Luke 23:39-43 "The Two Criminals"

                Over the past few weeks, we’ve looked at how some of the people surrounding the cross treated our Savior as he was nailed there to that tree.  We’ve look at how the people gathered around him hurled insults at him.  Mind you, these are no doubt some of the same people who lined the streets shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David.  Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Some of the same people that cheered as Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day forever celebrated as, just as we do today, Palm Sunday, were the very same ones who hurled insults at him only five days later.  We’ve also spent some time looking at how the officials of Jerusalem, the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Roman soldiers, all joined in with their mockery of Jesus as the promised Messiah and coming King.  We’ve seen how all of these groups verbally and physically abused Jesus during his final moments of life upon this earth.  However, today we’re going to look at a little bit different type of witness to Jesus’ crucifixion.  We’re going to look at the two criminals who were there right alongside Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left, at the time of his crucifixion.  We’re going to see how we find ourselves as examples of each of these men, and we’re going to see how this shapes our interpretation of the cross.

                When we look at the each of the two criminals individually, we see both differences and similarities within them.  They are both men who have been convicted of a crime (most commonly thought to be theft).  As a result of their convictions, they were both sentenced to be crucified, and their crucifixions were carried out alongside that of Jesus.  Very quickly, it’s of note that Jesus’ crucifixion alongside criminals is yet another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that finds its completion here at the cross.  As a matter of fact, Mark 15:28, after stating that Jesus was crucified with criminals, reads, “And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘He was numbered with transgressors.’”  In addition to this Old Testament fulfillment and these already listed similarities, both criminals, at the very moment of this account are experiencing the physical pain of the crucifixion.  It’s not simply that they are both going to be crucified, but that they are both in the midst of the most painful part of being crucified.  We’ll see that this point is significant in just a moment when we explore a little of their mindset during this account.  However, despite the similarities that existed between these two men, there is one glaring difference between the two:  their perception of Jesus and who he really is.

                We see that the first criminal has nothing really positive to say to Jesus.  He says to him, “Are you not the Christ?  Save yourself and us!”  Now this doesn’t necessarily, at least on the surface, seem like anything derogatory towards Jesus.  However, I want to remind you very quickly of the language of the scribes and the people that we looked at a few weeks ago.  In their mocking Jesus, they all said to him, “If you are the Son of God, then...”  We made a connection between this line of questioning and that of Satan in his temptation of Jesus, where he too used this same phrase.  Well, “If you are the Son of God…” isn’t that far off from “Are you not the Christ?”  Both questions, or statements, in essence deny Jesus’ claim to be the promised Messiah.  They both deny Jesus’ authority that he rightfully has as the Son of God.  No doubt Satan was working all the way up to the end of Jesus’ life through the actions of those around him.  He was constantly attacking not only Jesus the person, but everything that he had been teaching and all that he came to do.

No one likes to suffer; that’s not news.  This isn’t even the first time this year that those words have been said from this very pulpit.  However, suffering has a way of showing the true intentions and true nature of a person.  This first criminal, as we said earlier, was suffering.  He was suffering the physical pain of the crucifixion, and he was probably also suffering the emotional pain of knowing that he indeed was about to die.  His priorities were not; however, on what came next for him, but on what he was enduring at that very moment.  He tells Jesus to “save [himself] and [them].”  And don’t think for a second that he’s talking about a spiritual or heavenly salvation; he’s just wanted to be spared the pain of death.  He was thinking about things from an earthly perspective because that’s all he’s concerned with.

