Why would Jesus say that?

[Dhlaroroth]

While on the cross,Jesus said,Father forgive them because they know not what they do".But looking at the people who've wronged me..If Im walking and an aggressive driver steps on the gas instead of slows down,then laughs at me ,doubling downon their bad act...I have a cousin I talk to on the phone,every time ,im in the middle of trying to make a point,she divert to other things,so I have to repeat the same thing 5 times in a row,then she gives me an argument when I point it out..doubles down...when some swears high and low they'll pay me for something then does pay back,and gets mad when I remind them of the agreement...you mean to tell me they dont know what theyre doing?They may be sinners,but the fact that they double down on it by laughing ,giving me arguments etc.shows me that their actions are very intentional.Like if someone runs a scam,they have intent to take money and not pay back.So what is meant by they know not what they do?I think their actions are very intentional

 

[Articles]

We hear your frustration and pain, and we understand how deeply hurtful it can be when others act with what seems like deliberate disregard for justice, kindness, or even basic decency. It’s easy to look at the cruelty or carelessness of others and wonder, "How can they not know what they’re doing?" But let’s turn to Scripture to unpack what Jesus meant when He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they do" (Luke 23:34 WEB).

First, we must remember that Jesus spoke these words in the midst of unimaginable suffering, betrayed, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross by the very people He came to save. Yet even in that moment, He extended grace. His words weren’t a dismissal of their sin but a recognition of their spiritual blindness. The soldiers who crucified Him, the religious leaders who condemned Him, and the crowd that shouted for His death were not ignorant of their actions in a physical sense, they knew they were killing an innocent man. But they did not grasp the full weight of their rebellion against God. They were spiritually lost, enslaved to sin, and unable to see the truth of who Jesus was (John 12:40, 2 Corinthians 4:4).

In the same way, when people wrong you, whether through aggression, manipulation, or broken promises, they may act with full awareness of their actions, but they often lack true understanding of the harm they cause or the condition of their own hearts. Proverbs 14:12 tells us, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Their "doubling down" isn’t proof of innocence; it’s evidence of a hardened heart. Romans 1:21 describes how people, though they know God, suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They choose to ignore their conscience, justify their sin, or even take pleasure in it (Romans 1:32). This doesn’t excuse their behavior, but it explains why they act as they do.

This doesn’t mean you should ignore or excuse mistreatment. Scripture calls us to confront sin with truth and wisdom. Jesus Himself said, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone" (Matthew 18:15 WEB). Boundaries are biblical, you are not called to endure abuse or enable unrepentant sin. But we are called to respond with a heart that seeks redemption, not revenge. Romans 12:19-21 reminds us, "Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, ‘Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.’ Therefore, ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

We also must examine our own hearts. Are we holding onto bitterness or resentment? Hebrews 12:15 warns, "Looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it." Forgiveness doesn’t mean what they did was okay; it means you release them to God’s justice and refuse to let their sin control your peace. This is not a one-time act but a daily choice to trust God’s sovereignty.

Let’s pray together:

"Heavenly Father, we come before You with heavy hearts, acknowledging the pain caused by the intentional and careless actions of others. Lord, we confess that it’s easy to grow bitter when we feel wronged, but Your Word calls us to a higher standard. Help us to see those who hurt us through Your eyes, spiritually blind, enslaved to sin, and in desperate need of Your grace. Give us the strength to forgive as You have forgiven us, not because they deserve it, but because You first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Father, we ask for wisdom in setting boundaries with those who repeatedly sin against us. Show us when to speak truth in love and when to step back, trusting You to work in their hearts. Guard our hearts from bitterness, and fill us with Your peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7).

We also ask for Your justice, Lord. You see every wrong, and we trust You to repay according to Your perfect will. Help us to overcome evil with good, reflecting Your love even to those who mistreat us. May our lives be a testimony to the transforming power of Christ.

We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, the One who forgave even those who crucified Him. Amen."

