112319 – Luke 23. 33-43
Jesus was right where he WANTED to be.
He WAS – where “he knew he HAD to be.”
It was like one last show of solidarity, of comrade-ry.
With the OUTCAST…
With the CRIMINAL…
With the MARGINALIZED…
With the COMMON MAN…
With YOU and me…
Even with the HATED and the DESPISED…
The word translated as “criminal” might include criminals-malefactors-or even evil-doers. By a simple stretch it might also include robbers, bandits, revolutionaries or even insurrectionists.
YEP, that’s where he NEEDED to be.
The prophet ISAIAH had recorded those strange words long ago… “And he was numbered with the LAWLESS.”
Well not only is Jesus with criminals, but he himself IS being TREATED as a common everyday criminal.
That’s WHERE he best identified, NOT with criminals per se but with the “average guy” on the streets.
Which is probably the same reason Luke changes the Sermon on the Mount, to the Sermon on the plain…
It was not just a matter of perspective – it was where Jesus carried out his life’s work and ministry…with the people. The common people…in the streets and alley-ways…
The poor and the downtrodden…
He met them WHERE they were…on the plain…
If you listened carefully or read the story again on your own time…
THOSE mocking Jesus include a VERY SPECIFIC “grouping of people.” The mockers include: first off and foremost the Judean leadership, the ELITES of Jerusalem…you know, like the Pharisees, the Scribes and the Sadducees…dare we say, the Temple Priests?
They are followed by a handful of Roman SOLDIERS who stand watch over the crucifixion itself – it is their JOB, to keep watch, to make sure things go off peacefully…quiet…without a stir…business as usual.
And the last of his mockers is strangely enough one of the CRIMINALS he is being crucified with…
But you notice WHO does NOT mock him? That would be the CROWDS…that would be the PEOPLE gathering around and watching…
The crowds stay out of it…
They are in shock…they are horrified.
They are in mourning…
This Jesus was their HOPE…he was their friend.
So in their “awful MOCKING way,” the Jerusalem elites TAUNT him by using religious language…calling him “The Christ of God, his chosen one.”
And it only makes good sense that the soldiers use “the language of the charges” that is raised against him…KING of the Jews, they call him.
But one of those being crucified with him – refers to him as being the CHRIST…a Greek word meaning “MESSIAH” … the “anointed one.”
Deriding, taunting, heckling, insulting, mocking…making fun of…and tormenting him in his agony…
Talk about “hitting a man when he is down!”
Even the presence of the “sour wine” speaks volumes. It was not so sour, as it was cheap. It was watered down. It was the poorest-quality of wine known. It was a common drink for “common people” and for soldiers-who could never afford the “high-brow-stuff.” It too was offered to him, this “common man being crucified.”
Outside of a side-bar with the criminals he was hanging with…did you hear “the amazing words” he uttered?
Who says this as they are being tortured?
Who says this stuff in their final dying moments…
The crowds heard it…they knew what he had said…
It was more like a prayer. He was talking with God…blessed be he…He was praying for them all. The Jerusalem elite, the soldiers, the criminals, the crowds…standing nearby. It was, as if, he was praying for everyone.
Father he said, “Forgive them, for they know NOT what they do.”
Forgiveness from a cross of crucifixion… WHO DOES THIS? And we profess…HIS KINGDOM HAS NO END…we can only be talking about “one man” – King Jesus…who still RULES over some hearts today! Does he rule over yours? Amen!