So we’ve now entered into the season of Lent, the series of days before Easter…have you ever noticed that Lent is really bleak? You know it starts with Ash Wednesday and all of the ashes and moaning and wailing and recognizing how mortal we are and how much we have sinned and all of that. It’s very depressing. And it’s like we kind of carry that on through the whole Lenten season, and it kind of culminates on Good Friday, the day we celebrate the death of Jesus on the cross. That day is traditionally very sad, too. I mean, this whole season is a downer.

I have a hard time acting that way during Lent. As much as everyone is focused on fasting and being sad about the death of Christ, I’m way more excited about what happens after Good Friday, about Easter, about the Resurrection. It’s hard to be sad about Jesus dying when you know He’s just taking a nap, right? But over the centuries the tradition has focused way more on the cross than on the empty tomb. Like I said, I like the empty tomb way better than the cross, but I think I’m fighting a losing battle with most people in that argument. Nobody I know is wearing a golden tomb around their neck. No churches I know have an empty tomb as the big logo in the church. Catholics don’t make the sign of the tomb when they pray. People like the cross. They easily identify with the cross. For one, it’s much easier to draw, right? But also because I think people have really gotten into this idea of Jesus making that sacrifice for them. Even Jesus himself said it, “Greater love has no man than he who lays down his life for his friends.”

And we see that in the cross. And Hollywood has made all of these really graphic movies about just how much Christ went through on the cross and just how terrible of a way it is to die to be crucified. And all of the beatings and the blood and the drama that surrounded the event, we are drawn to it. Plus the idea that his death was more than a death, it was a payment, it was him taking the punishment that we deserved. It was sacrificial. It was heroic. And I think really now it is seen as the culminating even in human history to this point. Again, I would argue that the resurrection was even more important, but I think most of the world would say that the biggest event in human history was Jesus’ death on the cross.

And his death on the cross, the events that happened on Calvary, on the hill of the skull, Golgotha, these events have been scrutinized, and portrayed, and acted out, and investigated, and just looked at from every angle imaginable. I think everyone has a picture in their mind of, you know, what that look like. What it must have been like. But what I want to do is to look at this event over the next few weeks from the most important perspective of all – the perspective of Christ. While Jesus was on the cross, he said some things, and I think they tell us a lot about what the cross is really about, and even what Jesus is really about.

I mean, think about it, how important are these words? It’s like your deathbed words, right? But for Jesus, it’s even more than that. Here he is, the central figure in the most important even in all of human history. He is the most important person in the most important time participating in the most important even ever. So what is Jesus thinking about in the midst of all of this? What does Jesus say during this time. Well, he says seven things. They have become known as the seven words of Christ, or the seven sayings of Christ on the cross. And over the next few weeks we are going to really look at these words, these sayings, as we approach the Holy Week.

The first thing that Jesus says on the cross is found in Luke 23:34. Jesus as just taken the long walk to Golgotha, he’s had nails driven through his hands and feet and the cross has been raised. And you can kind of imagine maybe everything got really quiet at this point. His followers are in shock that this is happening. His enemies and those who are mocking him maybe want to hear what he has to say so they can further mock him. Here is Christ, raised up on the cross for everyone to see, and his first words are a prayer. That’s not too surprising; I think any of us in that situation would be praying. But my prayer would be something like, “God, get me off this thing.” Or, “God, execute justice on these people for doing this to me.” Or, “Please make this quick, it really hurts.” But that’s why Jesus is Jesus and I’m not! Jesus’ prayer was different. It was, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

My first thought is, what amazing perspective. In the middle of being killed, he is asking for forgiveness for those who are killing him. And you know, this has always been an interesting statement to me, “forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” Because they knew what they were doing, right? They were killing a man, basically for the fun of it. Because they could. Sure the priests were mad, but that didn’t mean he had to be killed. Someone could have stopped it. Pilate could have stopped it. The head of the Roman guard could have stopped it. But this guy seemed crazy. He thought he was God’s son. He was nuts, right? That’s what they thought. And basically, they could get away with killing him, and good riddance, one less crazy person in the world.

But here’s what is really interesting to me: this forgiveness isn’t directed at anyone in particular. It doesn’t say forgive the soldiers, or the priests, or the crowds or whoever. This is kind of an all-encompassing forgiveness for everyone whose fault it was that he was hanging up there on the cross. So when he says, “Father forgive them,” guess what, we are a part of them. Because each of us has a part in putting Jesus on that cross. If it wasn’t for the sin of humanity and the need to be made right with God again, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die. So that forgiveness that Jesus asks for becomes so much bigger than it originally seems. He doesn’t just want forgiveness for his executioners, but for his accusers, for those who stood by and let it happen, and for those who are the reason he needed to take the form of the man and come to this hill and die in the first place. For all of those, for all of us, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”

And isn’t that the truth? I mean, to an extent. We just don’t realize what we are doing. Just like the soldiers didn’t know what this wasn’t a crazy person, this was God’s son. Just like the priests didn’t know this wasn’t a blasphemer, it was God’s son. We don’t realize that our white lies and our little sins and our hidden sins drive the nails in a little deeper, push the thorns down a little harder.