Now, I want to press pause on the first criminal for just a moment if I can, and look very quickly at the other criminal there on the opposite side of Jesus.  We’re told in our text that after the first man questioned Jesus that, “the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deed; but this man has done nothing wrong.’”  You see, this man, who was enduring the same physical pain as the first, doesn’t see things the same way.  Make no mistake, he knows just as well as the first criminal that his time on earth is coming to an end, but his outlook is radically different.  Last year during our Maundy Thursday service (which is this Thursday just to remind you again), we were all blessed by hearing a phenomenal song about this event.  The song, entitled Thief, was originally written and performed by the Christian band Third Day.  I want to take just a second and read you the lyrics of this song.  It goes:

I am a thief, I am a murderer
Walking up this lonely hill
What have I done? I don't remember
No one knows just how I feel
and I know that my time is coming soon.
It's been so long. Oh, such a long time
Since I've lived with peace and rest
Now I am here, my destination
guess things work for the best
and I know that my time is coming soon
Who is this man? This man beside me
They call the King of the Jews
They don't believe that He's the Messiah
But, somehow I know it's true.
And they laugh at Him in mockery,
and beat Him till he bleeds
They nail Him to the rugged cross,
and raise Him, they raise Him up next to me
My time has come, I'm slowly fading
I deserve what I receive
Jesus when You are in Your kingdom
Could You please remember me
and He looks at me still holding on
the tears fall from His eyes
He says I tell the truth
Today, you will live with Me in paradise
and I know that my time is coming soon
and I know paradise is coming soon.

                You see, I think that this song, written from the viewpoint of the second criminal, so beautifully sums up the meaning of this passage.  The two men who were being put to death were guilty, and they were deserving of their punishment.  However, Jesus wasn’t guilty; he wasn’t deserving of any punishment but only praise.  Sure, he had been found guilty, but as we all well know, this was a false conviction.  This criminal, who is seeing his life come to an end, somehow knows that this man who others are hurling insults at is not a criminal or a heretic, but is indeed who he claimed to be.  He knows that this man is the Messiah.  This criminal lifts his head up and looks at Jesus and says to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  To which Jesus responds to him by saying, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  This man is a criminal; he has already in his words to the first criminal admitted his own guilt.  Yet, when he asks Jesus to forgive him of his sins, Jesus tells him that he will dwell in Paradise; he tells him that his sins are forgiven.  I can’t for the life of me imagine what joy and emotions must have surged through that man’s mind and heart as Jesus spoke these words to him.  Or can I?

                Looking back quickly at the first criminal, we saw hardness of heart.  We saw a sense of self-preservation above all else.  We saw, in essence, a reflection of the world, not to dissimilar from the world that we find ourselves in today.  However, when it comes to the second criminal, we see something totally different.  Now, as we’ve said, their sins were similar, their circumstances the same, and their fates looked like carbon-copies of one another.  The difference between these two men, however, is Jesus.  The difference was the fact that one man looked to himself and the world around him as the ultimate reward, while the other looked to Christ as the ultimate priority in this world.

                So, what does this mean for us?  Well, it means a few things.  The first, as we already said, this is even more Old Testament prophecy fulfilled.  Second, just as Jesus forgave the sins of a criminal being put to death, he has the power to forgive our sins as well.  No matter how great and numerous our sins, there is nothing that the blood of Christ can’t wash away.  And finally, this is the picture of what conversion and a new life in Christ is like.  When we are concerned only with ourselves, when our number one priority is to see to it that we are taken care of, then we are like the first criminal.  However, when we become fundamentally and primarily concerned with Christ, it’s like we are a completely different person.  When we, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” that’s when Christian conversion takes place.  That’s when the Holy Spirit begins his work of regeneration and growth.  That’s when, as the apostle Paul says, the old self dies and the new self is born.  Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”  When our eyes are opened and our minds focused upon the One True God instead of ourselves, then the salvation that was earned there upon that cross becomes our reality.  It becomes ours, and we will all come to know that reality in Paradise.  We will all come to know the joy that the second criminal felt when Jesus told him that he was to dwell with him in Paradise forever.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Mark 15:16-27 "The Romans Soldiers"

