Hey everybody, welcome back.
Thanks for joining us.
I appreciate you being with us on a Tuesday
as we continue through Luke’s gospel and specifically through the crucifixion narrative.
We saw the preface to that yesterday,
and today we get to the actual crucifixion scene fairly brief in Luke.
Luke doesn’t spend a great deal of time on it,
though he does include some details that we don’t see other places.
Let me go through this and come back and we’ll have some conversation.
Two others also who were criminals were led away to be put to death with Jesus.
When they came to
the place called the skull,
they crucified Jesus there with the criminals,
one on his right,
one on his left.
Then Jesus said, “Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they’re doing.”
And they cast lots to divide his clothing,
and people stood by watching,
but the leader scoffed
at him and said,
“He saved others, let him save himself if he’s the Messiah,
if he’s the chosen one of God.”
The soldiers also mocked him,
coming up and offering him sour wine and saying,
“If you’re the king of the Jews,
save yourself.” There was also an inscription over him,
“This is the king
of the Jews.” Maybe take a break there, Michael.
So,
relatively, if you’re a church person,
probably relatively standard stuff,
likely you know all of the things in this text.
Jesus says,
in the totality of the Gospels, in other words,
throughout the four Gospels,
Jesus says seven things from the cross,
and here we have one of them.
Though you will note,
if you’re looking at
your Bible, your Bible may have brackets around this thing that Jesus says,
“Father, forgive them, they do not know what they’re doing.” That is in some of the early texts and not in some of the
other ones, and so your Bible should point out to you that that’s not—it’s not unanimous as to
whether that is or isn’t a part of the earliest versions of Luke.
It is in some early versions
and not in others.
Maybe, though, to start with, Michael, we should back up.
We take a lot of this for granted.
Crucifixion is for the Romans,
kind of their primary punishment for political prisoners,
for insurrectionists, for what they called bandits,
but bandit didn’t mean a thief.
Bandit meant someone who led a revolt or acted out against Rome,
and it’s with that company that Jesus is crucified.
So, crucifixions were relatively common in their day.
They were public.
They were
agonizing,
took many hours for people to die on crosses,
and so this being done during the
likely lots of people,
lots of crowds.
And here, again, not all the Gospels give us this detail,
but here Jesus joins two others.
There are two others.
We know nothing, really, about who they are,
what they did, but they, again, are under this heading of bandit,
and they’re crucified with Jesus.
And Luke wants us to know—it’s very interesting—Jesus is in the center,
and I don’t think that’s,
you know,
that’s not an unimportant detail.
I think Luke wants to make
sure we understand one of the criminals is to Jesus’ right and the other two is left.
We, Clint, should be very clear at a juncture of the study like this that the themes of Luke,
the style of Luke
that we’ve now become very comfortable with in all of this time together,
remains true today, remains true as we go through the study.
And as I put up the text for you here,
I’d just like to note that this is half of the specific crucifixion scene.
The economy of words is noticeable,
is my point.
That Luke
is not embellishing this story.
He’s not adding any
more details than are necessary.
This is Luke at its very core.
And I want to just make sure that
we understand that what Luke does is introduce us to the characters who are relevant in the story.
There are two others who are with Jesus—those are criminals—but none of the church history,
church tradition stuff that we get,
even in other Gospels,
some more details about some of that.
Luke is interested—Jesus is being hung with criminals who deserve the punishment that they’ve been given.
And then I think it’s worth noting that the introduction of the characters we have
in this passage in 35,
we have the people standing by with the leaders who are scoffing.
And in 36,
you have soldiers.
I think the grouping of that is not accidental.
You have the people of Israel,
the religious rulers, the very one who likely came to capture Jesus from the garden.
They are there triumphantly looking on as Jesus dies,
a criminal’s death.
And then on top of that,
you have the power and symbol of Roman might,
the mighty Roman soldier,
the one who has been
successful in subjugating the people of Israel,
the ones that the people are hoping to be freed
from, the people that they have been longing for—Messiah are longing for these Roman soldiers to be gotten rid of.
And it is the Roman soldier with these religious leaders who Luke wants us to know.
They’re both there.
They’re both watching.
So both sides of the fence are represented in this scene.
And
Luke is able to do that in just a few short sentences.
It’s a beautifully, simply told story, and yet it includes all the details that we need to have.
