Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 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!” 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.” One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:32-43, ESV)
GOD’S ACTION AND OUR REACTION
In the laws of physics, it is taught that for every action there is a reaction. So in our text for today we learn that
When God is Crucified, a Reaction Happens.
I. Some react in continued unbelief.
II. Others respond in belief, faith and love.
III.God responds graciously to both believer and unbeliever.
I. Some react in continued unbelief
As we continue our acknowledgment of the 100 th anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s birth, we consider a poem from him entitled “Christians and Pagans” (Bonhoeffer , Letters and Paper from Prison, 348-49) The first stanza of the poem speaks of people and their condition. It reads:
Men go to God when they are sore bestead,
Pray to him for succour, for his peace, for bread,
For mercy for the sick, sinning, dead;
All men do so, Christian and unbelieving.
This is the condition of all men—all people on earth. We are sore bestead (and perhaps you’ll permit me to continue to use this special word throughout?)-- in need of food, water, shelter-- and so many are sick and dying. Our physical need and sickness are only symptoms of a more serioius spiritual condition—sin and rebellion against a Holy God.
The people who stood around the cross—which suspended the very divine Word that brought all things into existence—are a people sore bestead and sorely oppressed, as Bonhoeffer illustrates. They are people just like you and me.
According to the text, the Roman soldiers led Jesus to a place called the Skull. There the crowd watched them crucify Jesus along with two criminals, one on his left and one on his right. There Jesus hangs naked on a cross and the soldiers cast lots for his clothes. And there they hear Jesus pray: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
They’d heard the reports about this man, Jesus. Many, in fact, had heard him speak and seen his miracles: making the blind to see and the lame to walk. Jesus had released those bound by demons, and he had even raised the dead. In him was fulfilled what the prophets of old had foretold about the Christ—the Chosen One of God, the Lamb of God, the redeeming sacrifice for the sin of all people. And it was for this—who he was—that he was being crucified.
So, how do such people, a “sore bestead” people, react to this event which they witness? Many react, not with belief and faith in Jesus and his teaching, but rather with continued unbelief.
The Jewish religious leaders were among these. They begin to mock Jesus for whom he claimed to be. They sneered, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” (23:35). The soldiers, too, scoffed, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself” (23:37). Even the government mocked him with a sign Pilate had placed on the cross above him: “This is the King of the Jews” (23:38).
There is one yet who represents all of them, for they rightly deserve what he is getting. One of the more sore-oppressed among them hangs as a criminal beside Jesus. He, too, mocks and rails at Jesus, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (23:39). In other words, “Come on, Jesus, live up to all you said you are. You said you’re the Christ, you said you’re a king, so save yourself and us!”
Bonhoeffer writes, “Men go to God when sore bestead.” This criminal, and those who sneered, refused to believe in what they had heard and what they had seen, and what they now witness about Christ. And yet, when God is crucified, a reaction happens; they go to God. Oh, that unbelieving criminal, now condemned to die, would like succour, rescue, from Christ. He really would! But his “prayer” comes from unbelief…and so it is mockery. He, they all, despise God and his Word and remain in their unbelief.
Jesus is still despised and rejected today. So many hate Jesus and his church and fight against it—persecuting it. They, like the people standing around the cross of Jesus, have heard his word, heard of his miracles, but reject it and him. These “sore bestead” men will yet go to God again on Judgment Day. They will then stand before him who died for them and be found condemned for their unbelief. Jesus said in John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him [Jesus] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
II. Others respond in belief, faith and love
But, there is another reaction to the crucifixion of God. This is the response of one sore bestead and sorely oppressed, too. It’s the response of the second criminal. Our text indicates that when the second criminal heard the mocking of the other he said, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?” (23:40). “You’re going to die, man! You’re going to God, and he is holy. Don’t you fear his judgment of you and your sins?” He goes on, “And we indeed justly [are sentenced to death], for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he turns to Jesus: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (23:41-42).