                One of the greatest joys of my life is being a father.  Each of our three beautiful children are truly gifts from God.  Each of them have changed my life in their own special way, and each of them have come into this world with their own unique personalities.  I’m going to pick on one of them for a second this morning as a means of explaining something about our text:  our beloved middle child, our oldest son, Thomas.  You see, Thomas is in more ways than one the spitting image of his daddy.  However, there is something that Thomas has that his daddy didn’t have:  an older sibling.  Now, Thomas doesn’t really listen to folks all that well.  Sure, he listens to me and his mama after we’ve told him to do something several times or after we’ve threatened him with something, but for the most part he just does his own thing.  However, there is one person that he will listen to no matter what:  his big sister.  Thomas will listen to Ashby and do absolutely anything she tells him to.  It’s really quite scary that one little girl holds so much power.  Now, the connection that I want to make here between my son and the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus is in this:  when Thomas gets in trouble, his excuse is that his sissy told him to do whatever it is that he is guilty of doing.  He simply says that he was just following orders.  Well, many times this same exact excuse is used when dealing with the Roman soldiers in our text.  Folks have tried to take some of the blame off of them since they were just doing what a superior told them to do.  We could also just as easily use that same excuse of ourselves many times today, but we’ll deal with that in just a moment.

                The Roman Soldiers were indeed following orders.  They were following the orders of Pontius Pilate, who, might I add, was very reluctant himself to have Jesus crucified.  After Jesus had been sentenced to death, someone had to carry out the sentence.  It was part of their job as soldiers of Rome.  Now, we’ve all been there.  We’ve all had things that we had to do as part of our jobs that we don’t/didn’t enjoy.  Just like I mentioned a moment ago, I don’t like disciplining my children.  However, it is my job as a father to teach them how they are to act, and sometimes that means doing things that I don’t particularly enjoy.  The same could be said also for any job in the secular world.  Now, before we just brush off all responsibility from the Roman soldiers, I want us to look a little more closely at their exact actions there at the scene of the cross.

                We’re told at the beginning of our text, after the crowd confirms that they want Barabbas release and Jesus crucified, that the soldiers take Jesus inside the Praetorium, the governor’s headquarters.  Once inside, they strip him of his clothes and place a purple cloak on him.  They then fashion a crown of thorns all twisted together with spikes that are suggested to be somewhere between 1 to 2 inches in length.  After making the crown, they didn’t just place it on his head, but drove it deep into his skull.  They put a staff in his hand and then mockingly knelt before him saying “Hail, King of the Jews!”  All the while, they were spitting on him, hitting him, and beating him with a whip-like instrument.  After beating him, they removed the purple cloak, and placed his original clothes back on him.  No, these weren’t men who were reluctant to carry out their orders in the least.  These were men who were displaying the same anger and hatred that we saw last Sunday coming from the scribes, chief priests, Pharisees, and the people of Jerusalem.  However, just like the groups that we looked at last Sunday, these Roman soldiers were fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.  The prophet Isaiah spoke of the Messiah being spit upon and struck in the face.  So, his being spat upon, beaten, and openly mocked were all fulfillments of prophecy about the Messiah.

                Now, the beating and the punishment that Jesus received was obviously so severe that he couldn’t carry his cross by himself.  He had to have the help of someone from the crowd.  The soldiers selected a man named Simon to assist Jesus.  If you’ve ever reached the point of complete exhaustion, then you know that it isn’t pleasant.  It seems like every year there are high school and college age football players who die from dehydration, heat stroke, or exhaustion.  These kids, ranging anywhere from 15 to 24, who are in peak physical condition, are asked to push their body to a level that it simply cannot go.  The human body does indeed have a breaking point, and I have to believe that Jesus’ physical body was there.  However, there was still work to be done.

