A Compassionate God on Calvary
Luke 23: 32 -49
32Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” 39One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 44It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. 47When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” 48And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Most of us have seen some movie about the life of Jesus. Those movies work with a script which brings together different stories from the four gospels from angels to Mary Magdalene meeting the Risen Christ on Easter Day. This single script for four gospels distorts the gospel’s faith proclamation of Jesus and his identity. The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John give us four different pictures about the life of Jesus. While they share a similar story line they differ radically in the details. These differences are most dramatic when we come to the stories of the last days of Jesus.
This week we shall hear the Passion stories from Luke and John. While the two Gospel stories do not match, they paint a picture of Jesus consistent with the image each gospel drew throughout its story. We should pay careful attention to the tone of Luke’s story.
A deep sense of compassion and mercy flows through all the pages of the gospel and gives Luke’s version its unique spin. Luke’s Gospel portrays Jesus as a prophet from God sent to proclaim God’s reign of good news to the marginalized and poor. The poor and marginalized are the winners. The rich and well established feel very threatened.
On the 2nd Sunday in Lent, we heard Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem as the city which kills the prophets. Now Jerusalem will kill yet another of the prophets. Yet not all of Jerusalem will call for Jesus’ crucifixion. Not all of Jerusalem seeks Jesus on the cross. As Jesus carries the crossbeam to Calvary, he is accompanied by people who follow him and some women of Jerusalem who lament for him.
All the words which come from the mouth of Jesus on the cross are filled with mercy and show how closely he feels God’s presence. From Jesus’ prayer, Father forgive them for they know not what they do, to his promise of Paradise to the good thief to his final words: Father into your hands I commend my spirit, we get a very different feeling from Luke’s version of the story. Even though he is suffering the anguish of crucifixion, the nails piercing his wrists and ankles, the diminishment of his ability to breath and the shock that cripples his body, Jesus maintains a deep communion with God.
You may have noticed something missing from this gospel.
Nowhere in the Gospel does Jesus say that he is being crucified to take away our sins. Nowhere in any of the Gospels does Jesus say that he will die as a substitution for our sins. Yes, we sing hymns which make that claim and some of our prayers might even lead you to that assumption. But in this Gospel, we see that Jesus is the innocent victim of a conspiracy between the temple leaders and the Roman occupiers to execute Jesus. From Pilate’s protests that Jesus is innocent to the Centurion’s confession, “Certainly this man was innocent” we might wonder why this angle?
Jesus is executed because he subverts the Roman Empire. If Jesus is the King of the Jews, then Cesar Augustus is not the Emperor in Israel. Pilate executes Jesus as a terrorist, someone threatening the stability of the Roman Empire. God sees this wrongful execution and responds with resurrection. All during the Easter Season, we shall hear sermons preached by the apostles in Jerusalem which repeat the claim: You crucified Jesus but God raised him from the dead.
Jesus proclaimed this compassionate God in parables like the Good Shepherd, the Prodigal Son, the Lost Coin. We do not have a God who is an angry father, a God who flies off the handle with rage, a God who makes us live in fear. We have a God who loves us, a God who forgives us when we sin, who welcomes us into God’s family.
Jesus knew this God on the cross, a God who forgave those who drove nails into Jesus’ flesh, a God who allowed a thief to steal paradise, a God who took Jesus into heaven. Jesus’ God is our God. Our welcoming God sustains us when we cannot find a way to forgive intolerable wrongs and opens our heart to find a way. Our welcoming God leads us back home, goes in search of us when we are lost, and carries us back to the community of faith. Our welcoming God will stand with us when we approach death’s door, comfort us in our pain, and finally open a way for us through the valley of death.
Throughout Holy Week, this loving God will come to us, open our hearts to greater love as we receive Jesus in the nourishing Bread of Life, accompany us on the way of Jesus glorification, and when all seems darkness shines as a Paschal Candle in our hearts. May this Holy Week bring you closer to this compassionate God, this God who rescues the innocent, this God who rescues us in our pain, this God who brings us new life.