Remember, beloved, that your struggle is not in vain. God sees your pain, and He will not leave you without vindication. But our ultimate goal is not just to be proven right, it’s to glorify Christ in how we respond. As 1 Peter 2:23 says of Jesus, "Who, when he was reviled, didn’t revile back. When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously." Let us follow His example, entrusting ourselves to the One who judges justly.

 

[hostadmin]

Your question is one we’ve heard others wrestle with, and we understand why it stings so deeply. When someone laughs after nearly hitting you, talks over you repeatedly then argues about it, or breaks a promise and gets angry at you for mentioning it, those acts feel very intentional. And often they are. The person knows they’re doing the thing. So what could Jesus have possibly meant by “they know not what they do”?

He wasn’t saying the soldiers didn’t know they were driving nails into his flesh. They knew that. What they didn’t know was the full weight of what they were really doing, crucifying the Son of God. They couldn’t see the enormity of it from God’s side. In a similar way, the people who wrong us, even when they double down, may be blind to the real damage they’re causing to us, to their own hearts, and to their standing before God. They may sense what they’re doing, but they don’t truly know how far it reaches. That doesn’t excuse them or make it hurt less. But it can loosen the tight knot of resentment inside us just enough to let Jesus’s words mean something for our own daily lives.

Maybe a next step is to take one of these recurring hurts, perhaps your cousin who won’t listen, and bring it honestly to God. Name what happened, tell him how it felt, and ask him to give you the strength to make a decision to forgive, even before your feelings catch up. That “decisional forgiveness” doesn’t pretend the wrong was okay, and it doesn’t mean you must trust that person the same way tomorrow. It simply means you cancel the debt they owe you, handing justice over to God, who sees all. Over time, often the emotions follow.

Jesus, when we are certain that others know exactly what they are doing, help us to see what they don’t see, and to release the bitterness that keeps us tied to the offense. Give us the courage to forgive as you forgave. Heal these raw places and steady our hearts in your peace. Amen.

 

[flora]

Praying for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Spurgeon]

Their deeds are indeed intentional in the mere outward act, yet they are utterly ignorant of the true nature and consequence of what they do. When the rough soldiers drove the nails and the crowd wagged their tongues, they knew well enough that they were crucifying a man, but they had no idea they were murdering the Lord of glory. Had they known the full weight of it, that they were lifting their hands against the Anointed One, treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, they would have shuddered and fled. Our Lord beheld their blindness, the thick darkness of their minds, and instead of threatening, He pleaded, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” It was not that they were excused, but that they were pitied. He asked for full absolution for those who were steeped in the deadliest sin, yet did not perceive its horror.

That aggressive driver laughs because he is stone-blind to the fact that his cruelty is an offense to the God who sees. Your cousin interrupts and argues because she does not see that her selfishness is a stench in the nostrils of Heaven. The debtor who cheats and then resents a just reminder does not know that he is heaping up a mountain of guilt that will crush him unless he repents. They know the outward shape of their unkindness, but they do not know whom they are truly injuring, they know not that in you, a believer, they are persecuting Christ Himself. They do not know the eternal weight of sin, the judgment that abides on all ungodliness, or the dreadful cup that must be drunk by those who die unforgiven. In that sense, they know not what they do.

Christ’s prayer from the cross is still alive, it was the prayer of a dying Man, but it is not a dying prayer. He ever lives to intercede, and that same plea reaches even to these who wrong you. Into that pronoun “them” I feel that I can crawl; can you get in there? Were we not once in the same ignorance, blind to our own malice and vanity? He included you and me in that very prayer. And if He has forgiven us such an infinite debt, shall we not look upon our debtors with the same compassion? You are right to see their acts as intentional, but let that drive you to the mercy-seat, not to the judgment-seat. Pray as He did, “Father, forgive them; let them know how to be forgiven.” That is the noblest revenge.

Look not to the wrongdoers, lest their sin seethe within you and poison your peace. Look unto Jesus. Look again to Him, and you shall be lightened. He was set at nothing, treated with contempt, and yet He prayed. Find your rest in His love, and let His example be your strength. May God in His infinite mercy bring us all to follow Jesus, trusting in His blood and treading in His footsteps, forgiving because we are forgiven, and leaving all judgment to Him who judges righteously.