For all of us, for all who are ignorant, for all who have fallen short, Jesus asks forgiveness. At the point in his life when he could have said, “You know what? Forget it. You people aren’t worth it.” Jesus did the exact opposite. He forgave. And more than that, he went on to pay the penalty with his life.

He finishes his prayer for forgiveness, and there are two other criminals being crucified, one on his left and one on his right. And one of them just kept mocking him and saying, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal just said, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? You’re about to die, too! And we’ve been condemned to die justly, we deserve it, we’re getting what we deserve, but this man has done nothing wrong.” And the criminal said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Some would say, “Wow this robber has a lot of faith!” You have to have a lot of faith to look over at the guy dying next to you and believe that he is God and he can save you. Jesus didn’t look like any sort of saving God at that point. That is some great faith. And Jesus look at that man and said, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Now it is easy to look at the criminal who prayed this prayer and think, “This is the original death-bed confession,” as it were. This guy is just saving his hide after doing what he wanted his whole life. But it just seems to me that there is more to this criminal than that. There has been a lot of speculation as to what this man was being executed for. Many believe that because of the nature of his execution and some other scriptural references that he was a revolutionary. There were lots of guerilla warriors in Israel at that point in time – imagine that – trying to get rid of the Roman invaders. They were called Zealots. They were fighting for the independence of their people. And they were brutal fighters who did heinous things.

But in looking at this man and especially in the way that he rebuked the other criminal, we can learn something even more about him. We can learn that he is honest about who he is and what he has done. He recognizes that he is no hero. He’s no martyr for his cause. He looks back and reflects on his life and sees only a life that deserves to be ended. He says, “We’ve been condemned justly, we deserve to die.” He also recognizes something about Jesus. He recognizes that Jesus is innocent. And not only is he innocent, he is something greater than the world has ever seen. He has the power, even in death, to save. There’s more to Jesus. He’s going somewhere. This isn’t the end for him. And the criminal asks that Jesus would remember him when he comes into his kingdom. He doesn’t say, “Take me with you!” Or “Get us both out of here!” Instead, he submits to him. He recognizes, as he looks over at this beaten man on the verge of death, he recognizes that this is a man of great power and great majesty who should be worshipped. He recognizes that he is THE king.

And Jesus responds by saying, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” And it’s not just because the guy asked. It’s because of his great faith, and his recognition of who Jesus really is. When Jesus’ own followers are looking at him and falling away and giving up and saying, “This can’t be happening!,” a common criminal, looks at Jesus and sees his Savior.

And Jesus, in his great majesty and in his divine power, in the midst of this greatest moment in human history, stops everything else he is doing, and looks at this lowly criminal who is dying next to him, and for that moment, there is no one else in the world but this man who is asking Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. And Jesus offers salvation. More than that, Jesus gave that man the most important thing that he could give him at that point in time, the most important need that this man needed met: he gave him peace. He gave him comfort. He gave them the hope that this was not the end of the line. In fact, once this pain and suffering was over, everything would be way better. He would be in paradise.

Now I know that crucifixion is a horrible way to go. It is not a pleasant way to die. But you know, everyone dies. At some point, we all die. And maybe someone’s asked you this question before, “How do you want to die when you die?” And the answer is almost always, “In my sleep” or “quickly” or something like that. A slow, painful death like crucifixion is never anyone’s first choice.

But if I had to choose how I died, I can’t imagine a better way to die than to die along with Jesus, basically holding hands with Jesus and crossing to the other side together. I mean, that is the way to go. And I just think that is just such a great picture of who Jesus is and what his ministry was like. Even in his death he was ignoring the rich and the proud and the mighty, and he held hands with a sinner as he entered paradise and helped this man to the other side. Even on the cross, Jesus was concerned about salvation.

And this is just the beginning. Over the next few weeks we will continue to see that the words Jesus spoke on the cross were really a microcosm of what his whole ministry was like. Even on the cross, Jesus was concerned about forgiveness, and he was concerned about salvation. As our Savior and our God was hanging there, in the most important time and in the most important place and the most important act in all of history, He was thinking about us. May we, as we go about our tasks this week, continue to think about Christ.

Amen

Van Buren United Methodist Church

Van Buren, Ohio

Pastor Dan Metzger