Yeah, and check me on this,
Michael, because I don’t think that Luke is making
a theological point, but we have seen in this gospel,
particularly as we’ve kind of crescendoed
into the crucifixion story here,
that Luke isn’t as interested in the idea of the crowd.
It has been consistent that Luke has highlighted the role of religious leaders and the chief
stood by.
In other gospels, we get the idea that the crowd has animosity toward Jesus,
that the crowd is chanting,
that the crowd cries,
“Crucify Him,” the crowd cries, “Barabbas.”
Luke has kind of distanced the crowd,
and that’s not his way of saying that the crowd is somehow innocent.
But it is that for Luke,
the blame for this,
or at least the highlight that he wants to
show, it really lands squarely on the religious leaders.
This is a religious conflict
in Luke’s telling of it, and I think even something as subtle as that phrase,
“The crowd stood by,” watching,
not necessarily participating.
It’s not to say they weren’t.
It’s just that distance doesn’t really
exist in the other gospels as much.
The crowd becomes a more active player rather than an
observer, and I think it’s interesting that Luke has taken this approach instead.
There’s a teaching in that,
Clint.
There’s a way of both warning the religious that would set
themselves against Jesus.
There’s also a kind of reminder that the people are to be understood as
being those who are being forgiven as well.
I think that there’s a kind of nuance to that,
but it’s fascinating that you pointed out
that’s exactly, in our translation,
the English translation of this, that’s exactly five,
six words.
That’s the point I think I wanted to make, is that ultimately,
Luke is by definition not trying to tell us all of the details.
He’s trying to tell us the details that we need to know.
And I think that that’s interesting,
especially as we turn our attention to
what the criminals are now going to say to Jesus.
These two individuals who are introduced at the
beginning of this story,
they go on and we catch a glimpse of the words that they share with Jesus
being hung to the left and to the right.
I think that
this is an amazing way of telling the story
to allow us to be in the story,
but I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.
Darrell Bock Yeah, I think before we get there,
the only thing, and this is not unique to Luke,
but their idea that there was a sign,
there is this inscription,
“This is the king of the Jews.” And
certainly, Luke wants believers to
understand the irony of that,
that it is hung as sarcasm,
it is hung as insult,
and yet,
without knowing it, those who have branded Jesus with that title have proclaimed the truth.
The reader knows that that’s accurate,
that that is real,
that that is genuine,
and yet, in the story, it functions for those who are opposed to Jesus as criticism,
as insult or ridicule.
And it is,
it again, it’s just one of those nice nuances that Luke gives us that highlights the story.
But let’s look at this scene.
I believe only Luke gives us this scene,
only Luke gives us this conversation.
Verse 39, “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding Jesus and saying,
‘Aren’t you the Messiah,
Savior self and us?’
But the other rebuked him and said,
‘Do you not fear
God since you’re under the same sentence of condemnation?
And we indeed have been condemned
justly, for we’re getting what we deserve for our deeds,
but this man has done nothing wrong.’
Then he said,
‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’
Jesus replied,
‘I tell you the truth,
today you will be with me
in paradise.’”
So, again, Luke, and I believe only Luke,
lets us over here.
There are references to the criminals in other gospels.
They’re in one gospel,
I believe it’s Mark.
They join the crowd in shouting at Jesus.
But here, Luke dials that focus even further.
One of them,
ironically, given that he’s there
having the same punishment,
lashes out against Jesus,
“Oh, you know, oh, sure, you’re the Messiah, why don’t you do something?” And the other one chastises him,
rebukes him, and then turns to Jesus
in this beautiful moment of faith,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
And it is fascinating,
I think, Michael, that in Luke,
really the first person to appeal to Jesus as Savior in the cross is a thief.
We’ve seen this consistently throughout the gospel.
It is the lowly who come to Jesus.
Jesus is criticized for
his welcoming sinners, for eating with them,
for being with the wrong people.
And here, while the disciples have abandoned him and Peter has denied him and nobody else knows what to do with this situation,
we have a condemned,
a man who by his own words is condemned justly,
who turns to Jesus
in faith and says,
“Remember me when you come to your kingdom.” What an unlikely thing to say to
a man who’s dying on the cross.
When you come to your kingdom,
what can that mean?
That is a profound
statement of faith for this man at this moment.
And I think that can go unnoticed,
but I don’t think Luke wants it to.