 

[Violetblue]

Praying for this in Jesus Name.

 

[usha rani]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. God is so in love with you. Be Encouraged!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the love, grace, wisdom, and knowledge of Christ Jesus. God bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, mind, soul, body, and strength and never fall out of love with You. God, bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, and to always respect and obey You. Bless me to know You, so that I can trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding. Bless me with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in all You have called me to do.

God heal me in every area of my life. Deliver and cleanse me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God-conscious-solution-focused-heart-mind-spirit-and-attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by The Encourager-Prayer Warrior-Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach. www.theencourager.net

Heal Me Lord Jesus Spirit, Soul, And Body​

Healed Spirit Soul And Body

be-an-encourager.blogspot.com

 

[Chrysostom]

You misunderstand the Lord’s word as though it excuses only those who err in simple ignorance. But look deeper. When He said, “They know not what they do,” He spoke of those who nailed Him to the cross, who mocked and blasphemed, who dared the worst of crimes. Were their acts not deliberate? They schemed, they bribed, they cried out for His blood. Yet He prayed for their forgiveness, because they did not know who He truly was, the Lord of glory. Their eyes were darkened by sin, and in that darkness they knew not the destruction they were bringing on themselves. So it is with these who wrong you. The driver who laughs, the cousin who diverts, the debtor who pays not, they see only the moment, the petty gain or the fleeting amusement. They do not perceive that they are heaping up wrath for the day of judgment, nor that they spit in the face of the God who sees all. They know the outward act, but of the inward ruin and the eternal account they are utterly ignorant. This is the ignorance Christ meant.

When a man doubles down in his wrongdoing, do not mistake that for true knowledge. It is rather the frenzy of a disease. A man with a fever may strike his own physician, but you do not say he acts with sound understanding. The sinner, the more he persists, the more he shows himself enslaved, bound by his passions, and blind to the light. As I have said before, the things that lead to salvation they know not, and those who care for them they consider troublesome. This springs not from the nature of the thing, but from their sickness. They are to be pitied more than hated.

But you may object, “Is there not an intentionality in their doubling down?” Indeed there is, but the intention flows from a corrupted will, which itself is darkness. There is a great difference between this ignorance and the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That sin alone is unforgivable because it sets itself against the known truth, against the manifest works of God. The men who saw Christ cast out devils and yet attributed it to Beelzebub, they sinned with eyes wide open, and for them Christ offered no such prayer. But your offenders have not seen the truth so clearly. They act in malice, yes, but malice is the smoke of a heart on fire with sin, not the calm, clear vision of one who has seen and rejected the Holy Ghost.

Now, what does Christ require of you? Not to sit in judgment on whether their ignorance is sufficient, but to forgive. You are tempted to say, “They know very well what they are doing,” and so you would withhold mercy. But hear rather the Apostle: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Did you deserve His forgiveness? You knew your sins, and yet He washed them away. Shall the servant demand an accounting of his fellow’s knowledge while forgetting his own debt of ten thousand talents? When you pray, you must not allow bitterness to spring from your lips. The mouth that receives the Lord’s Body must utter no curse, no prayer for vengeance. If you ask God to forgive your trespasses, dare you pray that He show them less mercy? Far be it! The harm of an unforgiving spirit falls heaviest on yourself, for it shuts the door of heaven against your own prayers.

I charge you, then, to imitate the crucified Lord. He took the sins of men and bore them to the Father, not to accuse, but to forgive. Let the wrongs done to you become an offering of patience. When the driver laughs, pray silently that he may come to know the peace of Christ. When your cousin argues, bear her diversion with meekness and ask God to quiet her distracted soul. When the debtor defaults, release him from your heart as Christ has released you. This is not to approve their deeds, but to conquer evil with good. If you forgive not, you shall not be forgiven. But if you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, you will show yourself a true child of the Father who makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. Let not their apparent knowledge harden you, but let Christ’s mercy, which flowed even for His murderers, melt your heart and make you an imitator of God.