Monthly Archives: April 2020

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – FORGIVEN!

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FORGIVEN!

“Two others, both criminals, were taken along with him for execution.

“When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified Him, along with the criminals, one on His right, the other on His left.

“Jesus prayed, ‘Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.’

“Dividing up His clothes, they drew dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, ‘He saved others. Let’s see Him save Himself. The Messiah of God – ha! The Chosen — ha!'” Luke 23:32-35.

Luke’s story has very little detail. It’s almost as though he deliberately pulled the curtain on Jesus’ suffering. He was sensitive and discreet about his descriptions, writing only about those things which related to the character of Jesus and the fulfillment of prophecy – although he didn’t mention that fact in his story. He was writing about the Son of God, not a sensational tabloid account of a criminal’s last hours. Even Jesus’ criminal companions come in for the same kindly discretion.

Right in the middle of this tragic event there stands a shining light of hope for all of them; soldiers, perpetrators, unfeeling crowd, and even the two guilty men hanging on their crosses beside Him. One sentence echoes down through time, embracing everyone, from the first pair who set the ball rolling to every other person who has lived, and will live, to perpetuate the first pair’s rebellion against their Creator.

“‘Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.'”

Jesus encapsulated in His prayer the reason for this heinous deed, the responsibility for which sits squarely on the shoulders of every person who has lived. “They do not know what they are doing.” He extended forgiveness, then, to all of us now, since we have no idea of the implications of our stubborn rebellion against God.

Do you know how far-reaching one act of selfishness can be in your life? One careless word, one lie, one act of treachery or betrayal, one night of lust, one stolen kiss, one impulsive decision, can ruin a life, a family and even an entire community in a split second. We are left with a lifetime to regret what we did in a moment.

The spilt blood of Jesus speaks up for you even in the situations that leave you helpless and condemned. You did not know what you were doing! That does not excuse your behaviour. Jesus’ sacrifice does not remove the responsibility for our sin. He paid the debt by giving His life for ours, blood for blood, so that the Father’s justice would be fully satisfied.

The implications of Jesus’ gift are huge. Not only has the debt of our sin been paid but also the debt of those who have sinned against us. We no longer have the right to punish those who owe us because it is illegal to punish a person twice for the same sin.

This makes the sin of unforgiveness unforgiveable. It would be morally wrong for God to clear our debt if we refuse to clear the debt of someone who owes us. That makes unforgiveness an “unpardonable” sin which can take even a believer into eternal separation from God.

Jesus lived out His own teaching in the midst of His cruellest suffering. He was innocent, yet He forgave those who were responsible for putting Him there. He was there because He chose to be there, willingly submitting to His Father’s will. There was no other way to reconcile God’s wayward sons and daughters to Himself.

Jesus does not expect us to do what He did not do first. He taught us and showed how to live by His own impeccable choice to obey the Father to His last breath. He led the way and calls us to follow. In that there is life!

 

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – CRY FOR YOURSELVES

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CRY FOR YOURSELVES

“As they led Him off, they made Simon, a man from Cyrene, who happened to be coming in from the countryside, carry the cross behind Him. A huge crowd of people followed along with women weeping and carrying on. At one point Jesus turned to the women and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when they’ll say, ‘Lucky the women who never conceived! Lucky the wombs that never gave birth! Lucky the breasts that never gave milk!’ Then they’ll start calling on the mountains, ‘Fall down on us!’ calling to the hills, ‘Cover us up!’ If people do this to a live, green tree, can you imagine what they’ll do with dead wood?'” Luke 23:26-31 (The Message).

Small talk between Jesus and the women! He’s on His last journey through the city. Exhausted and weakened by the long, sleepless night, the terrible beating He had received from the Roman soldiers, the gruelling trips through the city to Pilate, to Herod and back to Pilate, the incessant chanting and needling by the crowd, He was too weak to carry the crossbar which would support His battered body soon to be suspended on it.

Anyone else in that situation would have had no thought for the people around him. He would have been too preoccupied with his own suffering and what lay ahead to be bothered with the onlookers. Not Jesus!

He was acutely aware of the implications of what they were doing to Him. The women were not. They did not understand the reason for His dying. They saw only a bloodied Jesus, perhaps dear to them because of a loved one released from pain or sickness because of His compassion, perhaps His own beloved following of women among them.

Jesus was moved by their wailing. He understood their sorrow but He also knew something of which they were unaware. He painfully turned towards them. ‘Dear women,’ He said, ‘Don’t cry for me. My suffering is short-lived and has a purpose. Cry for yourselves because what they are doing to me today had far-reaching implications. In three day’s time I will be alive again. But your suffering will have just begun. It will be so terrible that you will wish you had never been born.’

