Pills and Bullets: Luke 23v44-56

By the time of the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land. The sunlight vanished until the ninth hour. The veil of the temple was ripped down the middle. Then Jesus shouted out at the top of his voice, 'Here's my Spirit, Father! You can take care of it now!' And with that he died.

The centurion saw what happened, and praised God.

'This fellow', he said,'really was in the right.'

All the crowds who had come together for the spectacle saw what happened, and they went away beating their breasts. Those who knew Jesus, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, remained at a distance and watched the scene.

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council. He was a good and righteous man, and had not given his consent to the court's verdict or actions. He was from Arimathaea, a town in Judaea, and he was longing for God's kingdom. He approached Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. He took it down and wrapped it in a shroud, and put it in a tomb hollowed out of the rock, where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.

The women who had followed Jesus, the ones who had come with him from Galilee, saw the tomb and how the body was laid. Then they went back to prepare spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested, as the commandment specified.

This weekend I gave a book to my father-in-law called Agape Road. One of the things the book helped me to identify and begin to ask God to deal with was the need to be 'right'. The book identifies this as a type of giant in the land of your person that stands in opposition to God's people entering the land and thus in opposition to God. Now, to be 'right' generally means holding to a fact that one believes to be concrete. That doesn't seem like a bad thing at first and for a lot of people they believe that is in some way the same as faith.

Biblical truth is not so much like one of David's smooth small stones, nor is it so much like a hewn stone that one builds a temple with, as important as those are to the Revelation of God. Rather, biblical truth is like a pearl of great value. It shimmers as the light reflects upon it and all the different colors dance and rejoice. Or perhaps its like a diamond whose light reflects differently but always beautifully depending on how it's held in the Light.

Goliath thought he and his Philistine's were 'right'. They after all had the might, the size...every perceivable worldly advantage...so the battle must be theirs. They were, however, 'wrong'. They were ignorant of the will of the one true God, to reveal Himself and to redeem His good creation. Somewhere along the way, like everyone, they had become disconnected from God, as we all have due to sin. And so, the giant needs to be dealt with either through repentance, coming into line with the Gospel, or it must be cast out.



Here we see that Jesus had stood up against that same giant only to be crucified like so many other failed messiah's. Only Jesus, unlike anyone before him was 'in the right' making this ironically, not only a triumph, but the triumph that eternity would center on, Beginning and End. Luke want's this to be firmly established. He has given us a multitude of witnesses, from what would have been considered highly unreliable witnesses at the time (women), to a Roman centurion, to a wealthy Arimathaean, and then some. But there are principalities and powers at work that would have you disregard these witnesses...to enslave you again to unbelief, distract you with all sorts of evil to keep you from growing up into the Child of God that you are.

Luke wants us to be clear not only that there was a real Jesus who was really crucified, but that he was 'in the right' that is to say that He was in perfect communion with the Father, in relationship to His will and walking it out, Heaven and Earth were one. So there's the difference between being 'right' and being 'in the right'. To be 'in the right' is declared by God the moment you profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Then begins the journey of being 'in the right'...walking in the Spirit, in all the good works God has prepared before hand that you should walk in them. So to be 'right' as in 'holding to a fact that one believes to be concrete' and unwilling to understand something from a greater depth, breadth, height or width for fear of deviation or failure is not God's way. God's Truth is relational and dynamic, always effective regardless of our personal failures to either understand or to walk out. This is grace at work, rather than law.

Try, for instance, to 'know' your spouse that by holding to them as a fact that you believe to be concrete. It just doesn't make sense. My wife and I have lived our lives in routine for a while, but peace is lacking and you eventually wake up feeling devoid of love and fruitfulness...sunken into a lifeless routine, going through the motions, no longer abiding.

That is not the kind of relationship God made us for, Christ and the Church are not made to function that way, faith doesn't work that way, and the Spirit that, like the wind, goes were it pleases, dances and rejoices, laments and wails as it flows within and according to the counsel of God's purposes certainly doesn't work that way. This is why the law never had the ability to save anyone, rather it works more like a babysitter until the Messiah comes, making the outward observance of law obsolete, because the purpose of the law is fulfilled in and through the believer by the power of the Spirit, Messiah Jesus in you.

What you do with this revelation once you wake up, is a matter of free will. Will you get lulled back into the way you were doing things before or will you refuse to be bewitched and put again under slavery to the law? That would not be faith. Faith is the end of the Law, it's fulfillment, it's purpose...enter true freedom, God's rest.

The veil has been ripped right down the middle and Heaven is being poured upon all the Earth, that's Good News...what will you do with Him? Now, I would urge you to be reconciled to God, give Jesus that hollowed out place in your heart...the seed is in. Now, hold on tight, believe God's promise...he has confirmed it by an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, you may have confidence...something miraculous is about to happen so you will 'know' that Jesus is God's Messiah and that God stands by His Word...

May we ever trust Jesus for our tomorrow, because He is already there.

