Luke 23:26–56
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father,forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” 48 When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
49 But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
The Thief Who Saw Himself
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the event that can change our lives.
Next to Jesus, in his agony, are two others, also on crosses, in agony. These two are thieves, and they are being punished for their crimes. Let us think of them as representing us, for we are sinners, and we deserve to be punished.
I was in a subway station in Athens once when a pickpocket gang surrounded me and stole my wallet. It made me angry. We have all had stuff stolen from us, sometimes by people who have broken into our house, by pickpockets, even aggressive robberies. Thieves stir up anger; at least they make me mad. My home is a private place that belongs to me. My pockets are mine; don’t stick your hand in there.
We do not know the specifics about the men who hang on crosses next to Jesus, if they had been arrested more than once, or what they stole. We only know that they have been tried and the ultimate penalty has been issued: they will die the shameful and painful death of crucifixion. And as it turns out they are not alone, there is a third who is to die with them.
Like this third one, the two thieves also dragged their crosses out of the city to the hill of execution; they were also laughed at and probably spit on. That’s how things were done in the Roman Empire. You didn’t just die, you were shamed and made as miserable as possible.
Maybe, when we are miserable, it might enter our minds that we can make our misery less by making someone else’s greater. I think this is what lies at the heart of bullying. A person experiences pain, emotional, mental, perhaps even physical, and somehow it seems that they can transfer all of this to someone else, that if someone else’s pain can be increased, mine will decrease.
Hanging on their own crosses, with nails in their hands and the sun beating down and people mocking them, they joined in mocking Jesus.
“You saved so many. Why, we heard you made blind people see, lame people walk. Some say you fed hungry crowds and there are rumors that a man was dead for three days and you called him out of his tomb. They say you are the anointed one of God, the Messiah. So what are you doing next to us on the cross? Apply your power now. Save yourself. And, maybe while you are at it, save us.”
And Jesus said nothing.
Sometimes we join in mocking Jesus by rejecting him. Perhaps we do this to reduce our own pain. But blaming God for our own mess doesn’t get us anywhere.
In order to talk, the thieves have to look across and in doing so they see Jesus. When I see Jesus, it causes me to see myself. Jesus’ kindness makes us see our meanness; his compassion illuminates our self-centeredness, and his innocence reveals our guilt.
People who have faced death have sometimes reported that in those moments their whole life passed before them. I wonder if something like this was happening to this thief. Did he remember his first crime? Did he remember the first time he lied to get away, or the first time he understood that what he was doing was wrong, but he kept on anyway? And did he remember how he had hurt the people he loved?
I think he remembered—but somehow, as he looked across at Jesus, he sensed hope. Perhaps it was not too late. Just maybe he could still reach out.
He said to the other thief, “We are being punished justly, getting what our deeds deserve.”
Personally, I am not always eager for this moment of self-awareness, and there are many of them in my life, a moment of honesty, a moment of confession, a moment of telling it like it is. But, for the thief, this is the moment when his prayer is answered. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Words of faith. Words of hope.
As Jesus hung dying, he would save the one who had faith.
Earlier, when that Friday morning broke, the thief was seen as scum. People feared and hated him as they feared and hated all thieves. Perhaps as the people walked by, they were glad to see him crucified, glad to see him die. But by noon he had met Christ, repented and was converted. As the sun set, he was in paradise. The day for him began without hope but ended with the glory of heaven.
Today is a day when Christ can change your life, transform you, and set you free. This can be your day to meet Christ.
Questions:
• Are you being honest about yourself?
• Are you ready to stop trying to fix yourself?
• Will you abandon your self-help efforts and throw yourself on Christ? He is able to deliver you.
Author Bio
Dr. Franklin Pyles (PhD) is a former president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada (2000-2012). He has pastored Alliance churches in Canada and the United States for more than thirty years and has served for several years as Professor of Theology at the Canadian Theological Seminary.
Luke and Acts taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
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