What did Jesus know that prompted these words? Their representatives had judged Him that day but their judgment had decided their own fate. In the span of one generation, they would cease to exist as a nation. Many thousands would be slaughtered in the city until their blood ran like a river in the streets. Their “indestructible” temple would be torn down, its stones scattered like pebbles, its gold and treasures plundered, and the city taken over by Gentiles for almost two thousand years.

They had rejected their Messiah and refused to acknowledge who He was. They had shut their ears to His message and their eyes to His love. They had seen but refused to comprehend His glory, His perfect mirror image of the Father. They thought they knew better and killed Him rather than admit they were wrong. Most of all, they were too comfortable in their greed and in their power over the people to think about their future. So they turned justice upside down and declared Him guilty and, by implication, themselves innocent.

The anguish in the heart of Jesus for these women was far greater than their anguish for Him. The outcome for Him was everything He and the Father had planned – resurrection and return to the Father, and reconciliation that would bring His alienated sons and daughters back to Himself.

But the way back to the Father is to believe and receive His offer of forgiveness and restoration. ‘Your sin did this to me, but my death will set you free from the debt you owe me if you accept what I did for you and return to the Father.’

FORGIVEN!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – PILATE CAVED IN

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PILATE CAVED IN

“Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go, and so spoke out again.

“But they kept shouting back, ‘Crucify! Crucify Him.’

“He tried a third time. ”But for what crime?’ I’ve found nothing in Him deserving death.’ I’m going to warn Him to watch His step and let Him go.’

“But they kept at it, a shouting mob, demanding that He be crucified. And finally they shouted him down. Pilate caved in and gave them what they wanted. He released the man thrown into prison for rioting and murder, and gave them Jesus to do whatever they wanted.” Luke 23:20-25.

And so, finally, the mob prevailed. They wore Pilate down until he gave in to shut them up and to keep the peace.

We would do well, at this moment, to consider their choice. Because of the custom to release a prisoner at Passover, they had to choose between two men, Barabbas, a murderer, and Jesus, the Son of God, who had come to give life, not take it.

“Barabbas” means “son of the father”. Of whose father was he the son? On one occasion the Jewish leaders had an altercation with Jesus. He had promised them freedom if they obeyed His teaching. They protested. “‘We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?'” John 8:33 (NIV).

Jesus responded with a shocking statement: “‘If you were Abraham’s children…then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I have heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father did.’ John 8:38b-41 (NIV).

They protested that God was their Father. Jesus’ response was, ‘Prove it. Who do you resemble?’

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here…Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there was no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.'” John 8:42-44 (NIV).

The choice of the mob is understandable when we recognise who Barabbas was, the “son” of his father the devil and of the same family as those who wanted him freed. They were all inadvertently in league with one another because, on their own unwitting admission, Jesus’ accusers were also sons of the devil. They displayed the nature of the devil because he was a murderer from the beginning.

Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. How true was His claim? To be the “son of” in Jewish thought was to be from the same source and to display the same nature as the father, a sort of “chip off the old block”.

How true was this claim? Was Jesus connected to His Father as His source? Did He display the same nature as the Father? “‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?'” We have spent months travelling with Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. We have to answer Jesus’ challenge with a resounding “No!” Everything Jesus said and did revealed His union with the Father and His revelation of the Father’s nature. He was always a giver, never a taker of life.

By their choice of Barabbas, the Jewish religious leaders and the mob they led, acknowledged that the devil was their “father” and admitted their alienation from God. Pilate, in his weakness, joined hands with them.

We have already made our choice, Barabbas or Jesus. It all depends on which father we display – the devil or God. To be against or indifferent to Jesus means that we are also of the devil and stand condemned as Pilate did.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE BATTLE IS ON!

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THE BATTLE IS ON!

“Then Pilate called in the high priests, rulers and the others and said, ‘You brought this man to me as a disturber of the peace. I examined him in front of all of you and found there was nothing in your charge. And neither did Herod, for he has sent Him back here with a clean bill of health. It’s clear He’s done nothing wrong, let alone anything deserving of death. I’m going to warn Him to watch His step and let Him go.’

“At that the crowd went wild: ‘Kill Him! Give us Barabbas!’ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for starting a riot in the city and for murder).” Luke 23:13-19.

Pilate’s true colours begin to show in this exchange with the Jewish religious hierarchy. Their resolve to kill Jesus was pitted against his resolve to set Him free. Into the mix came Pilate’s fear of a riot in Jerusalem and underneath that, his fear for his own skin.

His first step towards defeat was his attempt to negotiate with Jesus’ accusers. He was the highest Roman authority in Jerusalem and he had the last word. Why did he try to enter into an agreement with them? He could have simply given them his verdict, released Jesus and that would have been that. But he did not. He tried to appease them by bringing Herod into the picture, (so much for Herod’s part in this ‘justice’ system!), and trying to convince them that he and Herod were in agreement regarding His innocence.

His approach through reason met with a barrage of violent opposition. The bottom line was: ‘We want Jesus dead. Justice does not come into it any more. Even if we have to trade His life for a dangerous man’s, we will bulldoze you into agreeing to the death sentence.’

