STUDY THEME: YOU CAN BE A WITNESS. 4-09-06.
YOU HAVE A MOTIVE. LUKE 23: 32-47.
LUKE 23: 32-34a, 34b-39, 40-43, 44-47.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO LUKE 23.
There are many reasons why Christians should be motivated to witness to others about Jesus Christ. First, many people do not understand that Jesus died to save them from their sins.
Second, some may realize they need forgiveness, but do not know how to find it.
Third, still others have heard the gospel but have not responded positively, perhaps because they are not sure how to respond or because they have rejected what they heard.
These and various other situations should motivate Christians to witness to others about Christ.
The Life Impact and Learning Goals of today’s lesson are designed to help us grow in our effectiveness as a witness for Christ by analyzing reasons we do not tell others about Jesus’ death and determining to tell at least one person this week about Jesus death.
1. PLEASE READ LUKE 23: 32-34a.
Between the Last Supper and the crucifixion, many events took place. Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. Judas led a group to arrest Jesus.
Luke the Physician wrote in Luke 23 that with Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, events moved rapidly. He underwent two trials, Jewish and Roman, each having three phases. The Jewish trial was before Annas the former high priest and Caiaphas’s father-in-law.
The second phase was before the Sanhedrin at night. The third phase was before the Sanhedrin after daylight.
The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of blasphemy and carried Him to Pilate as a revolutionist. Pilate questioned Jesus and found no crime of which He was guilty. The Roman trial was before Pilate, then before Herod Antipas, who mocked Jesus, and then again before Pilate. Pilate tried to get Jesus released by giving the people a choice between the prisoner, Jesus Barabbas and Jesus of Nazareth. The crowd chose Barabbas.
Pilate tried repeatedly to free Jesus, but under pressure from the Jewish Sanhedrin he finally sentenced Jesus to be crucified, and turned Jesus over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. . The Central Bible Truth of this lesson is that through His death on the cross, Jesus Christ provided salvation for those who believe. On the way to the cross, women lamented for Jesus. He told them to weep for themselves because of what would come upon Jerusalem.
Jesus was led to the place of crucifixion with two malefactors or criminals. The word Luke used to describe them means “evil-doers, But Matthew 27:38 and Mark 15: 27 called them “thieves,” using a word also used of Barabbas in John 18: 30.
This word was used of the terrorists who were trying to drive the Romans out by force and violence. These two men were probably friends of Barabbas who had been scheduled to die with them. The significance of Jesus dying between two sinners shows that He had come to save sinners. The crucifixion took place at Calvary which means “skull.” It was probably named for a rock formation that looked like a skull from the distance. Or it could have been named as a symbol of death, as people use a skull and crossbones today.
The generally accepted site is just outside Jerusalem’s northern wall, near where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre now stands and very close to the bus station. In the original language, Luke reduced the incredible event that took place on The Skull to three words—they crucified Him there.
Jesus was crucified on Friday of Passion Week, A.D. 30. The ordeal lasted from 9:00 A.M., until 3:00 P.M.
We call it Good Friday. But I ask, “What’s good about it?” It commemorates the blackest day in history, a day when a sinful humanity appeared at its worst.
Why do we call it Good Friday? Because it commemorates that Friday in A.D. 30 when Jesus died for our sins, as Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 5: 19 as “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” Thus we return once again to Calvary whence flows salvation into every believer in Jesus as Savior.
Crucifixion was one of the most terrible deaths a person could die. Roman citizens were exempt from it. It was used mostly on slaves and rebels. This method of execution was devised either by the Phoenecians who lived along the Mediterraneon coast, an area that is now in southern Lebanon, or by the Persians. In time, crucifixion was adopted by other people, including the Romans.
After the death of Spartacus, the Appian Way was lined with crosses. Crucifixion was a public execution that involved hours and often days of terrible pain and humiliation.
The usual procedure was to tie the prisoners’ arms to the crossbar while the executioners drove nails into the hands. Then the crossbar was lifted up and placed on the upright timber. Sometimes the feet also were nailed. A skeleton of a crucified man has been found in which the nail was driven through both ankles. This twisted the body and caused even more pain.
But Jesus suffered more than anyone who was ever crucified, for He bore the sins of the world as well as the physical pain and humiliation. The N.T. does not describe in detail the process of crucifixion. It focuses on the One who died and why He died.
