Fourth Sunday of Lent: Behold Your Son; Into Your Hands

Sermon

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2024

Behold, Your Son;

Into Your hands I Commit My Spirit

 

Today is the fourth Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’ During this season we’ve been focusing attention on the seven last words of Jesus as He hung dying on Calvary’s cross. Each statement gives us insight into His heart as He hung on that cross.

I started this series focusing on the Lord’s cry to the Father: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Then we turned our attention to His promise to the thief hanging next to Him: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). Last week we looked at two more of His last words. First, “I thirst.” And then, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Today we turn our attention to two more of His last words. The first is: “Woman, behold your son” – and to John, Jesus said, “Behold, your mother.” The second word we look at today is, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit.’  Next week we’ll finish this series with the final words of the Lord just before He breathed His last: “It is finished.”

My text today comes from two gospels, John 19:16-18, 23-27 and Luke 23:44-46. First, here is John:

So [Pilate] then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between . . . Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

 . . . . But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

Luke records these final words: (Luke 23:44-46) “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. 

For the sake of time, I did not read the entire context of the Lord’s crucifixion either in John’s account or Luke’s. But what I did read I did to help us make application to these specific last words of Christ on that cross. First, I want us to look at what the Lord said to His mother.

Aside from the excruciating physical pain that Jesus had to endure until He decided to give up His spirit, I want us to think a while of the emotional trauma – the emotional despair that he also endured as he looked over the crowd and didn’t see his brothers and sisters standing at the foot of the cross, if for no other reason than to comfort their mother, Mary.

 

I will not get into a discussion now about whether Jesus’ brothers and sisters were related by blood through Mary and Joseph, or if they were his cousins or other close relatives. The Greek word used throughout the New Testament when referring to Jesus’ kin can be translated as either biological siblings or as cousins.

 

I will not take a detour from this message to discuss that subject, but you have in your handout some scriptural references germane to the question so you can review them at your leisure: Matthew 12:46-49; 13:55; John 2:12; 7:5; Acts 1:14; and 1 Corinthians 9:5. These texts are only some of the examples in the New Testament wherein Jesus’ ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ are mentioned.

 

What I want to do, instead, is focus on what the Lord said specifically to His mother ‘Woman, behold your son” – meaning by the context, the disciple John standing next to her. And then what the Lord said to John, “Behold, your mother.”

 

I want to focus on those words AND make an application of what He said to them both as it applies to those here at Ashwood Meadows who have family – children, or grandchildren, or siblings, or nieces and nephews who pretty much ignore you or neglect you, even in the midst of your own hurting heart.

 

Jesus knows – from personal experience – your heartache. Our Lord suffered the SAME emotional trauma that you suffer as you suffer the rejection and neglect of your beloved children, grandchildren, or brothers and sisters, and so forth, who do not take time to be with you – perhaps especially in your most lonely days.

But there is something else about this text that I want us to see: As the Lord directed John to take care of His mother, Mary, so we can expect the Lord to move on our behalf to receive care and love from others – even if not related by blood.

 

Please don’t misunderstand me. I know the love and care from others is just not the same as the love and care from family. But I’m here to tell you, based on the promises of God's word, that He will NOT leave you alone. You can trust him to bring others alongside. I’ll get to that point in a moment.

 

But before I get to that point, I must first remind us all – ALL of us – that although it’s hard to do the right things under such circumstances, we MUST nevertheless respond as Jesus commands us to respond, and that is to pray for those who continually hurt you: Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”

 

It's hard to do that – to ask God to forgive them – when you’re so hurt, isn’t it? It’s hard for ME to do that. But no one who correctly interprets Scripture or who knows the history of God's people from Genesis through Revelation ever said following Christ was easy.

 

I said a moment ago that the Lord will move on your behalf when members of our own family reject or neglect us. God will bring into our lives a ‘John.’ He will bring someone to come alongside in our times of need. Someone to offer us a listening ear. Someone to encourage us to ‘keep the faith,’” to lay our burdens again and again at the feet of Jesus – and leave them there.

 

And, oh, by the way – don’t think for a moment that God would not use YOU to be like a John to someone else. We are ALL called upon by God to be like a John in the lives of others.

 

It's called ‘hospitality.’ And it is a very, very important privilege that God gives us to exercise. Listen to what He tells us through St Paul (Romans 12:10-13): “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”

 

The Greek word for hospitality means, literally, the ‘love of strangers.’ And everyone here at Ashwood Meadows: Take note. YOU are the face NOT ONLY of Ashwood Meadows, but you ALSO are the face of the Christian community here at Ashwood.