                Jesus, along with the Roman soldiers and rest of the crowd, finished their ascent up the mountain.  Once they had reached the top, the Roman soldiers offered him a mixture of wine, gall, and myrrh.  This mixture was in essence a pain killer, and was commonly given to those being crucified in order to numb at least some of the pain.  However, Jesus refused it.  He took on fully and consciously all of the pain of the crucifixion.  This no doubt draws the comparison of his taking on fully and consciously all of the sins of mankind as well; a point that we don’t have time to fully discuss, but is very much in need of being pointed out.  After reaching the top of the mountain and the place known as Golgotha and refusing the pain-killing mixture, the Roman soldiers then divide Jesus’ garments and cast lots to see who received them.  In this, we find another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  It fulfills the words of words of David, inspired by God, who wrote in Psalm 22 on the crucifixion of the coming Messiah.  Psalm 22:18 reads, “they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”  What comes next is the placing of a sign above Jesus’ head that stated his crime.  The sign read “ The King of the Jews.”  This wording was indeed his crime, seeing as he had been convicted of claiming himself to be the king, but it was also mocking him a little further as well.  The soldiers then placed him in the midst of a few criminals (who we will look at on Palm Sunday next week), and then proceed with the events that we looked at last week.  In essence, it’s as if the soldiers take a break so that the people and the chief priests can have a turn at mocking him.  It’s also worthy of noting that his being placed with criminal fulfills yet another Old Testament prophecy; it’s a fulfillment of Psalm 69.

                Ultimately, we are left asking ourselves what significance we can take away from the role that the Roman soldiers played in the scene there at Calvary.  Well, we’ve already seen that they fulfilled Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah.  That is first and foremost their primary role in these events.  In fact, later on, in one of the texts that we will look at during our Maundy Thursday service, we will see that they fulfill yet another prophecy when they offer him wine vinegar to drink shortly before he dies.  However, there is something else that I think we can take away from the example of the Roman soldiers.  I mentioned back in the beginning of the sermon that we often excuse our actions by saying that we are/were just following orders.  Now, I want to take a few moments and flush that idea out a little bit more.  I opened by giving you the example of my son saying that it’s never his fault, but the blame always rests with the person who told him to do something, typically Ashby.  You know, as humorous as this may be, it gets pretty old.  It gets even older when people continue to do this well into their teenage and adult years.  However, it is an ever-growing problem in our society:  people not taking responsibility for their actions.  Now, I’m not going to get into this completely, but I want to speak to the faith side of this argument and growing epidemic.

                Let me ask you this, “If your boss asked you to do something as part of your job and you knew that it wasn’t in line with your faith or your morality, would you still do it?”  In other words, if you knew something to be morally and spiritually wrong, yet a superior asked you to do it, would you do it?  Well, the reality of this is that many of us can’t say definitively what we would do.  We would like to be able to say that we would stand up for our faith, but we also like our houses, cars, vacations, and we really like being able to eat and pay our bills as well.  For many of us, and I’m guessing that it would be more accurate to say all of us, we have not made the choice that most coincides with our faith every time.  We’ve hidden behind this same notion of just following orders.  We’ve tried to shift the blame from ourselves to the ones who told us to do whatever task it was that was not in line with our faiths.  So you see, we have no position to be able to sit here and cast aspersions on the Romans soldiers.  Now before you say, “Well, I never did anything like kill someone when I followed orders.  When they followed orders, it lead to Jesus being killed.”  I want to think about what was accomplished in both situations.  Regardless of what the outcome might have been in your case, in the case of the Romans soldiers it lead to the crucifixion of Christ, which is the achievement of our salvation.  Remember what we said last Sunday, God used that hatred and violence and those horrific events to save us from our sins.  I’m pretty sure that when we found ourselves “just following orders”, it lead to the spread of evil.