Nothing so magnifies Jesus’ purpose than His prayer while He was being crucified. The word said in vs. 34a is in the imperfect tense in Greek. This means that He kept on praying during the time He was being crucified. He prayed this prayer while His hands were nailed to the crossbar and while the crossbar was placed on the upright. We don’t know how long He prayed the prayer of vs. 34, but we know that it highlights His purpose in dying as He did: Jesus died to make forgiveness possible for sinners.
For whom did He pray? There are three ways to interpret His words. The words “Father, forgive them are clear enough, but the words that cause differences of opinion are “for they know not what they do.”
One view is that Jesus was praying for the soldiers and other Romans, who did not understand what really was going on. The second view is that Jesus’ prayer included all except those who sent Him to His death knowing full well who He was, yet rejecting Him anyway. This would be the high priest Caiaphas and other Jewish leaders.
A third view is that the prayer included everyone, for He shed His blood for all people, no matter how wicked.
Jesus was not praying for some blanket forgiveness. There is a difference between being ignorant and being innocent. He was not denying the varying degrees of accountability for His death, but He was praying that God withhold judgment until these people could hear that His death was to make forgiveness available to the worst sinners.
2. PLEASE READ LUKE 23: 34b-39.
These verses identify the groups at the cross and the responses. The people were the people of Jerusalem. Since this was Passover season, some of them may have been Jews from outside Jerusalem. Some of the people were women from Galilee. Among the people were some of those who had cried, “Crucify Him” at the trial before Pilate.
When Jesus was being led to the cross, “there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him.” As Jesus was crucified they watched. We are not told why they watched. At this point the people took no stand either for or against Jesus.
The rulers took a more active role. They kept scoffing at Jesus. They were saying that if Jesus was who he said He was that Jesus should save Himself. As the Messiah or Christ, He claimed to have saved others.
They mocked Him because this Savior of others was unable to save Himself from the cross. There is ironic truth in what they said. They were wrong about the claim that Jesus could not save Himself and come down from the cross. If He had chosen to do so, He could have done that. Jesus, however, knew that it He saved Himself from the cross, He could not save sinners from their plight. Therefore, He bore their ridicule.
If we would expect dignity anywhere, we would expect to see it in the Sanhedrin, the judges who had brought Jesus to His death. Instead they were the self-appointed cheerleaders in taunting Jesus. They challenged Jesus to come down from the cross, to save Himself.
The soldiers were another group at the cross. They had cast lots to see which of them would get Jesus’ clothes. John 19: 23-24 tells us that they divided His clothes among themselves, but gambled for His robe, an action that fulfilled Psalm 22: 18 which says, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” The clothing of the condemned was one of the “perks” of the executioners.
These were hardened soldiers in a land where they were hated. They could gamble for the clothes of men whom they had crucified. This it is not surprising that these soldiers joined the religious leaders in mocking the man on the cross. They offered Him vinegar or sour wine. They said, “If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” The meaning of Christ to them was king. After all, the sign over Jesus’ head read, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” John 19: 20-21 tells us that the religious leaders tried to get Pilate to change the reading to “He said, I am King of the Jews,” Pilate refused, however.
Such a placard on a cross revealed the crime of the offender. Jesus was condemned for claiming to be a king, which made Him a revolutionary in Roman eyes because Caesar was the king of the Roman Empire.
When the Sanhedrin condemned Jesus, the charge was blasphemy: however, when they took Jesus to Pilate, they said “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ a king.” They used this to pressure Pilate into ordering the execution of Jesus. They threatened in John 19: 12 to tell Caesar that Pilate had released a rival king to him. Jesus was not trying to set up an earthly kingdom to replace Rome. He was convicted on a false charge. Pilate knew that, but his job and perhaps his life were at stake. Tiberius Caesar might believe the Jewish religious leaders.
Two others were there that day----the two criminals crucified on His right and on His left. Luke 23:39 records the response of one of these men to Jesus. The two criminals through their own pain heard what was said by Jesus and about Him. They had heard Jesus’ prayer and the mockery of the leaders and soldiers.