 

Come alongside the strangers. Come alongside those who’ve been here for a long time or a short time – and God will USE YOU. Think of it! The Creator of the universe will use YOU to encourage and strengthen and comfort those here in this community – even though YOU yourself might need comforting.

But there is something else about this call to hospitality that we had better not overlook. Listen to what everyone in this room will one day hear from the lips of our eternal Judge. We will all hear either the inevitable blessing or the inevitable curse:

 

(Matthew 25:35-46) “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

 

And now the warning:

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The Lord’s final word about the care of His mother was spoken to an apostle because His own family were not there to comfort her as her Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit Himself, hung dying.

Ashwood Meadows – I KNOW many of you are fleshing out the words of Jesus by being kind to others, by caring for others. I know you are because I see it and I hear about it. But now I encourage you to excel still more. There are lots of lonely people here. You know them. And even if you ARE them, I encourage you to practice being like John to everyone here at Ashwood, but perhaps especially to your spiritual family here.

 

What is it the Lord once told a crowd? Listen to Mark 3:31-35 “Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”  Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

 

Let scripture remind us every time we forget this truth: We are each related to Jesus AND to each other by our faith in His atoning blood.

And now, let’s turn our attention to the next word Jesus spoke just before He gave up His Spirit: “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” Herein is yet another Messianic Psalm from which Jesus quoted and to which He attempted to draw the attention of the Pharisees and theologians at the foot of the cross:

 

(Psalm 31:1-2, 4-5, 9-10, 12-15) “In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver me. Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly . . . You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit . . . Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing . . . I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many, terror is on every side; While they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life. But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand.”

 

As God the Son committed His mother into the care of his beloved disciple, now God the Son commits Himself into the hands of his beloved Father – even (and this is important) – even after His Father had forsaken Him.

 

You will remember that sermon of a few weeks ago – “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And you will also remember WHY God the Father turned His back on His only begotten Son – because on that cross Jesus BECAME our sin.

 

Does the commitment of our Lord to His Father – even AFTER the Father had forsaken Him . . . does this remind you of what Job said in the middle of his profound anguish of soul and body? “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”  And then in 19:25-27, Job declared: “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another.”

When the Holy Spirit enables us to understand, in the depths of our souls, the absolute love that our utterly sovereign God has toward us, when the Holy Spirit enables us to finally understand Who it is we serve and to Whom we belong, then it is much easier to commit ourselves to our Creator/Lover/Savior/God despite whatever pain and heartache and loneliness and rejection we might suffer.

 

And THAT is the application of this particular text for us in this room: “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.” THAT is the proverbial elephant in the room. We all know it’s there, but few want to see it or talk about it.

 

But we’ve got to do both: See it and talk about it, because some of us live in chronic pain – some of it nearly debilitating pain. Some of us are terribly lonely. I talked to a person just last week who said she’d be happy if she were dead.

 

Some of us here are frightened of the future. Some still wonder – after all these years of serving Him – they still wonder if God really does care about them. Oh, the list of fears and heartaches and sorrows would fill a library.  And THAT is why what Jesus said to the Father after He turned His back on Him – that is why what Jesus said is so valuable for study and reflection.

 

When Jesus committed Himself to His Father – even though His Father had forsaken Him – when the Lord committed Himself to His Father, He gave us an example to follow in His steps. That means, despite how life has turned out for us, and despite how things might yet turn out for us – we have the Lord Jesus’ example (and we have Job’s example) – to commit ourselves into the gracious, merciful, and loving hands of our Creator, Savior, God, and Redeemer.

 

We can NEVER be wrong to do such a thing. Or illogical. Or inappropriate.

 

I will close this message this way: Christian, please – Trust in your Lord and Savior with all your heart. Trust Him to love you, to feel your heartache, and to bring someone alongside to encourage and comfort you. And in all circumstances, even in the midst of your doubts and fear and confusions – keep committing yourself into His loving embrace. He will never turn away anyone who comes to Him for mercy.

 

Never.

Third Sunday of Lent: I Thirst; Forgiveness

 

Third Sunday of Lent

“I Thirst.” & “Father, Forgive them.”