This criminal knows his state of being. He knows he is sore bestead. He knows he is a sinner who deserves the just condemnation of God. He looks across to Jesus, and he sees what Dietrich Bonhoeffer sees. Listen to the second stanza of Bonhoeffer’s poem:
Men go to God when he is sore bestead,
Find him poor and scorned, without shelter or bread,
Whelmed under weight of the wicked, the weak, the dead;
Christians stand by God in his hour of grieving.
The second criminal responds in belief and in faith. But it’s our response, too. Like this criminal, the law has rightly sentenced us. It has revealed our state of being and our sinfulness. Thus we reverently fear a holy God who hates sin. We are surely condemned as dead men before him for our wretchedness. Yet, like this criminal, we find at the cross a great and glorious miracle—God, loving us by taking upon himself the just wrath for our sin. There on the cross is the Christ, the Chosen One of God who sacrificed himself to take away the sin of the world. He is not just a weak, suffering, dying man who only claimed to be something that he is not. No, he is the Son of God who is strong in obedience to his Father’s will. He willingly remains on the cross even though he has every power to save himself from it. He willingly stays there to save the world from the guilt and just condemnation of sin.
Yes, like this criminal we know we are sore bestead sinners. And so, like him we pray, “Remember us in your kingdom, Jesus. Remember us who are sore bestead and oppressed. Remember us and your great love for us that brought you to earth humbled, scorned, poor and without shelter or bread, burdened with the weight of our wickedness, weakness, and death. And may the Father forgive us as you have asked of him, for your sake, O Lord.”
III God responds graciously to both believer and unbeliever
Men do go to God when they are sore bestead. And what they find is that God has already come to them. God has come to them, and he is sore bestead upon a cross, saving mankind by not saving himself. When God is crucified, he graciously responds to all who are sore bestead—believers and unbelievers alike. Listen now to Bonhoeffer’s third stanza:
God goes to every man when sore bestead,
Feeds body and spirit with his bread;
For Christians, pagans alike he hangs dead,
And both alike forgiving.
Jesus does not die for, and forgive, just select people or groups of people. No, he suffers and dies for all mankind. His forgiveness is universal for all, for he “desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Those who refuse to believe, may mock his name and reject the very forgiveness he has earned for them by his humiliation and bloody agony. And so, when their “sore bestead” short life on this earth is over, they deny their own place in Christ’s glorious kingdom where there is no pain, poverty, hunger, or death.
Yet, God continues to respond graciously to them here. Because he has come, because he was crucified, he continues to give them sunshine and rain, crops for food, neighbors and government who help in the support of daily life. He also allows believers in him to live beside unbelievers. He has given believers his Holy Word to share freely with their unbelieving neighbors so that they might hear of Jesus who died for them. Jesus hung there dying for the mocking priests, for his crucifiers, for the impenitent thief. And the word of the penitent criminal to him was God’s own word reaching out to him one last time for his salvation.
And for those who believe, Jesus responds as he does to that repentant criminal. He says, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (23:43). It is not necessary for Jesus to wait to remember the criminal until Jesus enters his kingdom. Christ’s kingdom, even though not of this world, is where Christ is—he is Emmanuel, God with us.
Christ died, was placed in a tomb, but was raised from the dead by his Father. And the risen Christ promised his Apostles and his church that he would remain with them until the end of the age. Believers will be taken into paradise like the criminal, but until then we live in the grace and presence of God’s kingdom here, “sore bestead” on earth.
God is with us through Word and Sacrament. He bathes us in baptismal waters where we are made new beings, baptized not only into his death but into his resurrection. He feeds us and sustains us in faith at his table, where he gives us his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins earned for us on his cross.
When God is crucified, a reaction happens. It happens because God is gracious in the giving of himself as one sorely poor and oppressed for the sore bestead. And because he desires all to be saved, he gives both pagan and believer what they need—himself, through Word and Sacrament. Amen.
Douglas Evenson