A Day of Destiny

A Day of Destiny

Luke 23:32-38

April 19, 2019 • South Side Good Friday Worship

NOTE: This message was 1 of 6 shared during the Terre Haute Community Good Friday (South Side) Worship at Free Life Community Church.

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 vinegar 37 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.

If you had been walking by the hillside outside of Jerusalem on this particular day early in the first century, you couldn’t have helped but notice a violent mob up on a hillside, bloodthirsty and caught up in the events that had taken over the city in the last few hours. No one would have suspected, even a day before, that so many people would be interested in the deaths of three men on top of the skull-shaped hill. But if you had been traveling down the road that led past that hill, you might have glanced up and, from a distance, you would not have been able to tell the difference between the three men. All of them were in agony, having been nailed by their wrists and ankles to wooden beams and suspended, literally, between heaven and earth. Maybe you would have known enough to realize that, most of the time, these three men would have hung there for hours or days, slowly losing blood and slowly, painfully suffocating to death. You might have heard moans or brief sentences, and as you headed on down the road you might have even heard the man in the middle say something about forgiveness. But really, from where you walked, there wouldn’t be much difference between these three men. From a distance, you couldn’t have known that, of the three, only one of them chose to be there.

The Gospel writers are ridiculously sparse in their description of the crucifixion. Basically, all four of them describe the act that led to Jesus’ death in this way: “And they crucified him.” Well, honestly, in that day you didn’t need to describe it to most people. They had seen crucifixions; they knew how awful they were. In fact, as C. S. Lewis once pointed out, no one depicted a crucifixion in artwork until everyone who had seen a real one had died (cf. Letters to Malcolm, pg. 85). So there’s not much detail in the Gospels. We actually have a better description of Jesus’ crucifixion in the Old Testament than we do in the New. In fact, in the passage I just read, everything Luke says points an observant reader back to the Old Testament. For starters, Isaiah tells us about a “mysterious” person he calls “the Servant of the Lord,” the one whom Christian tradition sees as a promise of the coming of Jesus, will be “numbered with the transgressors” (53:12). Luke puts it this way: “They crucified him there, along with the criminals” (23:33). Through the prophet Zechariah, God told us the Messiah would be crucified. The prophet puts it this way: “They will look on me, the one they have pierced” (12:10). Pierced—it was a promise from centuries before.

You can go on through the story this way. The famous Psalm 22, which some scholars believe Jesus was praying through as he was hanging there, foretells verse 34. The psalmist says, “They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment” (22:18). What does Luke says the soldiers did? They cast lots for Jesus’ garment, a seamless garment woven in one piece from top to bottom. That same psalm also says, “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads” (22:7). And what do we find in the Gospel account? Three times, Luke says, people are mocking Jesus, making fun of a dying man. The people: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One” (23:35). The soldiers: “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself” (23:36). And, as we’re going to hear from Pastor Jackson in a few moments, even one of the crucified criminals joined in, using what little breath he had to make fun of Jesus: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (23:39; cf. Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, pg. 255).

Of course, saving is exactly what Jesus is doing, but those folks standing nearby, the rejecters, will never see it (cf. Bock, Luke, pg. 374). The ones who condemned him, who brought Jesus to this moment, they refuse to see it. The evidence was there before any of this happened. The prophets and psalmists foretold it; this was a day of destiny centuries before it arrived, and yet those who studied such things, those who spent their days looking intently “into the perfect law that gives freedom” (cf. James 1:25)—they missed it. They missed it, just as surely as those wise scholars missed it thirty-three years before. The advisors to King Herod then knew the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, but they had no interest in making the brief journey down the road to see if it had happened. Now, hanging before them in brutal glory is that same Messiah, saving the world by his work on the cross, fulfilling the destiny given to him by his heavenly Father, and once again, they miss it. They miss it.

On this Good Friday, as we gather here to worship, to reflect, to ponder, to hear the Word, may we not miss it. That man on the center cross is there for one reason. The hopes and fears of all the years hang there between heaven and earth, and our destiny is in the balance. May we not miss it. Will you pray with me the response found in your bulletin?

Meditation and Response
Lord, we thank you for your commitment to our redemption, and how You were driven by that purpose. Forgive us that too frequently, we have not set our face steadfastly to fulfill for that which You have redeemed us. Amen.