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.