                Friends, I’m not going to stand here today and tell you that you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for not dying upon your sword when asked or ordered to do something that was morally questionable.  I realize that we live in a fallen world in which the worldly and earthly desires of the flesh so often reign supreme.  However, I’m just asking for each one of us to own our faith.  I’m asking each one of us to take responsibility for our actions.  Don’t shift the blame for your lapse in faith to busy schedules, demanding bosses, or anything else.  Your faith is your own.  Many folks say that their faith is a personal relationship between themselves and God.  Well, I’m not going to address some of the issues with that statement, but I will point out one very truthful statement about it.  If the primary parties that are involved are you and God, then there is no excuse for being separated from Him.  It’s not as if God is every too busy for His children.  God is omnipotent and omnipresent.  There is no limit to His reach.  Friends, own your faith.  Wear your faith.  Show your faith.  Don’t allow your faith to remain hidden because you were simply just following orders.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Mark 15:29-32 "The Chief Priests & the People"

                The concepts of public humiliation and degradation are not something that has only recently come to be with the explosion of social media.  They are concepts that go as far back as people disagreeing and fighting themselves.  Throughout history, it has always been the position of most soldiers that if they were going to die, then they would prefer it to be swift and in the midst of battle.  We’ve all read or heard stories about soldiers and warriors (both fictional and real) that say that they wanted to go on the field of battle.  The worst thing imaginable was/is to be taken as a prisoner.  If taken, then you were tortured, beaten, and in many ways killed, just much more slowly.  It was quite common for prisoners of battle, even as resent as some cases today, to be paraded through the streets wearing no clothing, further adding to the humiliation that they were experiencing.  Take for example the case of William Wallace (who for those of you who don’t know was actually a real person).  After being found guilty of his crimes against the crown of England, he was dragged naked through the street by a horse, hung, quartered, and eventually beheaded.  Now, if the point was to kill him, then that could have happened very quickly and without all the theatrics.  However, the point was not just to kill him, but to embarrass him, demean him, degrade him, and hopefully discourage any others from following in his footsteps.  No just kill the person, but kill the idea of him and his cause as well.

                Well, that’s what we have here when it comes to Jesus.  If the ultimate goal was to eliminate the threat and nuisance that was Jesus of Nazareth, then that would have been fairly simple.  He could have been slain in Garden of Gethsemane at the time of his arrest.  He could have been killed in an almost prison-like shanking during his time imprisoned.  No, the point wasn’t just to kill him, but to do so in such a manner that his ministry, his legacy, and his credibility would all be shattered.  The chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees were all trying to kill not just the person of Jesus, but his teachings as well.  They were trying to make his being put to death so memorable, that no one would ever forget it.  Well, they succeeded in that regard, but not in the way they intended. 

Over the next few weeks leading up to Easter, we’re going to look at several of those characters who were there at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.  We’re going to look at things like the role they played, how they fulfilled Scripture, and how we, in some cases, mirror their actions still today.  Today, as we first look to one of the accounts of the crucifixion, I want to pay special attention to the role and function that the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees, as well as the people of Jerusalem, all play in the events and efficacy of the cross.

                To back up for just a second, we have to remember that the humiliation of Jesus didn’t begin with his arrest.  The humiliation of Jesus began in his coming to earth.  It began when the “Word became flesh” (John 1:14).  That humiliation continued through Jesus being born of parents of no account.  Now, at the time of our text, he’s been arrested, found guilty, had a hardened murderer freed instead of him, sentenced to the most shameful of deaths, publicly beaten, carried his cross up the hill, and then crucified.  As if that were not enough, then we find the events of our text today.  Those gathered around the scene there are not sitting in disbelief or stunned silence, they’re mocking him.  Jesus is first mocked by the soldiers (a text we will look at next Sunday), and then he’s mocked by the chief priests, the scribes, and the people as well.