And so, spurred on by their religious leaders, the mob began their campaign of intimidation. Their first weapon was unrestrained behaviour coupled with volume and vehemence. They also had a big gun – the practice of releasing one prisoner at Passover. The other gospels state that the initiative came from Pilate. He offered Barabbas, knowing that he was a violent criminal, and hoping that the mob would choose Jesus because He gave no evidence of being dangerous in spite of their accusations.

That plan did not work. In fact it only seemed to add fuel to the flames. Instead of appeasing them, he added to his problem by offering to release into society a man who had already taken lives. It was becoming more and more difficult for him to put the brakes on. Even his offer to have Jesus beaten was a pathetic substitute for what they were demanding.

Behind this tussle between civil and religious authorities lay the real battle, but we must never think that it was war between two evenly matched powers, God and Satan. Amazingly, the scales were tipped against Jesus from the beginning and He knew it. He was also a willing party to it because God’s passion to rescue mankind from the devil’s clutches had to be satisfied through Jesus’ sacrificial death, blood for blood, an innocent man for the guilt of mankind because that was the only way for the debt of man’s sin to be paid.

“‘This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead…'” Acts 2:23-24a (NIV).

Peter was there and he saw it all. Could there be any clearer statement than his? “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV). After all, there was no contest. It was Pilate’s decision and he was responsible for it, as were those who yelled for Jesus’ death. But God had the last word and, through Jesus’ death, exposed and vanquished the devil once for all! 231

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – PARTNERS IN CRIME

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PARTNERS IN CRIME

“Herod was delighted when Jesus showed up. He had wanted for a long time to see Him; he’d heard so much about Him. He hoped to see Him do something spectacular. He peppered Him with questions. Jesus didn’t answer — not one word. But the high priests and religion scholars were there, saying their piece, strident and shrill in their accusations.

“Mightily offended, Herod turned on Jesus. His soldiers joined in, taunting and jeering. Then they dressed him up in an elaborate king costume and sent Him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became thick as thieves. Always before they had kept their distance.” Luke 23:8-12 (The Message).

Now it’s Herod’s turn — the other authority figure responsible for justice in the land. It took a run-in with the truth to show his true colours. He emerged as an even more unsavoury character than Pilate, who was at least honest enough to consider the accusations and acknowledge Jesus’ innocence.

To Herod, Jesus was nothing but an object of amusement and a plaything. When Jesus refused to dance to his tune, he tossed Him aside with contempt. It was not justice he was after but entertainment for his own pleasure. He led the way, giving the soldiers permission by his own attitude, to humiliate Jesus by their words and actions.

It was also the soldiers’ turn to confirm their guilt in this saga. By their behaviour, they condemned themselves to the same fate as all the others. They had no personal axe to grind with Jesus and yet they treated Him like an enemy, cornered prey that they could torment before killing because, for a short time, they had Him in their power, so they thought.

Always, in the background, the religious hierarchy pranced around like hyenas, there in force to ensure that the prey did not escape.

Each one in this unfolding drama reveals his true self and confirms his culpability before God. And so with us. The value of this record would be lost to us if we did not place ourselves somewhere in this story. We may not occupy a seat of justice or rulership but we have to face the same Jesus and make a decision regarding who He is.

Like the people directly responsible for His death, we have to come up with a verdict. Was He an imposter, guilty of blasphemy or treason, or was He the Son of God and King of kings? If we declare Him guilty as charged, we have not honestly evaluated the evidence. If we declare Him innocent, we stand guilty with those who condemned Him to death unjustly, because all humanity was represented in that act.

The sequel to this bizarre chain of events was the unlikely alliance that came about that day. In their unwillingness to fulfil their duty to serve justice on a condemned man, Pilate, the arrogant and ruthless representative of Roman government and Herod, the half-Jew playboy ruler of Galilee, joined hands in condemning Jesus to death and became partners in the worst crime ever committed by human beings. Pilate, by handing an innocent man over to the will of a religious mob and Herod, by his callous indifference, washed their hands of God then, but have to face Him again.

What about us? If we choose to wash our hands of Jesus now, as Pilate did then, we too will have to face Him again, and this time He will be in the seat of justice. His perfect justice will be to give us exactly what we want – nothing to do with Him.

Peter and his fellow disciples were equally guilty on that day. One denied and they all deserted Him, but they came back and Jesus forgave them on the same grounds that He always forgives, “They do not know what they are doing.” They had no idea of the implications of their behaviour. Neither did Pilate or Herod but they never returned to receive the same mercy and forgiveness extended to the disciples.

How much better to return now and acknowledge your part in Jesus’ death. He was the sacrificial lamb put to death for you, blood for blood, so that you may receive the gift of His life, and never have to face the judgment that would sever you from Him forever.