One of the criminals joined in the chorus of mockers. He said, “If thou be Christ save thyself and us.” Matt. 27:44 and Mark 15:32 indicate that at first both criminals joined in reproaching Jesus. This reproach and ridicule from all directions was a part of the suffering of Jesus. In a sense it was a recurrence of the wilderness temptations in which Satan tried to divert Jesus from His saving mission. Jesus had faced that temptation many times during His ministry. And here on the cross, He faced it once more.
What the mob did not see, what Pilate could not see, and what the Sanhedrin would not see, the penitent thief saw. He saw that Jesus was indeed the Christ suffering for his sins and for those of the entire human race. And that day before the sun set over the Mediterranean horizon, Jesus the Savior and the penitent thief entered the gates of glory.
3. PLEASE READ LUKE 23: 40-43.
The other criminal (usually called “the penitent thief”) responded to his companion’s mockery by rebuking him. He asked him if he feared God. In fact, his rebuke of his companion was a confession of his own guilt. He said that the two of them were suffering justly. He was aware of his own guilt and he confessed if from the cross. His words were also a kind of profession of faith in Jesus----at least in Jesus’ innocence of anything amiss (this man has done nothing wrong.”)
Then he addressed his words to Jesus. The oldest copies of Luke have “Jesus” instead of Lord. What did he know about Jesus, and how did he learn it? He knew that Jesus was suffering from something He didn’t do. He knew that He was King. He knew that He forgave those who crucified Him because he had heard Jesus praying. He had been a prisoner during the trials of Jesus and probably had heard talk about Him then. He doubtlessly had heard of Jesus and His ministry.
His faith was not the full Christian faith of a mature believer, but he believed that Jesus was King and that He would bring in His kingdom. And he acted on the faith he had. The fact that he believed at the cross is amazing. Most of he disciples were in hiding, but this criminal believed at the darkest time for people of faith.
His simple prayer was, “Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Whatever that kingdom was and whenever it came, he asked to be remembered.
What an encouragement his prayer must have been to Jesus! Jesus was faced with two different requests. One man wanted Jesus to save Him self and them. The other man asked to be remembered in the kingdom beyond the cross. The worst part of Jesus suffering was ahead. Satan was tempting Him to save Himself and do other good things that did not require such suffering. Yet, here was one believer in answer to Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness. If this criminal could repent and believe on the cross, he would be the first of many who could be saved if Jesus remained on the cross.
It must have been with great joy that Jesus said, “I assure you: today you will be with Me in paradise.” This saying of Jesus’ from the cross to the penitent thief is filled with meaning for us all.
For one thing it shows that salvation is by God’s grace. The man could not be baptized, join the church, or do good woks. All of these things are good and right for believers, but none of them assists in securing God’s forgiveness. This sinner was saved without any of the fruits of salvation.
This does not mean that his example is intended to encourage people to wait to the last minute to be saved. That would be a dangerous presumption. Many people die under circumstances in which they have no opportunity to repent. Further, people who repeatedly reject Jesus develop hearts that are hardened to spiritual realities. And remember, only one of the thieves repented in his last hours.
Jesus’ answer also has a message of hope of life after death. Jesus used the word today. Some have tried to detach this word from what follows. They make the word refer to the time Jesus was speaking as if He meant: “I say to you today, you will someday be with Me in paradise.” This is a poor translation and untrue to biblical teachings about when we go to heaven. Jesus clearly promised the penitent thief that he would be in paradise that very day. This also matches what Paul wrote about departing and being with Christ. He wrote in Phil. 1: 23 “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and be with Christ, which is the better.”
4. PLEASE READ LUKE 23: 44-47.
Luke did not tell us the significance of the darkness coming at this particular time. Darkness in the Bible often represents sin or judgment of sin. The best clue to its meaning here was the saying of Jesus from the cross. “My God , my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” These words of anguish represent the time when Jesus bore the sins of the world. None of us could ever plumb the depths of what He suffered, but He did it for us and He did it accordance with the will of His father.
Thus the purpose of the darkness may have been to show that sin was doing its worst and that God was judging sin as He opened the way of salvation.
Another one of the phenomena that accompanied Jesus’ death was the tearing of the veil in the temple. There were many veils in the temple, but the main one set apart the holy of holies as representing the presence of God. The holy of holies was so holy that only one person could enter it, and he only once a year on the Day of Atonement and then only with the proper sacrifices. This showed the holiness of God and the importance of sacrifices in order for sinful people to approach this God. Matt. 17:51 and Mark 15:38 reveal that the veil was torn from top to bottom, implying that God tore it apart as a result of the atoning death of Jesus.
The Book of Hebrews presents Jesus as our great High Priest and our once-for-all, all-sufficient sacrifice for sin. Thus the tearing of the veil provided access to God through Jesus Christ.
Now each believer is called in Heb. 4: 16 TO COME BOLDLY TO God’s throne of grace for mercy and for grace to help in time of need.
John recorded three sayings of Jesus from the cross that are not in the other Gospels. He told of Jesus entrusting the care of His mother to John in John 19:25-27, which probably took place before noon. He also recorded Jesus saying in vs. 28, “I thirst,” after He knew that He had fulfilled the Scriptures. Then came Jesus’ victory cry, “It is finished” in vs. 30. He did not say, “I am finished,” but it (His redemptive work) is finished.”
Luke, however, recorded what most believe were Jesus’ last words. Not surprisingly, Jesus spoke a payer. He began with the word Father. This was the word He used when He gave the Model Prayer to the disciples in Matt. 6: 9. Even when He felt forsaken, He addressed Himself to His Father. Now as He died, He did the same. We are not surprised that His prayer was a quotation from the O.T. He used the words from Psalm 31: 5 “Into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
Jesus is our Savior, but He also is our example. He knew the Scriptures and He prayed. So should we as His followers. His reliance on God is an example for us. Jesus lived and died with His life entrusted into His Father’s hands. We should begin and end each day with such a prayer.
There is a word play between the words spirit and gave up the ghost in the sentence “into thy hands I commend My spirit; and having said thus, He gave up the ghost.” “Gave up the ghost” was a way of saying that Jesus died. But notice Jesus remained in control even of His death. In the eyes of the cross people, Jesus died in shame, a crucified criminal. But in the eyes of God, He died in glory.
No one took Jesus’ life; He gave it up voluntarily. He voluntarily took our sins upon Himself and died in our behalf.
Luke informed us of the Roman centurion who had witnessed what took place. He glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” A centurion in the Roman army commanded 100 men. Centurions are viewed positively in the N.T. Jesus said of one centurion that his faith was greater than He had found in Israel.
Peter was lead to Cornelius, a centurion, who became a follower of Jesus in Acts 10: 22. A centurion named Julius treated Paul with consideration on his voyage to Rome in Acts 27: 1, 3.
The centurion in Luke 23:47 probably was in command of the soldiers who crucified the three men. Thus he was in position to see what happened and to hear what was said. He saw and heard all that Luke recorded about Jesus’ crucifixion.
The centurion added his voice to all those who realized Jesus was innocent of the charges against Him. This group included Pilate, Herod, and the penitent thief. This shows that Jesus was the ultimate Righteous Sufferer.
Although the centurion probably knew nothing of Isaiah 53, which predicts that the Suffering Servant would give His life for the salvation of sinners, his words point to Jesus as the fulfillment of that prophecy. Matt 17:54 and Mark 15: 39 relate that the centurion called Jesus “the Son of God.”
There was a marked change also in the general crowd. Hours earlier the crowd had called for Jesus’ death, but now when they saw it, they were struck in the heart. In Luke 23:48 “they went home striking their chests,” a phrase reflective of sorrow and contrition.
How many of these people were present weeks later when Peter informed the crowd of their role in Jesus death? There too the crowd in Acts 2:37 were “pierced to their heart” and sought deliverance.
In the background in Luke 23:49 were some of Jesus’ followers. They quietly took it all in. Luke did not record their response, but they surely saw all these events with shock and disbelief. Surely they experienced an overwhelming grief. But as we shall see next week, their grief did not last long.
Jesus had done all that even He could do to save us. Whether or not He is our personal Savior depends on our response to Him. He cried out, “Come unto me.” Our eternal destiny is determined by our response. It is our decision.
NEXT WEEK THERE WILL BE NO SUNDAY SCHOOL. THE CHURCH WILL MEET IN RALEY CHAPEL AT O.B.U. PLEASE READ OF OUR “RISEN LORD” IN LUKE 24.
A.V. DAUGHERTY <altav@swbell.net>