[Luke 23:33-34]: And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
The argument summarized:
1. The Daughters of Jerusalem passage and the forgiving of the penitent thief (these surround the saying in Luke) suggest that the criminals are the subject of the intercession.
2. Christ interceding for his torturers and/or the Pharisees is theologically questionable, so the bare inclusion in Luke and its omission elsewhere should give us pause. The Gospel sayings of Jesus against the Pharisees consist of insults, condemnation, irrevocable damnation (Rich Man & Lazarus), a notion of blood guilt (Matthew 27:25), etc. Interceding on their behalf conflicts with the theme of the Gospel and the prophets referenced in the surrounding passages.
3. We have strong textual evidence of Christ forgiving wrongdoers who recognize their fault — the Greek word for “criminals” (κακοῦργοι) here is literally “evil-workers” — and this applies to the penitent thief.
4. The absence of specifying the subject in Luke is notable: no effort is made to direct this saying to a subject. There is no “and looking to the crowd” or “seeing the soldiers”. The previous saying just moments ago specified the mourning daughters of Jerusalem. Luke 6:20, 20:17 also shows Jesus specifying subjects for sayings. However, the criminals were just introduced, and their proximity to Christ mentioned in the previous words.
5. There are reasons as to why an original reading would fall out of fashion in the Patristic Age. An expression of blanket intercession to crucified criminals would pose unwanted political suspicion in the decades following the Crucifixion. (I do not believe that this is how it was read literally, but this is what opponents would say; I consider an original symbolic meaning). It would look like Jesus wanted high criminals to be forgiven at a time when the greatest rebels were Jewish Messianists. This could be why the saying is omitted in some of the earliest copies (see Ehrman for a different explanation: "Did Jesus Pray "Father Forgive Them" from the Cross?"). There would also be a political incentive to make the Gentiles and the Romans specifically the recipient of the forgiveness.
6. Mark 15:28, which is also omitted in early copies but found in later copies, specifically associates the criminals with fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah. The complete condition of fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:12 is that he makes intercession for the transgressors, and the logical reading is that he intercedes for the very transgressors he is numbered with. Otherwise he would be numbered with the transgressors but interceding for the transgressors of the transgressors… a very forced reading.
Daughters of Jerusalem
The women weep for Jesus, but Jesus tells them to mourn for themselves. This is a saying which demands interpretation: why should they not mourn the Messiah? Mourning the Messiah would be an act of faith, and thus commendable. The answer to this problem is found in the early “participatory” reading of the crucifixion. The interpretation is seen in Apostolic writings: “those who come after me must carry their cross daily”, the baptism into Jesus’ death, “those who lose their life will find it”, mention of crucifying the flesh. Consider 1 Peter 4:12: “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” There is Simon who helps carry the cross before the daughters of Jerusalem, who is a figure of participation. Hosea, which Jesus quotes in the Passion saying above, also involves participation in the Messiah’s suffering:Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?
We find a type of the crucifixion in the cautionary prophecy of Hosea, and this crucifixion is accomplished by all who “return to the Lord”. This is why the women are told not to mourn Christ, but themselves. “The days that are coming” refers to the anticipated punishment of God for sins, the womens’ own struggles with sin and flesh and temptation and trial (which so much of the Epistles speak about, as a primary “practical” concern of the faithful).Ephraim is stricken; their root is dried up
Give them, O LORD— what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me. “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up.”
The Penitent and the Unrepentant
The criminals continue and efficiently complete the theme of crucifixion participation: they represent the improper and proper way to “carry one’s cross”. The unrepentant wrongdoer demands that Jesus save him without care for contrition. The repentant one says to the blasphemer, “do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence?” This immediately identifies a shared suffering with Christ. The repentant one again: “we are punished justly. We are getting what our deeds deserve.” This is the correct attitude of repentance, juxtaposed to a false attitude. We see the awareness of sin and acknowledgement of one’s transgressions (Psalm 51), for Godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation (2 Cor 7:10). The cross is the full embodiment of God’s wrath, which may lead to Godly sorrow for the penitent or worldly sorrow for the sinner.
According to this reading, then, we see a straight thematic line: the Messiah exhorting us to mourn for our own punishment, the Messiah numbered with transgressors and interceding for the same among the Cross (the punishment of God), the unrepentant blaspheming God, the interceded repentant acknowledging his fault, acknowledging his punishment, identifying in the suffering of the Messiah and acknowledging the Messiah (interestingly in this order), praying to the Messiah, and finally saved with a promised paradise. The intercession forms a key ingredient in the theme.
The reading in which Jesus wants to forgive his torturers is difficult (IMO impossible) to square with the rest of the Gospel, however antiquated the view. Matthew 25:41 shows no mercy for the evildoer and echoes the conditions of Isaiah 58:6. If punishments are deserved, then the Messiah would not pray that the undeserving and unrepentant be forgiven, as that would be unjust. But if the crucifixion is a symbol of God’s wrath, and a symbol of trial, and the pain of the flesh, then the intercession to the co-crucified makes the most sense: they are the ones who share in the trial of God, who are carrying their cross and have opportunity to repent (and perhaps, with intercession, correctly).
Matthew 20:23 reinforces this mystical(?) reading in an interesting way but I have already written too much.
To defend one more thing: why “they know not what they do?” See Romans:
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words
