Father Forgive Us When We Watch And Say Nothing

A hard question sits at the center of this Good Friday message: when Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” who is the “them.” We follow a provocative reading that points not only to empire and executioners, but to religious leaders and believers who protect comfort, status, and institutional survival while an innocent man is murdered.

From Luke 23:34 to 35, the line “the people stood by watching” becomes the hinge. We talk about the silence of the church as a real moral force, not a passive absence. The sermon draws straight lines from biblical history to Christian social justice today, arguing that churches can get lost in debates and performance while communities are crushed by policy, poverty, and violence. The result is a faith that sounds loud inside the sanctuary and goes quiet where pain is public.

To widen the lens, we bring in Martin Luther King Jr. on the “appalling silence” of good people and Martin Niemoller’s warning about what happens when you only speak up once harm reaches your doorstep. We also point to Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout” as a cultural witness that turns grief into naming, and naming into action, especially amid conversations about Black Lives Matter, racial justice, and police violence.

If you’ve ever wondered why younger generations distrust church talk that never becomes public courage, this is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with one place you think people of faith need to speak up next.

Transcript

Opening Scripture And Theme

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. It says this verse 34 through 35A says, And the people stood by watching. Father Flavor's theme for this year is crucifixion then and now. And my assigned word is Father, forgive them the silence of the church. I want to submit to you tonight that when Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing, the them and the they he was talking about was the church. Teresa Blackman out of Ferguson, Missouri, pointed out to us at the Proctor Conference that if you noticed, Jesus asked his father to forgive them. We often forget that it was the church folk, believers in God, believers in Yahweh Elohim, who are the reason Jesus was crucified on that Friday morning. It was the church folk, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the chief priests, who conspired to kill him. It was the church folk, Luke called him the leaders, who wanted to shut him down. John the beloved disciple, the disciple tells us in John 11 that the chief priests and the Pharisees called the meeting of the Sanhedrin church folk. And the church folk said, quote, if we let Jesus go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation. Church folk cared more about the rotten Roman government in power than they did about the righteous and reigning God in heaven. So they plotted to take his life. Church folk. The church folk are the reason Jesus was crucified, and I want to suggest that Jesus was saying it was the church folk who did not know what they were doing. The leaders of the church stirred up the crowds, lying on Jesus and hating on Jesus. They did not know what they were doing. The leaders of the church, all throughout his ministry, were dogging Jesus, debating him about silly stuff like diets. Which day of the week was sacred, and whose wife a remarried widow would be when she got to heaven. They debated Jesus about silly stuff while their people were being crushed by the occupying Roman government and crushed by cruel and crooked church requirements concerning tithing. The average poor Palestinian farmer paid as much as 40% of his annual income to the Roman government. The local Jewish lackeys put in office by the Romans and the temple tax required by the priest at the church house. It was like poor black folk buying a pimp who calls himself a pastor, buying him a$62 million gym. Leaders of the church debating Jesus about doctrine and dogma while members of the church are suffering under political and ecclesiastical oppression. The leaders of the church did not know what they were doing. Jesus called them blind guides, straining at a net and swallowing a cattle. Here they are putting to death the very one who came to give them life. I want to suggest that Jesus is asking God to forgive the church folk because they do not know what they are doing. But I want to push it just a little further. Do I have your permission to push it? The church leaders are not the only church folk who don't know what they are doing. In the text and in our time, there's another group of church folk who obviously do not know what they are doing. We stopped reading at verse 34. Father, forgive them. If you have your scriptures with you, please look at verse 35. It says, And the people stood by watching. Verse 27 of Luke 23 says, There was a great number of people. They were watching, but they didn't say or do anything. In other words, they were silent. The end of verse 35 says the church leaders scoffed. But the first part of verse 35 says that the majority of believers said nothing. They were watching silently. Being faithful to my assignment. I want to talk to you for a few moments under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I want to talk to you on the assigned topic. Father, forgive them the silence of the church, but that's not the title of my message. I'll come to my title in just a minute. I want to use the scriptural reference. Luke 23, 35, and the people stood by silently watching. I