed for the Father to forgive those doing it. It establishes that he was crucified with two criminals, that soldiers divided his clothing, and that a mocking inscription hung above him. It establishes that forgiveness can be offered before the offender repents. What it does not establish is that everyone is saved regardless of response, that sin does not matter, or that victims must pretend the harm was trivial.
A common misreading says this prayer proves God has already forgiven all people unconditionally, so repentance and faith are optional. That is wrong because the rest of Scripture consistently calls people to turn from sin and trust Christ, and because the thief beside Jesus is welcomed precisely as he turns and asks. Another misreading swings the other way: that forgiveness is only possible after an offender apologises, so we may nurse bitterness indefinitely. That is equally wrong, since Jesus prayed forgiveness over people who were still mocking him and never asked to be forgiven in that scene.
Other passages that speak to Luke 23:32-38
Stephen's death in Acts 7 echoes Jesus' prayer almost word for word, and it shows the pattern continuing in the church. 1 Peter 2:21-23 draws the line directly: Christ suffered, leaving an example, and did not revile in return. Matthew 6:14-15 ties our forgiveness to our willingness to forgive others, and Ephesians 4:31-32 and Colossians 3:12-13 describe the practical shape of forgiveness in daily life. For wider study, see 1 Peter 1: Living Hope Through Trials, 1 Peter 3: Suffering, Submission, and Hope, 1 Peter 4: Suffering, Love, and Stewardship, and 1 Peter 5: Humility, Shepherding, and Standing Firm.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Jesus ask the Father to forgive them?
Jesus asked the Father to forgive the soldiers, rulers, and crowd because he refused to retaliate and entrusted judgment to God. The prayer is intercession, not approval — he acknowledged they did not know what they were doing while still asking for mercy. It shows that forgiveness begins in the heart of the one wronged and does not wait for an apology. He was praying for people who were actively mocking him at that very moment, which is why the prayer is so striking.
Does this mean everyone is forgiven automatically?
No, the text does not teach that. The prayer asks the Father to forgive those involved in the crucifixion, and the wider New Testament still calls people to repent and believe. Many Christians understand the prayer as extending mercy that is received through repentance and faith, not as cancelling the need for either. The thief beside Jesus illustrates this: he was welcomed as he turned and asked to be remembered, not because forgiveness was automatic.
How can I forgive someone who has not apologised?
Start where Jesus started: with the Father. Bring the wound and the person to God honestly, ask for the desire to forgive, and ask God to bless them. Forgiveness means releasing the debt to God and refusing to nurse revenge, not pretending the harm was small. It does not always mean restored trust or relationship. Pray it imperfectly and repeatedly. Acts 7 shows Stephen doing exactly this under a hail of stones.