 

Today is the third Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’ During this season we’ve been focusing attention on the seven last words of Jesus as He hung dying on Calvary’s cross. Each statement gives us insight into His heart as He hung on that cross.

 

I started this series focusing on the Lord’s cry to the Father: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Last week we turned our attention to His promise to the thief hanging next to Him: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

 

This afternoon I want us to look at two more of His last words. First, “I thirst.” And then, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

 

The gospel writers tell us Jesus was twice offered something to drink during His horrific ordeal. The first time was just before they nailed Him to the cross. Matthew tells us (27:33-34): “And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.”

 

The wine – actually a weak vinegar mixed with a bitter substance St Mark called ‘myrrh’—acted like a narcotic. Roman soldiers often gave it to those they were about to crucify to deaden their pain. Both Matthew and Mark record that Jesus refused the drink.

 

We should not miss that point. Jesus would not drink the narcotic and thereby AVOID the full and painful wrath of God for our sins. He would not diminish in any way His sacrificial suffering in your place and in mine.

 

You’ll perhaps remember what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane when soldiers surrounded Jesus. Peter pulled out his sword and sliced off the ear of the high priest’s slave. But what did Jesus tell Peter? (John 18:11) “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

 

For the sake of time, I don’t want to belabor this point. We have a lot to cover in today’s message. But let me just add this: God the Son experienced the SAME agony of physical torture as anyone in this room would experience it. God loved us so much – each and individually, so much – that He would drink the full wrath of the Father so that all who come to Christ by obedient faith will NEVER have to bear that same wrath.

 

But then, just before Jesus gave up His spirit, John tells us (19:38-40) “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, 

to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

 

This second offering of wine did NOT contain any narcotic mixed in with the vinegar. It was THIS drink which Jesus received. But – one might ask – “Why drink THIS one when He knew He was about to take His last breath?”

 

Why? Because, in addition to the prophecies of Psalm 22 – we looked at those a couple of weeks ago – Jesus was about to fulfill yet another Messianic prophecy, this one from Psalm 69:20-21: “Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

As I studied this ‘Thirst’ text for today’s message, I thought it once again strange that the Pharisees and other theologians – many of whom had memorized huge swaths of Old Testament Scripture from Moses and the Prophets – and yet THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE THAT THEY WERE FULFILLING THOSE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES BY CRUCIFYING JESUS.

This is an extremely important point with serious application to everyone in this sanctuary at Ashwood Meadows – including me your pastor.

Listen as St Paul preached to the religious clergy and laity in the synagogue in one of the cities they’d visited: (Acts 13:27, 29-30, 40-41) “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. . . . When they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead . . . Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; For I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’”

Let me repeat this point: The well-educated theologians of Jesus day MISSED the prophecies that they’d known from childhood. They missed the prophecies that they’d memorized. They missed them even as they were fulfilling them.

We don’t have time to examine those prophecies in detail, but here are only a few of the prophetic texts that were fulfilled on Calvary: Psalms 22, 31, 34, 69, Isaiah 50, 52, 53, Daniel 9, and Zechariah 12.

Nine prophetic texts. And they missed them all.

I know I am repeating myself, but as I realized they’d missed what they SHOULD have known, I was astounded. AND – it all gave ME reason to pause, for if THEY missed the messages – then is it also possible for ME to miss some of the messages of Scripture that I desperately need to see?

Listen, no one in any pew, or in any pulpit or seminary is so smart as to know all there is to know about God and His word. It was St Paul himself who, after many years of serving Christ and authoring half a dozen epistles, wrote to the Christians at Philippi: “[T]hat I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:10-12)

“That I may know Him . . ..” Oh, there is SO much about God that we do not know – and our ignorance of God is NOT because He hasn’t told us what we need to know because He HAS told us – repeatedly – EVERYTHING we need to know about Him and about walking a Christ-centered life.

Our problem is – okay, MY problem is – I too often see what I want to see and disregard the rest. And this point is a good segue into the next statement of Jesus that I want us to focus on because these next last words of our Lord are typically missed over and over again by multitudes of Christians, even though we hear them again and again. That proverbial ‘forest for the trees’ has to do with God's utter forgiveness of our sins – of His wiping them completely off the face of time, space, and eternity.

I have spoken to this subject many times, especially in the last several months since I came to better understand this remarkable truth about forgiveness and the ‘remission of sins’ – wherein God CHOOSES to absolutely, and utterly forget our confessed sins. That they are GONE; Like the difference between the Magic Slate and the Etch-A-Sketch illustration I shared with you several weeks ago.

