"The Tale of the Other Two Crosses"
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(God’s Grace Summoned/God’s Grace Extended)
Luke 23:34, 43; 32-43
Introduction:
- “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way, …” (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)
- Dicken’s historical novel set in the late 18th century London and revolutionary Paris is much more than an antipolitical lambasting of both aristocratic tyranny and revolutionary excesses.
- Essayist Paul Krause wrote that Dickens’ “A Tale of Cities” is a picturesque story that deliberately mirrors … the Biblical story, which culminates in Christ’s death and the resurrection, and which in turn brings life back to a lifeless world.”
Rather than look at a mirror, over the next few weeks we will continue our focus on what happened almost 2,000 years ago on Calvary, Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull). We will focus our attention to both criminals regarding their starkly different responses to Jesus. Although for one criminal it continued to be the worst of times, for the other, it became the best of times. As he died the repentant thief embraced God’s grace by faith.
1. In the worst of times, it was the best of times when, God’s grace summoned was summoned by Jesus, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” – Lk 23:34.
As we open our Bibles to Luke 23: 34 and Lk 23:43, we havthe last part of Luke’s narrartive of “the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us,:” (Lk 1:1-2).
Luke recorded the first, the second and the last of Jesus’ statements.
The third was recorded only by John. They involved Mary, the mother of Jesus and John.
The fourth was the only statement recorded by both Matthew and Mark, and only them. The fourth statement was the only only recorded in Jesus’s first/native language - Aramaic.
The fifth was recorded only John.
The sixth was recorded only by John.
Remembering that the disciples left him and fled (Mk 14:50) , John’s record that four ladies (Jesus’ mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene) and John (Jn 19:25; Mk 15:40), we can assume the four ladies were the reliable witnesses to Jesus’ statements on the cross and to the statements of the two men on the adjacent crosses and the immediate crowd, plus the the statement of the centurion.
AFTER JESUS HAD BEEN BEATEN , WHIPPED. SPAT UPON WHIPPED, AND NAILED TO THE CROSS BY ROMAN SOLDIERS, THE LAST WE WOULD EXPECT ARE JESUS’ FIRST WORDS, ASKING HIS FATHER TO FORGIVE THEM. MORE STARTLING IS THE SECOND PART OF JESUS’ PLEA, “FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”
We have no way of knowing who the “they” was to whom Jesus referred. There is no question that the “they” began with the Roman soldiers who carried out the crucifixion.
The soldiers knew that:
They were carrying out a brutal form of capital punishment at the Roman governor, Pilate. But that did not absolve of the fact that they were executing and innocent.
More than carry orders, as some of them had done many times before, they had publiclystripped him, put a scarlet robe on Him, ...
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
Pilate would have released Jesus. Both Herod and Pilate knew that Jesus had done nothing deserving death - Lk 23:15. Pilate’s wife told him of a dream that she had the night before that Jesus was a righteous man - Matt 27:19. BNt the religious leaders (Sanhedrin of 71, the Supreme Court of Israrl) lead by Caiaphas, the High Priest that year stirred up the crowd demanding crucifixion, falsing affirming Jesus as king opposing Rome. The religious leaders were motivated by envy - Matt 27:18. They were well aware that Jesus was innocent. Judas had given that as his reason for returning the 30 pieces of silver , the amount paid by the chief priests=, - Matt 26:15; 27:4.
Pilate’s inscription that he refused to change, could be seen as noting he was excuting an innocent man.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
Jesus’ plea for mercy summoned God’s grace, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” was in startlng contrast to:
- The merciless crowd
Those who passed by:
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
Rulers:
While the people stood by, the rulers scoffed Him.
And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”
So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
The rulers viewed someone hanging on the cross as cursed by God.
his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
They did not realize that Jesus because He hung on the cross but He became a curse for sinners to redeem them from the curse of the law.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
Two robbers:
And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
Soldiers mocked Him:
The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
- Merciful Saviour
- “For they know not what they do.”
There was no question that the crowd, the religious rulers knew what they were doing. All involved believed the lies or their distorted sense of reality and truth.
They were unaware of their wickedness and the scope of their wickedness.