want to use an historical reference, really two historical references. In addition to the scriptural reference, one black historical reference from Martin Luther King, and one white historical reference from the German pastor theologian Martin Niemur. And to triangulate our time together tonight. You have heard the scriptural reference. Let me say it again. No, in fact, I want you to say it with me. And the people repeat these up. And the people stood by watching. They stood by silently, watching. The greatest tragedy was not the strident clamor of the bad people. All the name calling that the bad people did. All the times thousands of non-violent peaceful protesters were called nigger, Coon, Jungle Bunny, Spear Chucker, Sambo, or countless other demeaning names, King calls it strident clamor. Shouted from police colours. Strident clamor yelled while fire hoses knocked down women, children, and young people who were only asking for equality under the law. An equal right to vote, an equal opportunity, a quality education, an equal access to health care. The greatest tragedy was not the negative noise and name-calling. The greatest tragedy, King says, was not the strident clamor of the bad people. The greatest tragedy was the appalling silence of the good people. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what their silence is doing. They do not know what their silence is saying. Their silence speaks volumes. Back in the Civil Rights movement, the silence of the church spoke volumes. And in the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement, the silence of the church still speaks violence. That's the black historical reference from Martin Luther King. Martin Niemer, a German, put it this way: 70 years ago in 1946, when the Nazis were in power in Germany, Niemer talked about the danger of silence and not speaking up. In his quote, which has become famous now. First he says they came for the communists. But I was not a communist. So I did not speak up. I was silent. Then they came for the socialists. But I was not a socialist. So I did not speak up. I was silent. Then they came for the trade unionists. But I was not a trade unionist. So I did not speak up. I was silent. Then they came for the Jews. But I was not a Jew. So I did not speak up. I was silent. Then they came, Father Mike, for the Catholics. But I was a Protestant. So I did not speak up. I was silent. Then they came for me. And by that time no one was left to speak up. The greatest tragedy in Nazi Germany was not the nasty names spat out by the Nazis, the bad people. The greatest tragedy to re-next king was the appalling silence of the good people. Father forgive them. For they do not know what their silence is doing. They do not know what their silence is saying. Their silence speaks volumes. The scripture referenced the words of Luke. And the people stood by watching. They stood by silently, watching. They didn't speak up. An innocent man was being murdered by law enforcement. Roman soldiers. And their response was silent. An unarmed black man was being senselessly, brutally slain, and the church was silent. The greatest tragedy from the death of Emmett Till through the death of Matthew Evans. The greatest tragedy from the murder of Schwarner, Goodman, and Cheney in Philadelphia, Mississippi, to the murder of Martin himself in Memphis, Tennessee. The greatest tragedy from the lynchings of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1800s and through the first half of the 1900s to the terrorist slaughter of the Charleston Nine in Ebenezer AME Church in 2015. The greatest tragedy is not the nasty noises coming from the mouths of the bad people. The greatest tragedy is the appalling silence of the good people. The church's silence has been deafening. That's Martin King remixed. Martin Niemand provides the contrapuntal chorus with his words. First, they came for the communists. But I was not a communist. So I did not speak up. I'm a Christian. I was silent. The people stood by watching. They came for the socialists. But I'm not a socialist. I'm a registered democrat. I did not speak up. I was silent. Then they came for the trade unionists. But I was not a trade unionist, so I was silent. I did not speak up. Then they came for the Jews. And I was not a Jew, so I did not speak up. I was silent. Then they came for the Catholics. But I was a Protestant Christian, so I did not speak up. Then they came for me. But by that time, no one was left to speak up for me. Scriptural reference? Historical reference. Now let me give you the contemporary cultural reference. I asked Ivy a moment ago, where was Junior? Where's Charles Loft as my guru in this field? Because the contemporary cultural reference comes from Janelle Monet and Jadonna in Wonderland, Deep Cotton. And I used their title for my subtitle tonight. Janelle says this song, Hell You Talking About, is a vessel. She says we recorded it to challenge and to challenge the pain, the fear, and trauma caused by the ongoing slaughter of our brothers and sisters. Janelle says we recorded this song to challenge the indifference, the disregard, and negligence of all who remain quiet about this issue. The people stood by it silently quiet. The greatest tragedy is not the strident clamor, not the unnerving noise of the bad people. The greatest tragedy is the appalling silence of the good people. The church folk remain quiet as black bodies lie rotting in the street. The church is silent as the savior is slaughtered like a hog hung on a tree on Calvary. The church is silent as