Crucifixion, Luke 23:34 Wall Art

The scene on the paper

The cross stands on a small mound of gray rock and dry grass, its beams left rough and knotted like timber that was never meant to be looked at. Jesus hangs with his arms stretched almost level, head bowed to one side under a crown of thorns, a cream loincloth knotted at his hip. Nailed above him is a weathered board carved with four letters, INRI.

Behind the figure, the artist has laid in a sky of soft slate-blue clouds that fade into the bare paper, so the cross seems to stand in open air with nothing else around it. Over the top, in brown hand lettering: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”, with Luke 23:34 underneath.

What does Luke 23:34 mean?

Luke writes it this way in the 1611 translation: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” The two halves sit side by side on purpose. While the soldiers at his feet are dividing his clothes, Jesus is praying for them. Luke is the only Gospel writer to record this sentence, and it echoes his account of Stephen, the first martyr, who prays in Acts 7 that the sin of his killers not be held against them.

Tradition counts this line as the first of the Seven Last Words, the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross gathered from all four Gospels. Many Catholic and Protestant churches meditate on them one by one during a three-hour service on Good Friday. A few early Greek manuscripts leave the prayer out, which scholars discuss openly, yet it has been read and preached in the Church since its earliest centuries.

As for INRI: John 19 says Pilate had a title fixed to the cross in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The letters abbreviate the Latin, Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”.

For Lent, Easter and the home

This is a crucifix image in the traditional Catholic sense, with the body of Christ shown, which makes it a natural fit for a prayer corner, a hallway near the front door or the wall above a family altar. Some households bring it out at Ash Wednesday and keep it up through Holy Week.

Because the verse is about forgiveness rather than suffering, it also speaks to anyone working through a broken relationship. Godparents sometimes give it at a baptism, as a reminder of the mercy the child is baptized into.