Forgive them Father for they know not what they do

Today I had a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross and before He dies He asks God to forgive everyone who has put Him on the cross "as they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). All of us who need Him to lead us into Heaven (and that is all of us!) need Him to have died on the cross on our behalf. I believe that this verse reveals an interesting truth about the word submission. Most of us are likely to think of enforced yielding to another force. However, we know that Jesus willingly chose to submit to God His Father. On the cross, in that place of chosen submission, Jesus requests His Father to absolutely forgive every one of us. Submission is in fact a personal choice to bow to the supremacy and goodness of another. In the bowing to His Father, Jesus also acknowledged that His Father can forgive all of us for doing wrong sometimes and indeed wants to forgive us through Jesus Christ.