Springtime Green in the Fall: Luke 23v27-43

A great crowd of the people followed Jesus, including women who were mourning and wailing for him. Jesus turned and spoke to them.

'Daughters of Jerusalem,' he said, 'don't cry for me. Cry for yourselves instead! Cry for your children! Listen: the time is coming when you will say,"A blessing on the barren! A blessing on the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never nursed them!" At that time people will start to say to the mountains,"Fall on us," and to the hills, "Cover us"! Yes: if this is what they do with the green tree, what will happen to the dry one?'

Two other criminals were taken away with him to be executed. When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

'Father,' said Jesus,'forgive them! They don't know what they are doing!'

They divided his clothes, casting lots for them.

The people stood around watching. The rulers hurled abuse at him.

'He rescued others,' they said, 'let him try and rescue himself, if he really is the Messiah, God's chosen one!'

The soldiers added their taunts, coming up and offering him cheap wine.

'If you're the king of the Jews,' they said, 'rescue your self - and us too!'

But the other one told him off. 'Don't you fear God?' he said. 'Your sharing the same fate as he is! In our case it's fair enough; we're getting exactly what we asked for. But this fellow hasn't done anything out of order.'

'Jesus,' he went on,'remember me when you finally become king.'

'I'm telling you the truth,' replied Jesus,'you will be with me in paradise, this very day.'

Have you ever felt as though you had no idea what was going on? It is not a comfortable place to be. Especially for people like me. People who grew up as latch key kids. Back and forth between parents your whole life, who were trying to do the best they knew how. From the pain and joy that comes with having very little, to the pain and joy that comes from having too much. Without Christ there to teach you contentment and peace, holiness and virtue...love, faith and hope...you get wounded, you become hardened, corrupted, bitter and manipulative...sinful. This is not how things are supposed to be. You know that down to the deepest recesses of your soul, we all do. But that's just how it is. That train keeps on rolling, you're weeping and mourning on the inside, but you've become hardened. That's what we are programmed to do. Suck it up, move on, push through, get to the other side of it as best we can, up? down? left? right?...who knows?. Just don't let anyone get too close to you, they might hurt you.

Have we lost the power of mourning in our generation? Do we just bottle it up? Then we lose the true power, the power to forgive and accept forgiveness. We become dehumanized, desensitized and worst of all moved further from God, moving further from the image of the Father, who looks over the creation He once called 'very good' and sees the violence within it. The scriptures tell us this grieves Him to his very heart and it should grieve us too. We see this in Jesus, who, from the Mount of Olives, looked upon Jerusalem, weeping.

But look and see, He is the Living one, Christ Jesus, the great physician, there to not only save your soul, but to heal your land and redeem the time.

Jesus tells those following after him, not that everything will be ok, but that if this is what the world does to the one in whom the Fullness was pleased to dwell(a green tree)...what will happen to the rest of this generation who rejected God's Son, their last and only chance? There is the urgency of the Gospel. What will happen to the children of the parents who rejected the Gospel of peace? Violent rebellion, revolts, wars and rumors of wars...young rebellious kids with religious/political/nationalistic ideals and with the older generation egging them on, pouring gasoline on the dry wood. When the world comes down on them, it will be horrific.

Right then, right there...on that cross, Jesus, was becoming king. The sign above his head was meant to mock him, but it declared the truth for everyone to see...The Gospel, Jesus is Lord.

That very day the transgressor who put his faith in Christ would enter into paradise, that glorious place of rest and renewal, with the King.

We see that when it comes down to the wire, it's about faith...trust...the fear of God... Love made perfect in us.

Paul, however, would remind us that it is neither the man on the left nor the man on the right in whose image we are being conformed to, but that of the Son of God, the Messiah, the image bearer who hung on the cross between the two criminals. Him whose blood cried out and still does, 'Father, forgive them! They don't know what they are doing!'

Father, thank you, that you loved us so much that you sent your Son, Jesus, to die for our sins according to your promises, that he was buried and that he was declared the Son of God with Power by the resurrection from the dead. Thank you for all the trials and tribulations that lead us to a place of death, the cross, so that we can know you the only God and Jesus Christ, the one you sent, that we are no longer bound by seasons, but can have abundant life simply by turning to you in faith. Thank you for your faithfulness and the faithfulness of all those whom you work powerfully through. In, Jesus' name, AMEN.

Barabbas and Simon the Cyrene: Luke 23v13-26

So Pilate called the chief priests, the rulers and the people.

'You brought this man before me,' he said to them,'on the grounds that he was leading them astray. Look here, then: I examined him in your presence and I found no evidence in him of the charges you're bringing against him. Nor did Herod; he sent him back to me. Look: there is no sign that he's done anything to deserve death. So I'm going to flog him and let him go.'

'Take him away!' they shouted out all together. 'Release Barabbas for us!' (Barabbas had been thrown into prison because of an uprising that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate spoke to them again, with the intention of letting Jesus go, but they shouted back,'Crucify him! Crucify him!'