Did not recognize Jesus as the true Messiah.
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.
Blind - willfull blind - to the light of divine truth.
None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Their ignorance did not mean that they deserved forgiveness. Their blindness and the blind leading the blind demonstrated their guilt. Jesus explained that.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
The accepted blindness of unbelievers was not limited to Calvary and crucifying Jesus Christ.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
After listing a number of dishonoroable passions and acts, Paul noted that though they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do such things but approve those who do.
Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Although it was God’s plan from eternity past that Jesus would die and atoning death, the lawless men who crucified Jesus did it knowingly and willingly. That being the case, they are guilty of murder.
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
- General and specific.
Mercifully, most of us are unaware of the full extent of the implications of some the things that we do. I say that not make any of us overthink what we do, but rather to encourage each of us to remember that some of our decisions impact others. Our words and actions can encourage others. As best we are able, we need to allow others to make their own decisions. IN THE ACCOUNT OF THE CRUCIFIXION, IT SEEMED THAT THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS FORCED THEIR DECISION ON OTHERS. THEIR HEARTS WERE HARDENED, THEIR MINDS WERE MADE UP. THEY WOULD NOT LISTEN TO THE FACTS OR OPINIONS OF OTHERS.
2. In the worst of times, it was the best of times when, God’s grace was extended by Jesus, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” – Lk 23:43 - ONLY IN LUKE.
Penitent rebel thief – “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Matthew and Mark referred to the two as robbers - Matt 27:38 Mk 15:27- with a probable connection with Barabbas, a notorius prisoner.
John referred to the two as the others.
Matthew and Mark reocrd that the two who were crucified on either side of Jesus had both initially mocked Jesus.
And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.
There came a time that one of the thieves had a change of heart. Whereas the one criminal railed at Christ, the other criminal rebuked the other criminal and with few demonstrated a repenant heart.
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
“Jesus, remember me,”
The second criminal’s change of heart is evident before he asked Jesus to remember him.
Luke account of what God did this criminal’s heart is a wonderful reminder that in the worst of times, the light of the Gospel can open the heart of a criminal to see himself for the sinner that he is. More than he saw and confessed Jesus for who He is.
Luke 18–24: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Conversion
The story of the penitent thief, found only in Luke’s account of the crucifixion, is one of the many ironies at Calvary. Jesus was being mocked because He could not save Himself, yet He saved others, including the thief, by not saving Himself. He was accused by the rulers of Israel of claiming to be a king, and hence a threat to the power and authority of Rome. They warned Pilate that He needed to be executed before He could lead a revolt. And yet the same people who claimed to be protecting Rome from Jesus mocked, scorned, and ridiculed Him as impotent and helpless. He was treated like a king in a sarcastically cruel, comedic jest, yet He is God’s true King. He was accused of blasphemy against God by those who blasphemed Him, the true God. Jesus, the innocent, righteous one, was executed by the guilty, turning justice on its head. He was cursed by His enemies, who hated Him, but cursed in an infinitely greater way by His Father, who loves Him. The One who gives life and is life, died
- From rebuke to repentance.
Among all those at Calvart, other than the four ladies and John, only this criminal.
Luke 18–24: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Conversion
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he was rescued from spiritual darkness and death and given light and life. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, he perceived the truth through a divine miracle in his soul.
- Fear of God and His judgment.
Frrst, he came to fear God.and His judgment.
He went from reviling and railing at Jesus, to rebuking th other criminal.
He did more than refused to participate, he rebuked the other criminal.
Fearing God and the fear of God is almost unheard of now, even in some evangelical churches. And yet it was expected of Israel and commanded by Jesus.
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
- A changed heart/a sense of sinfulness.
By his statement, don’t you and you are also under condemnation. he is confessing the need of mercy to escape judgment that is deserved.
He is mourning over his transgressions and that came only with him admitting that he deserved to die.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
A change of heart comes when we realize and confess that we are dying because of our sin.
This is our due reward. He had nothing to offer God. All that he could was beg Jesus to remember him.
Luke 18–24: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Conversion
Martin Luther understood that truth. After his death, his friends found a scrap of paper in his pocket on which the great reformer had written in Latin and German, “Hoc est verum. Wir sind alle Bettler.” (“This is true. We are all beggars.”)