black women and men are murdered by the popo and mowed down by Puki. Sound is our weapon. Hell you talking about the church was silent about crucifixion in our text. The people stood by watching. It has been four years since Rakia Boyd was murdered. The policeman who murdered her is still on the job, still carrying a gun, still has a license to kill with impunity, and the church is more concerned about which preacher can shout you than which policeman will shoot you. The church was silent about violence then, and the church is silent about violence now. You know you're talking about the church is silent about the racist policies of the United States government. The church is silent about the crooked mayor calling colored clergy in to warn them to keep their congregants quiet when the truth comes out about how long the officials knew about the murder of Laplan McDonald, including the mayor, and the people stood by watching. Silence is appalling. Hell are you talking about? You want to know why millennials are not in the church and why they're on North Michigan Avenue? Because the church is silent. The church is silent about the state of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine. And the church is silent about the shaft, the powers that be are given to the poor black and brown children who receive public education. The church is not only silent about the 61 public schools that were targeted by Mayor Emmanuel's administration, the church is also appallingly silent about a secretary of education who has no comment or regular schools for a degree in education. The people, good people, stood by silently. Just watching. Hell you talking about speak up. And the church is silent. We don't want to say nothing critical about the black president. Even when something needs to be said. Speak up. And some would say, since the Europeans stole this country from the real Native Americans, not the European immigrants who call themselves the folk who want to take our country back and make America great again. Yeah. Great. The great land thieves, the great body stealers, the great slave traders, the great slave holders, the greatest hypocrites, the greatest liar, and the greatest racist on the face of the planet. And in the face of an own Russian locomotive, with the emphasis in that word on L-O-C-O loco. Like a deer trapped in the headlights of an 18-wheel of the church is appallingly silent. Janelle says, silent is our enemy. Sound is our weapon. Speak up. Hell you talking about. The misogyny coming out of the mouth of that megalomaniac millionaire is matched only by the racism that seeps out of the slimy pores that he has dressed up from the swamps of trailer trash. Politicians who pander to the fears of white folk have a special place reserved in the deepest pits of hell. And the church, the good people, need to break their silence and say something. In the war against evil, silence is the enemy's strongest ally. Hell you talking about Monet says, silence is our enemy. I travel over 100,000 miles a year, preaching, teaching, listening, and learning. And in over 50 different airports in this nation, I've seen a sign posted by the Department of Homeland Security. My time is up. But what the sign says is what I want to leave with you on this Good Friday. The sign says, if you see something, say something. Say something. If you see what our government policies are doing in this city, in this state, do you know that in the state of Illinois, the Jewish Zionist state of Israel lobbying, the same folk that met last week in AIPAC, have tricked the state legislature into passing along that anybody, any business that engages in boycott, divestment, or sanction, the same thing we did to interpartate in South Africa, that business is going to be punished. And the folk in Springfield didn't even know what they were voting on. If you see what our government is doing in this country with voter suppression and Obama obstruction, I came up with a new hashtag when he named that man for the Supreme Court. That's the Republican hashtag. Was given to Israel for military. We got money for military and money for war and no money for education. If you see what the government policies are doing, speak up, break the side, and say something. Hell you talking about you harm the church. Don't be in the public, just stand by watching. If you see something, say something. And we learned two years ago with the Prophet Commerce. Once you see something, you can't unsee what you see. Tell the truth.

unknown 26:08

Joy away from their parents. Brought them up to be teachers and preachers, reaching for something, coming up empty-handed.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

God damn, it's family still standing, but y'all still standing on your hands. Asking when will we become free? Never cause we got bridges burning between uptown and downtown. Steady but shaking making mistakes on a day by day, basics.

unknown 27:02

I back up and I walk down humble. With no faces, patience, numbers, and colors. We wonder why all the hatred I'm breaking barriers. But some of y'all just sitting on your hands. Asking when will we become free?

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Never, as we have bridges burning between uptown and downtown. Someone come and rescue me. She said, I'm one of dead or out of my own town.

unknown 27:50

Someone come and say these streets.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

She said, I'm wanted ten or alive in my hometown.

unknown 28:15

Someone come and say he be street.