'Why?' he said for a third time. 'What's he done wrong? I can't find anything he's done that deserves death, so I'm going to beat him and let him go.'

But they went on shouting out at the tops of their voices, demanding that he be crucified; and eventually their shouts won the day. Pilate gave his verdict that their requests should be granted. He released the man who'd been thrown into prison because of rebellion and murder, and gave Jesus over to their demands.

As they led him away, they grabbed a man from Cyrene called Simon, who was coming in to the city from the outside, and they forced him to carry the cross beam behind Jesus.

The charges have been framed yet Herod didn't kill him, now he's back to Pilate and Pilate finds no fault in Jesus, yet the chief priests and rulers are determined to have Jesus crucified. Then the Gospel brings us to focus on another conflict, Jesus - God's Messiah delivering the message of peace by self-giving Love, the Kingdom of the true and living God... and Barabbas - the leader of another messianic movement with it's message of kingdom by way of violence.

Here we see, as we so often do, the crowds and religio-political leaders prefer to go the way of violence over against the way of Jesus. This, they believe, is the best way to go about things. The irony is that it is this very choice, played out over the next forty years until 70a.d. when Jesus is vindicated as his prophecies of the Temple's destruction come to fruition and those who have kept faith in Jesus the Messiah are vindicated with him. The confirmation of the New Covenant's superiority to the old become firmly fixed, Jesus is in fact God's anointed one, having had all authority in heaven and on earth given him, ascended to and seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning until all enemies are put under his feet.

And it is those at his feet...those who go to the foot of the cross to receive cleansing and healing...to be saved, who then go on to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Then we have this Simon, who is grabbed and forced to bear the cross beam for Jesus as he went on the way to fulfill his vocation.

How can we work in and through the Spirit to lead the Barabbas's of the world to Jesus? How has this part of the narrative played out in your life? Knowing Jesus, how does this effect your response to being called to bear someone else's burdens?

The Sword - Luke 23v1-12

The whole crowd of them got up and took Jesus to Pilate.

They began to accuse him. 'We found this fellow,' they said, 'deceiving our nation!

He was forbidding people to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he is the Messiah - a king!'

So Pilate asked Jesus, 'You are the king of the Jews?'

'You said it,' replied Jesus.

'I find no fault in this man,' said Pilate to the chief priests and the crowds. But they became insistent.

'He's stirring up people,' they said, 'teaching them throughout the whole of Judea. He began in Galilee, and now he's coming here.'

When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was indeed a Galilean. When he learned that he was from Herod's jurisdiction he sent him to Herod, who happened also to be in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus he was delighted. He had been wanting to see him for quite some time now, since he'd heard about him, and hoped to see him perform some sign or other.

He questioned him this way and that but Jesus gave no answer at all. The chief priests and the scribes stood by accusing him vehemently. Herod and his soldiers treated us with contempt; they ridiculed him by dressing him up in a splendid robe, and sent him back to Pilate. And so it happened, that very day, that Herod and Pilate became friends with each other. Up until then, they had been enemies.

We have all seen the reconciliation that can happen when Jesus enters into the lives of believers. Here though we see Jesus, God's Messiah, and Pilate (the representative of Rome and Caesar). Also the climax of a long story that has been under the surface the whole time. The conflict between Jesus and Herod. The rightful King and pseudo-king of the Jews.

Jesus was not what Herod had expected though, he would not put on a show or perform a miracle. He did not call in a legion of angels. He gave no answer at all while he was mistreated. So failing to meet the expectations of Herod, he was sent again to Pilate. So it was that day that Herod and Caesar were united.

Everywhere Jesus goes people seem to become reconciled. Some for good, some for evil. But we know that once Jesus is received, we come to see that on the other side of His death it is all for life in the Resurrection. He works all things together, He is faithful. When Jesus take upon himself the sin of the world, he takes it all upon himself and carries it to the cross where it is nailed so that whosoever believes upon the name of Jesus shall be saved and they shall have eternal life. You see, it is the will of God that none should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

As for me, I have experienced discipline in Christ because I'm a sinner who is loved by God, and beyond that as Christian I count it a privilege to suffer that others might find reconciliation. Wish I could say that my motives were always pure, but they're not. The idea is to seek holiness and thereby be prepared to experience the cross. Wish I had done a better job of that. The place of death for the sake of new life. Of course the enemy will bring your fears back on you, of course long forgiven sins will be poured out on you...this is a spiritual battle for God's glory though. As I've experienced it some has been for my conviction, some for the up building of others. To look at the broad scope of things you see all the different pieces a parts coming together. Even if it means becoming the one everyone hates...it's worth it. As it's written, we are like lambs to the slaughter, all day long we are killed...why? Love. how? To experience Christ's suffering and the Power of the Resurrection. The know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, this is eternal life.

I'm thankful to God for the people, who have shown this to me. They are Christ-like. Pray God, may I become a better Christian husband, dad, son, brother, minister and friend through it.