Yeah, you’re right, Clint.
I think that the fascinating move that has happened now,
if we are attentive to it,
is in the first part of the story,
we have been introduced to the ones
who put Jesus on the cross,
the religious leaders and,
of course, the powers of the world.
Now we’re introduced to the choice that that gives to everyone that follows.
We all are one of those
criminals on the cross.
We all stand in these very words,
getting what we deserve for our own deeds.
The question is whether or not we turn to the one who has been condemned for us or that we
essentially deride him or rebuke him.
The way that Luke tells the story is he both combines
the setup of those who bring Jesus to this point and then also the choice for every believer that will follow.
And letting us into that conversation is surprising,
Clint,
from the reader’s perspective,
not from Luke’s perspective.
And you’re exactly right to say that.
But we shouldn’t be surprised
that some of the deepest spiritual lessons we’re going to learn in this story are going to be from
those that society has literally pushed to the outside edges,
that the people who have done the most wrong,
the people who deserve the least amount of time and attention,
those are the people who
are going to get it first.
And that’s exactly what happens in this book.
Now, what’s fascinating is the story goes on is that there are more characters who are going to get it and they’re
also going to surprise us.
But the first one is the one who’s rightly convicted with Jesus
in that moment, turning to Jesus.
And I think just as tellingly and soberingly and dare I say
even darkly is the one who doesn’t.
And that’s intended,
that in the midst of our own sin,
we are just as likely to be clouded in our vision of who Jesus is as we are to see him for who he is.
And paradise,
that idea of something redeeming on the other side of the cross or death,
the idea that that thing is
a bifurcated reality.
It’s binary.
It’s one or the other.
That’s a very stark reality that Luke is painting for us and doing so theologically from the story of Jesus
in this moment.
I think one of the things Luke would appreciate about this story is it does present the idea of choice.
You have two guilty men who look to Jesus and have to ask the question of,
“Is there hope for me?” And one of them seems to join the crowd.
But the other,
and I do, I don’t want to overdo this,
but this is such a profound statement of trust.
Remember me
when you come into your kingdom.
So what has this man done?
He’s confessed his guilt,
and he’s placed hope in the dying Jesus,
believing that somehow the dying Jesus
might have a kingdom that can include him after his own death.
And I think that’s almost certainly, I don’t…
I think you would have a very hard time reading this as if he thinks Jesus is going
to let him off the cross.
I don’t think that’s in this at all.
He sees in Jesus a hope that might
include even him in spite of his guilt and in spite of his sin and in spite of his failures.
And
I think we maybe underestimate the size of this confession or the size of these words.
This is one of the largest proclamations of faith I think we run into in the Gospels,
maybe in the Scripture.
And then there’s this last bit.
Jesus speaks with assurance and reassurance.
“I tell you today you
will be with me in
paradise.” So what does Jesus respond?
He responds with promise.
He responds with hope.
Now,
just for whatever it’s worth,
people have taken this and said they’ve tried
to weigh into the argument,
“Do you go to heaven when you die,
or is it later?” That’s a
conversation that happens.
And some people will point to the fact that Jesus says today
that that’s not what Luke is writing about.
I think that’s not the purpose this serves.
This is a word of affirmation.
I don’t know that you need to worry about the literal timing
of what Jesus means here.
I think that’s just to look for something that the text isn’t really
intended to be about.
So I think we can get distracted,
but we don’t need to.
Jesus speaks
reassurance and hope to this man who has put his trust and his faith in Jesus and says,
“You will be with me in paradise even today,” for whatever we think that means.
So, Clint, I think that the question that a close reader is going to ask of the text is,
“What kind of king is Jesus?” And that question goes all the way back to what we read in 2333,
a few days ago,
when Pilate asked Jesus,
“Are you the king of the Jews?” And Jesus answers,
as you remember coyly,
“You say so.” That moves forward.
We remember that Pilate’s ultimately
going to say to the crowd that he sees no reason to crucify Jesus.
We know that that is a way of
saying that Jesus is not some kind of worldly threat,
because if that was the case,
then Rome has a way of dealing with those insurrectionists.
But here,
I think it’s really fascinating,
“Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” hanging under a sign that says,
“This is the king
of the Jews.” The question to the discerning reader is,
“What kind of king is this?” And
Luke provides the answer.