Jesus did not deserve to die then or ever.
- Belief in Jesus Christ.
This man has done nothing wrong.
- “When you come into your kingdom.”
- Plea for forgiveness.
“Belief This was nothing less than a plea for the forgiveness apart from which no one will enter God’s kingdom. He based his request on Christ’s prayer that God would forgive those who crucified Him, which gave him hope”
John MacArthur, Luke 18–24, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 387.that Jesus, Israel’s Messiah and coming kingdom.
He believed and verbalized that Jesus is the Saviour, was going to His kingdom after He died and in some way could remember the criminal .
Speaking of Jesus and Kingdom was also a confession that Jesus was the Messiah and would come in His kingdom.
Luke 18–24: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Conversion
He acknowledged that the Lord would one day establish His kingdom, which was promised in the covenants God made with Abraham and David, and reiterated repeatedly to the prophets. Since no one survived crucifixion, he understood that Jesus would have to rise from the dead to do that. He probably knew that Jesus had power over death, since the news of His raising of Lazarus had spread throughout Jerusalem. He no doubt was aware that Daniel 12:2 promised that the saints would be raised and given a place of glory in the kingdom. His request was that Jesus would raise him and grant him entrance to that kingdom.
Gracious Jesus – “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
- “Truly, I say to you,”
- Hard to believe but true!
- “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
- Today:
- No time for works-based righteousness deeds or probation.
- You, a forgiven, redeemed sinner, will be with Jesus in paradise/heaven.
So that day, bed=fore sundown, Jesus died. And that same day, today, that thief, both thieves died. The criminal who repented was with Jesus in Paradise.
Other than in the garden of Eden and when each believer becomes, “absent from the body present with the Lord,” (2 Cor 5:8) at no time was God’s grace more evident than those few hours when Jesus Christ the Lord, the Son of God, died for your sins and mine.
On each side of the cross on which Jesus was nailed, there were two thieve, each nailed to a cross. Although they had that in common, their responses to Jesus were completely different. Parallelling Charles Dickens’ memorable words, we cannot escape, “The Tale of the Other Two Crosses.” For the two thieves, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
1. For the thief who believed/repented, who claimed God’s grace, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of light, it was the spring of hope, it was receiving the promise of going to be with Jesus in paradise/heaven when he died.
A few believers how it would have been for repentant their after he breathed his last breath and opened his eyes in Paradise with Jesus.
Some might have asked him what he believed and how he came to be in Paradise.
Had he been one of Jesus’ disciples?
Had he heard Jesus preach?
Was he justified by faith?
Had he repented of his sins and been baptiized by John?
Had he witnessed any of Jesus’ miracles?
After each of these answers he would probably say, “I don’t really understand that.” But this what I understamnd and confessed.
I fear God.
I died for what I did wrong. Jesus did no wrong.
I asked Jesus to remember me when He came in His kingdom. I don’t understand it all but He must be the promised Messiah. Only the Messiah will come with a kingdom.
So I believe that this life is not the end.
And, oh, Jesus told me that today, I would be with Him in Paradise. So here I am because of Jesus promised.
Paul claimed that same promise.
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
2. For the other thief who refused God’s grace, it the epoch of deadly unbelief, it was season of darkness that would be eternal, it was the beginning of the winter of despair that would never end, it was knowingly and by deliberate choice rejecting God’s grace personified in Jesus, and choosing hell and eternal separation from God.
Jesus taught that same day the criminal who did not repent woke up in Hades and was in torment, an eternal worst of times.
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
The thieves on the other two crosses would not have known every aspect of their individual choices. But each heard Jesus pray. Each of them knew that Jesus was innocent. Both knew that they were guilty and justly condemned. The thieves came from much the same background, they were both sinners, facing the death penalty for their sin. How they came to see and call on Jesus so differently separated the thieves and their crosses. That is still the greatest divide today. “The Tale of the Other Two Crosses”still reminds us of God’s grace that is extended to all of us, but only applied to those repent and claim it by faith.
AWV/Mar 11/24