They Know Not

Acknowledging the boundaries of human knowledge can help us forgive.

Most of us overestimate our own expertise. We are aware that we don’t know everything, but we are woefully unaware of how much we don’t know. Particularly when we begin to gain a little knowledge on a particular subject, we are prone to overconfidence. “When [we] are learned [we] think [we] are wise” (2 Nephi 9:28). We have to intentionally keep this tendency in check by reminding ourselves regularly how much we have yet to learn!

But oddly enough, we also tend to attribute too much knowledge to other people, particularly when they hurt us. Why would they do that, we wonder. They must have understood the impact of their words or actions. What could possibly have motivated them to be so cruel?

Even before Jesus began the painful walk to Golgotha, He was mercilessly abused by the Roman soldiers:

They stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!

And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

Matthew 27:28-30; see also Mark 15:17-19, John 19:2-3

How could they justify treating a helpless prisoner that way, particularly one who had been condemned to die? Even if the charges against Him had been true, wasn’t He entitled to some dignity?

While He suffered on the cross, with His mother and others who loved Him looking on, the soldiers haggled over His clothes, casting lots for His particularly valuable coat, woven “without seam.” (See Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:23-24.) How could they be so callous?

I am impressed with the Savior’s extraordinary capacity to forgive, and I’m also impressed with the reason He gave for extending grace to these brutal men:

Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do

Luke 23:34, italics added

Surely on one level, they knew what they were doing. But on a deeper level, they were oblivious to what was going on. They had no idea they were crucifying the Son of God. They likely had little sense of the worth of a human soul, including a condemned criminal, including the people whose country they had invaded and conquered. Jesus asked His Father to forgive them because they did not comprehend the magnitude of what they were doing.

Jacob taught, “The atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them” (2 Nephi 9:26). The angel who appeared to King Benjamin said that the Savior’s “blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned” (Mosiah 3:11). And Alma told the Nephites in Ammonihah that God would be merciful to their enemies, the Lamanites, because “the traditions of their fathers…caused them to remain in their state of ignorance” (Alma 9:16).

A rule of thumb known as Hanlon’s Razor states, “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” In other words, don’t assume that people know what they are doing is wrong. We don’t know everything. We surely don’t know what other people don’t know. In that place of uncertainty, there is room for us to extend grace, just as the Savior extended grace to those who tortured and executed Him.

Today, I will give people the benefit of the doubt. When their actions fall short of my expectations, I will remember that many of our mistakes are due to ignorance not maliciousness, and that additional education and experience may lead them over time to make better decisions.