LUKE 23:26-49
The Gospels record seven things that Jesus said from the cross
Three of them are found in Luke’s gospel, three in John’s gospel and the seventh is found in Mathew and Marks Gospel
The seven cries are
Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
2. Today you shall be with me in paradise.
3. Mother behold your son, son behold your mother.
4. I thirst
5. Father, why have you forsaken me?
6. It is finished.
7. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.
Today we shall look at the ones in lukes Gospel. They are “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do, I tell you the truth, Today, you shall be with me in paradise, and Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.”
They are found in Luke chapter 23, verses 26 to 49
Note that Jesus said FATHER FORGIVE THEM. He did not say, I FORGIVE YOU.
In the past, he had demonstrated that he had he had the power to forgive sins. He had told the lame man that his sins were forgiven and those around rightly said only God had the power to forgive sins. He told the man to rise and walk and he did, thus demonstrating that his sins were forgiven, yet here he asks the father to forgive their sin.
He was being an intermediary between those who crucified him and the father. They deserved the fathers wrath ( as we do) but Jesus asks the father to forgive them. In this we see that he prayed for his enemies that their sins would be forgiven. We are told in other accounts that one of the soldiers who crucified him said, “Truly this was the son of God.” Surely the prayer of Jesus to forgive brought about that man’s salvation and possibly others. Those he prayed for were the baying crowd, Pilot, Herod, the conspirators, the soldiers and those who mocked him.
He is still our intermediary. He is the second person of the Godhead, and we are told that he prays to the father for us. It is his sacrifice that has bought our salvation and he is able to say on our behalf, Father forgive them.
For they know not what they do. What was it they did not know? They did not know that in their ignorance, God was using them to bring about the plan of salvation as it had been prophesied throughout the Old Testament, and Jesus himself had also prophesied of it.
The conspirators did not know what they were doing for they were jealous and did not know he was the son of God and many of the crowd would have believed that they were doing something for God by demanding and witnessing the execution of a blasphemer. They did not know that he had told the truth. The devil had blinded them to this.
We live in a world where people are blinded to the truth of salvation. I sometimes get the impression that in this country and throughout Europe, people are far more blinded to the truth now than they were 30 years ago. Jesus answer is Father forgive them for they know not what they do
I tell you the truth, today, you shall be with me in paradise
The second cry was addressed to one of the thieves on a cross. We are told in other gospel accounts that they to both mocked him, but in this account we are told that there was a notice put above him that said “This is the King of the Jews”. We know from other accounts that others said that it should say, “HE SAID he was the king of the Jews” but pilate refused to change it and said, “What I have written, I have written”. This notice stated a fact, even if some may have taken it in other ways. The thieves would have seen it and probably heard the cry forgive them and one of them sees the truth.
There are two ways to respond to Jesus the thieves represent those two ways. One rejected him and the other pleaded with him saying, Lord remembers me when You come into your kingdom. He knew that he was a sinner. He acknowledged it and did the only thing he could do in the circumstances that he was in. He turned to Jesus and pleaded with him. Jesus response was to give him a promise. “I tell you the truth. Today, you shall be with me in paradise”. That thief died having received that promise and could not have known that it would be recorded in God’s word for the whole world to read and to see the mercy that Jesus showed to him. It was cry of promise of salvation. “You shall be with me today. “The thief asked to be remembered, and his request was granted. He had learned the fear of the lord and had gone from reviling Jesus to knowing who he is and confessing his sin and receiving salvation. One thief was hardened to the end. He said to Jesus that if he were the Christ then he should save himself and them. He only wanted to be delivered from suffering and then go on in his sinful ways. The other did not. He wanted to be truly saved. When Christ said to him, Today, you will be with me in paradise, he meant today, not some far future hope. He gave that thief a certainty that in death, he would enter paradise and escape the wrath of God to come for his sins, for he Jesus was taking the punishment in his place. In that promise Christ snatched that sinful man like a brand from the fire. The thief was told that that he would not only be remembered by the lord, but that he would be with him and that it would be that very day. That man was a believer for less than one day and on that final day of his life, he repented and we all know about it, and who knows how many others down through the centuries have been saved because they turned to the lord through the testimony of that thief for they also wanted to claim the promise of being with him in paradise.
Our Lord was in agony. Not just physical agony. He was in great spiritual agony to as God’s wrath was being poured out on him on our behalf. Yet in the midst of that, he has comforting words for one sinful man. “Today, you shall be with me, in paradise.” The thief acknowledged him as king with a kingdom, and he was going to it.
Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit
As Christ uttered his last cry, “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit” the curtain of the temple was torn in two. This curtain masked the holy of holies. No one who was ceremonially unclean could go beyond it. It denied access to the people. Yet as Christ cried out, that curtain was torn. No longer was god behind the curtain and the people shielded from him. The ceremonies would not be necessary any more for Christ had made the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus trust in the father was complete. In some accounts we are told that he DISMISSED his spirit. It is as though he chose that moment to die. We die, but we do not chose the moment. Instead, it overwhelms us. It did not overwhelm him. He had known the fellowship of the father not only for all the time that he was on earth, but for all eternity. We shall be looking next week, at one of the other cries that implies that fellowship was interrupted, but here in this cry, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit that fellowship is glorious and complete. There is no doubt at all in Christ’s mind in that statement that he was going to the father again. Nature testified to that. The sun stopped shining. WE British are brilliant at talking about the weather, but in all my years, I have never seen the sun stop shining. It was the sixth hour, when the sun should have been shining, but upon Christ’s words, it stopped. The centurion saw this. And we are told that he praised God and said surely this was a righteous man. This man was a commanding officer, one of the men who had just crucified him, and he heard this cry from the cross, “Father into your hands, I commit my spirit” and then the sun went out. I think the centurion could see what he and all those under his command had done. I think we can safely assume that he had been responsible for the execution of many people and yet on this one occasion he sees something very different to anything he had seen before. He realised that Christ was not guilty of any sin, and that hard centurion would have been cut the quick.
He had been one of those people who did not know what he was doing, Christ in his first cry had prayed for him, and now that Centurion knew what he had done.
For us the cross is central. To the world it is at best a symbol, or perhaps something insignificant and foolish, but to those of us who believe and will believe it is the power of salvation
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment