His Chosen One

Your King Who Remembers You

11.20.22 [Mark 10:1-16] River of Life (21st Sunday after Pentecost)

In four days, all kinds of people across our nation & expats in far-flung places will pause and give thanks. In four days, the most wide-eyed child and the crustiest old cynic will agree that they have reasons to give thanks. Even more surprisingly, there will be those who deny the existence of any god that pause and reflect on the good things they enjoy and celebrate Thanksgiving. While they may not praise the God from whom all good and perfect gifts flow, they will still, for a moment, recognize that they are not directly responsible for generating all of the good things they enjoy in life.

But maybe that shouldn’t surprise us. People are increasingly embracing the importance of gratitude. Harvard University health experts have identified a strong and consistent association between expressing gratitude and happiness, improved physical health, increased emotional resiliency, and stronger relationships. But it’s not just psychologists who have made these observations. Some of the most influential voices in society make it a point each day to express their gratitude. Again and again, we hear being grateful is a choice.

Choice & gratitude are closely linked in our culture. Our modern celebration of Thanksgiving is remarkably choice-centric. Most Thanksgiving strived for Norman Rockwell’s ideal. Family gathered around the finer things. Fine linens and china. Everyone wearing their best clothes and flashing their best smiles until that plump and perfect turkey is placed on the table. Then, the man of the house grabs the carving knife and fork and slices it up for everyone to enjoy.

Many Thanksgivings look nothing like Norman Rockwell’s ideal. The dress code and dressing have gone by the wayside. Don’t like turkey? Sub in something you do like! Don’t enjoy time with your family? Replace them with people you do and call it Friendsgiving! Choose your own menu & guest list, but choose to be grateful.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with intentional expressions of gratitude or choosing to eat tofu with friends instead of turkey with your family. If Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath, surely we can say the same about Thanksgiving. But there is a danger when gratitude is established on the foundation of choice. What happens when our dinner plates or our lives are filled with things we would not or did not choose? Will we still be filled with gratitude when our plans and preferences are ignored or defied? How will we react when God’s choices don’t align with ours?

That’s what was happening in our Gospel reading from Luke 23. I’ll admit, it feels like a strange choice to concentrate on Christ’s crucifixion right before Thanksgiving. But while it may feel like a strange choice to us, it is exactly what we need at exactly the right time.

As Luke brings us to Calvary’s mournful mount, he moves us from the outskirts of the execution to the foot of the cross. He begins with the people in the crowd. He tells us they (Lk 23:35) stood watching it all unfold with grief or perhaps a morbid curiosity. Other Gospels tell us that (Mt. 27:39) passers-by did hurl insults at him, but Luke doesn’t mention it.

The abuse that Luke does highlight comes from three other people or groups of people: the Jewish rulers, the Roman soldiers, and the co-crucified criminal. Their insults were all a little different, yet the same.

The Jewish rulers sneer that Jesus was famous for (Lk. 23:35) saving others, but that in this moment when he needed saving, he was, in their view, powerless to do so. How could God’s Messiah, the Lord’s Anointed One be left to suffer and die so shamefully?

The Roman soldiers had no concept of God anointing people for particular roles. But they saw the charge that was written above Jesus. This man is your King, Israel? Where are his loyal subjects? Where are his armies? Where is his power? When they flogged him, they mocked his claim to royalty. They put a scarlet robe on him, twisted together a crown of thorns and put a staff in his right hand—making him look like a bloody mess of a king. Then they taunted him. Kneeling before him, they mocked him by saying (Mt. 27:29) Hail, king of the Jews! Then they spit on him and took his staff and (Mt. 27:30) struck him on the head again and again. When they led him out to be crucified, they saw women who wept for him, but no brave men came to his rescue. As he suffered on the cross, he seemed more weak and powerless than most they executed. (Lk. 23:37) If you are a mighty king, prove it by rescuing yourself!

Even one of the criminals who was under the same sentence joined in on the mocking. Since the Romans typically crucified slaves, pirates, and religious & political rebels, we can assume this man fell into the latter category. Yet, even in this excruciating moment, he was unimpressed by Jesus. With his dying breaths, he kept on blaspheming the Son of God. You, you’re supposed to be my Messiah? Get us down, if you’re God’s Son.

With the benefit of a couple thousand years of hindsight, and the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Jesus as our Savior, it’s relatively easy to look with scorn on all those who scorned our Savior. But those gifts should also grant us insight into times and situations when we think, talk, and act in strikingly and shamefully similar fashions.

We may not sneer at Jesus like the Jewish rulers did, but when God doesn’t appear the way that we think he should, do we question him? Do we get frustrated when our good behavior isn’t rewarded with more blessings? Do we assume that those who are struggling or suffering have made bad choices and are just getting what they really deserve?

We may not mock Jesus like the Roman soldiers, but are we disappointed in how weak he looks in our world? Do we think less of God’s power when we see so many mock him & so many of his followers desert him? Do we honor his Word and Sacraments as precious means of grace—his power to save? We may not offer the Son of God sour wine vinegar, but do we give God our leftovers or whatever we determine we can do with out or won’t miss too much?

We may not hurl insults at God out loud like the criminal, but when God doesn’t do exactly as we expect in our moments of pain or suffering, do question his power and his love? Do we get angry when our proximity to God does not prevent us from experiencing sadness or suffering?

Thankfully, Luke does not leave us with only the sneering, mocking, blasphemous taunts of the rulers, the soldiers, or the criminal. He continues to bring us closer to our Christ to hear his final conversation before he died. There was one more criminal—another man who had likely rebelled against Rome. As he looked at himself, he recognized that—even though he was experiencing excruciating pain and a shameful death—he was being (Lk. 23:41) punished justly. What he had done deserved this kind of death. But that man who hung in between him and the other criminal was different. He had done nothing wrong.

In and of itself, this is a remarkably strange thing to say. How could he be certain that this complete stranger, this man whom so many hated and rejoiced over his execution, had done nothing wrong? Perhaps he had heard of Jesus before this day. We do not know for sure. But we do know he heard Jesus tell the mourning women of Jerusalem (Lk. 23:28) not to weep for him, but for themselves and what was going to happen to Jerusalem. We do know that he heard Jesus pray for those who were executing him. (Lk. 23:28) Father forgive them. They know not what they are doing.

This man chose to comfort those who mourned for his death and pray for his executors to be forgiven. He chose to love those who hated him without reason. It was because of his grace, that this criminal made this stunning request. To the man the Jewish rulers rejected, to the man the Roman soldiers mocked, to the man who was counted among the worst criminals of his day, he made this request: (Lk. 23:42) Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. What a remarkable request!

In this moment, this man was confessing two things. I am getting what I deserve as I die here on this cross. But Jesus, this is not your end. i know you are about to enter into your kingdom and when you get there, remember me as your remembered Noah and Abraham and Samson.

When the rulers, the soldiers, and the other criminal looked at the placard above Jesus’ head they focused on the pronouncement King of the Jews. What they saw beneath that placard did not match what they expected God’s Chosen One to look like or do. Jesus didn’t look like a powerful King or the Messiah Israel had been waiting for for generations. What this criminal saw and believed in was Jesus. The One who bore the name "the Lord saves". The One who was born (Mt. 1:21) to save his people from their sins. The One who died because of their sins. The One who lives and reigns in heaven, seated on the throne at the right hand of the Father who chose him for this purpose and this path for him.

That Jesus is the One who came to save law-breakers like the man who was crucified by his side and (Rom. 3:23) all those who have fallen short of the glory of God and deserve the death-wages of their wicked ways. Jesus came to earn us the forgiveness he prayed for. On the cross he paid the penalty for our trespasses. On the cross, he remembered all God’s promises and loved those who hated God and his ways without reason. The man who did nothing wrong throughout his entire life did everything necessary to open a paradise of eternal life to you and me.

And that is why we give thanks. Not merely because giving thanks makes us feel better or live longer, happier lives. Not just for one day. As believers we remember to give thanks every single day because we know that God’s Chosen One chose to remember us, chose to fulfill all God’s promises, chose to do everything necessary to redeem us from all our sins. God’s Chosen One chose to save sinners like us, not himself.

We give thanks because we know that if God chose to graciously give up his Son as our Substitute and our Savior, (Rom. 8:32) how will he not also, along with Jesus, graciously give us all that we need for life in this world? We give thanks we know that this God has not only saved us from eternal damnation, and blessed us with our daily bread, but also blessed us (Eph. 1:3) with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For God (Eph. 1:4) chose us in Jesus to be his own. So (Ps. 107) give thanks to the Lord, for he is good and his love endures now and forever. Amen.