                We’re told in the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that those who see him ridicule him, saying to him something to the effect of “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!  If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”  Now, a couple of things of note in these words:  the first of which being that these folks obviously weren’t very good at math.  I say that in jest because, as they point out, Jesus said that the temple, after being destroyed, would be rebuilt in three days.  Well, the temple (i.e. Jesus) hasn’t even been fully destroyed.  Three days has not come; it hasn’t even been one.  Of this fact, John Calvin wrote, “Such is the daring presumption of wicked men, when, under the pretence of the cross, they endeavour to cut them off from the hope of the future life.”  Now, it’s also of note here that no one living at this time equated Jesus with the temple.  No one understood that when Jesus said that he would raise the temple, that he was really talking about himself.  The second thing of note is that they are telling Jesus that if he’s the Son of God, then he ought to come down from the cross.  Now, this is ironic, seeing as how the best thing that anyone could hope for was for Jesus to remain on that cross until he died.  It’s because of his remaining on that cross that the price was paid for our sins.  It’s because of his not stepping down that the wrath of God was once-for-all satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ.  It’s funny; those who looked to God then had no clue what was really best for them.  Just as those who look to God today so often still have no clue what is really best for us.

                Did you notice the comparison that could be made between the words of the people there at the cross and the words of Satan in his temptation of Jesus in the wilderness after the Holy Spirit had descended upon him at the time of his baptism?  “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” sounds an awful lot like “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” (John 4:3).  It sounds a lot like “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down [this temple so that the angels will bear you up on their hands], lest you strike your foot against a stone.”  If ever there was a question about Satan’s using of this fallen world against the kingdom of God, let those who raise such questions look no farther than the words of these seemingly insignificant people there at the cross. 

                In addition to the people, the chief priests and the scribes echo their sentiments by saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”  It often saddens me to think of the spiritual state of things during Jesus’ time when we see such mockery and vitriol coming from the religious leaders of the day.  However, I am quickly reminded that we’re not immune from such issues today.  After all, the Pharisees were men of great spiritual discipline and devotion.  They were evangelistic.  They were faithful givers and demanded all others tithe as well.  They were devoted men of prayer and dedicated to the regular reading of Scripture.  All of these are qualities that we would say would make fine Christian pastors and leaders in today’s world.  Let the callousness and blindness of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day serve as a great reminder to us all that our faith and guidance is not to be sought in anyone outside of the person of Jesus Christ.

                So, we ultimately come to point of asking ourselves what role the actions of the chief priests and scribes and the people gathered there at the cross really played in terms of what happened at Calvary.  Well, the first thing is that they fulfill Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.  David, in his 22^nd Psalm wrote that the Messiah would be surround by both Jews and Gentiles at the time of his death.  The prophet Zechariah spoke several times of the Messiah’s being rejected and despised.  So, Christ’s being rejected and despised is a fulfillment of Scripture.  His being surrounded by Jews and Gentile at the time of his crucifixion is a fulfillment of Scripture.  Neither of these prophecies would have reached their full fulfillment had the hatred of Christ not been so great.  Had Jesus been killed in one of those more stealthy manners that we mentioned a moment ago, then these Old Testament prophecies would not have been fulfilled.

                Now before we bring this look to a close, I want to make one more point or bring up one more observation.  We’ve seen that there was anger.  We’ve seen that there was hatred.  We’ve even seen that one could make the strong case that Satan was present and active through people there at the cross.  Yet, God still accomplished the greatest act of love through the cross.  Despite the greatest efforts of Satan and the strong hatred displayed, the will of the Father was done.  After all, as Jesus lay there nailed to the cross, his life slowly coming to an end, Satan felt as if he had won.  He felt as if victory was his.  Well, much like the crown of England who thought that he had crushed the ideas behind William Wallace, Satan had in no way won victory on that day.  We might be tempted to say that he had won the battle, but God would win the war.  However, Satan didn’t even win the battle.  Through the mockery and the hatred and anger there at the cross, Jesus was actually accomplishing every detail according to God’s will.  God was saving the very people who shouted in anger at Jesus as they mocked him.  He was saving them just as He is saving those of us who shout in anger at Him today.  We may not vocalize it like the chief priests or the scribes.  We may not openly taunt Him like the people of Jerusalem, but we do sin and we do disobey Him.  However, God, through the very events that we will spend the next month or so looking at, saved us from the sins of that day, the sins of this day, and the sins of days yet to come.  Thank God that He works even through our straying, falling, and sinning to accomplish His purposes.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.