It’s the kind of king who can reign on the other side of death itself.
It’s a kind of kingdom that lives outside of any humanly conceived kingdom before.
This is the claim that Luke is making,
that if you look at Jesus hanging in the cross to the world,
this is a political execution and the ending of a human life.
But from the perspective of faith,
it is the fulfillment of Jesus’ teaching and prophecies.
It’s the culmination of a life and ministry lived,
and it’s a culmination not in the sense of ending,
but rather in inaugurating
something brand new.
And yes,
the idea that the person who sees that and speaks with faith,
that idea of what Jesus says today,
is that an expression that today this man has expressed
faith, or today this is going to happen in paradise.
Clearly, what Luke is interested in
us seeing is the nature of who Jesus is, not clarifying
our natural
questions about what does
this new kingdom look like and how quickly do I enter into it.
To a man who’s hanging on the cross
next to Jesus, who’s just expressed,
as you’ve said rightly,
Clint, maybe one of the greatest
statements of faith imaginable,
to that man,
Jesus says,
“Your faith will result in something
beyond what you can imagine.” Paradise.
Something beyond what you could even have experienced in
this life.
That hope, that promise, is the kind of thing that just comes right on the heels of
the prophetic word that Jesus offered to the daughters of Jerusalem,
saying, “You should be weeping, not for me.
You should be weeping that you’ve had children for all the suffering to come
to you.” But to this man who’s expressed faith in him and the work that he’s doing,
the man who’s standing upon his own,
the doorstep of death for himself,
is to that man that Jesus proclaims hope
and promise and new life.
And that’s the kind of king that Jesus is.
That’s the kind of kingdom that he’s inaugurating.
And Luke is teaching us that,
I think, in a meaningful way.
Yeah.
I think one of the answers to your question,
Michael, what kind of kingdom is it?
It’s the kind of kingdom where there’s hope for sinners,
and that’s Luke’s encapsulation of the gospel,
I have to imagine.
That’s why Luke found this scenario,
this conversation, so compelling,
because Jesus’ near-last act is to proclaim forgiveness.
He said it in the first part of
the passage, “Forgive them, they do not know what they are doing,
and now to even the guilty.
They were guilty, now this man is guilty.” So we have the corporate pronouncement,
and then we have the personal pronouncement.
So what kind of king is this?
This is the kind of
king that forgives sinners.
What kind of kingdom is this?
This is the kind of kingdom that sinners
have hoped to enter through Jesus Christ,
and that’s the gospel.
That’s the story, that’s the proclamation,
and Luke does just an incredible job of condensing it down and
handing it over to us.
To an onlooker standing on the hill that day to one of the members of
that crowd or the religious leaders or the Roman soldiers,
this looked to be one thing.
Absurd.
It looked to be men being killed for crimes committed.
What Luke wants the reader to know
is that that is only in the world of physical appearances,
and that if someone knows the rest
of the story, as we do,
we know there’s much more happening there.
And that’s, I think, the power of Luke’s storytelling.
Luke doesn’t need to add a whole lot of embellishments.
He needs to add a whole lot of character details.
He doesn’t need to flesh out the life story of these criminals.
What he needs to do is show us Jesus.
And if we see Jesus in the story,
then we understand that all of these other alternative perspectives are finite and limited,
and that ultimately Jesus
is going to be above all of them.
And that’s the challenge of the text,
right?
There are two men,
these two thieves, who look at Jesus,
and the question is,
“What do they see?” And then the question for the reader is,
“What do you see?”
On one hand, you have this ridiculous scene.
Two men being charged for something
are hung on crosses next to a man being charged for religious crimes,
who tells one of them,
“You will be with me today in my kingdom.” That makes no sense.
That is crazy.
Absurd.
And yet Luke says,
“There’s more to it than that.” And that’s the choice that the gospel
offers us.
What do you see when you see Jesus?
And we’ve seen that now through the eyes of Pilate, Herod,
the crowd to some extent,
and ultimately the religious leaders,
and now these two men who
see two different things,
or at least potentially,
apparently, see two different things.
And so,
as Luke comes to the culmination of the gospel,
ultimately the question for us will be,
“And now what do you see?” There’s a lot.
There’s a lot to see.
And ultimately, I think as we come
down to that question of faith,
we’re going to turn directly to the heart of this matter as we
continue this story tomorrow.
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