Luke records it this way: (Luke 23:33-34): “When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” 

It is absolutely vital to our spiritual health, our spiritual maturity – AND our fruitfulness for the Kingdom that we remember the context in which Jesus spoke those words of forgiveness.

 

By this time Jesus had been whipped so mercilessly, strips of skin hung from his back, thighs, and buttocks. His blood alternately clotted and then with each movement oozed from his torn capillaries, veins, and even small arteries. Jesus was a mass of welts and bruises and torn flesh. Isaiah tells us: “His appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being.” (Isaiah 52:14, Christian Standard Bible)

 

And then there was the emotional agony of knowing He had come to His own, but they rejected Him. His own crucified Him.

 

I’ll say it again for emphasis: His own crucified Him.

 

But were you there when they crucified the Lord? Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree? Oh, it ought to ALWAYS cause us to tremble, tremble, tremble. And so, I ask it again: Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”

 

Uhhh, yes. You were there – I was there – when they crucified the Lord. Indeed, ALL humanity was there, guilty of driving one nail after the other into the flesh of our Lord because there is not a man or woman alive now or then whose sins did not need atonement.

 

Isn’t that what St Paul tells us in his letter to the saints at Rome: (Romans 5:8-9) “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” And yet, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”

 

But what about those who knew precisely what they were doing when they crucified Him? Was there hope for forgiveness for them? And more to the point, what of those today who also know precisely what they are doing when they decide to go their own ways and ignore God's call on them to repentance? Is there hope for forgiveness for them?

Yes, of course there is. God doesn’t want ANY to perish, but that each man and woman come to deep repentance leading to salvation. Listen to His appeal to the murderous, immoral, and idolatrous nation of Israel: ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11)

 

I myself am a good example of God's remission of my sins, even though I knew precisely what I was doing as I repeatedly rejected God and His call on my life to repentance. Some of you have heard this story before, but for the sake of those who have not—and to make the point about God's forgiveness of ANY penitent, regardless how often that person has willfully turned away from God – here quickly is my story:

In 1969, when I was 19, I stopped at a traffic light on the corner of Mott Avenue and Beach Channel Drive in Far Rockaway, New York. And from nowhere the thought dropped into my mind, “What if there is a God?”

I let my thoughts percolate a moment on that idea, but then – the light was still red – I realized if there was a God, He did not approve of my sex-drugs-rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. If there was a God, I would have to change. But I didn’t want to change. I liked my life the way it was. So, when the light turned green, I pushed the question from my mind.

 

In that moment, I made a conscious decision to turn away from God.

 

But God was not yet done with me. Several months later as I walked toward my apartment building, I spotted an ant hill at my feet. I don’t know why I stooped to examine it, but the tiny creatures intrigued me as they scurried in and around the mound. Then I remembered my high school science teacher telling us ants are an important component of the ecosystem. Without ants and insects like them, the earth could not sustain plant life.

Such intricacies in life clearly meant we live in an ordered world. But an ordered world means the existence of One who did the ordering. I knew where that thought was leading, and I didn’t want to go there. I still wanted to live life MY way. So, I quickly pushed those thoughts from my mind and continued on my way.

Those are only two of the MANY conscious decisions I made to keep God out of my life. And let me be as honest as I can with you without disclosing too much of my evil past – I am not engaging in hyperbole when I say I am a good example of God's MERCY toward someone who consciously and repeatedly rejected His call to repentance.

 

That is why this prayer of the Lord Jesus from the cross can be of such HOPE for everyone who wants to repent of their earlier rejection. It is because of Christ’s prayer for our forgiveness that ANYONE can come anew, each day, to Jesus. Our Lord’s prayer for our forgiveness demonstrates that truly there is no sin so grievous, so dark, so vile that we have ever committed that God's grace and mercy cannot – and will not – cleanse with Christ’s blood. 

 

Listen to God's message through St. John: If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).

 

Forgiveness. Oh! Forgiveness. It is because of His forgiveness that anyone can come to Him. And it is because of His forgiveness that anyone can stay with Him.

 

But how sad it is that I’ve met so many people in my 51 years of walking with Christ – Christians and non-Christians – who do not believe God would forgive them for the things that they’ve done. Just last week I communicated with Christian on Facebook who told me he stopped going to church because he feels like such a hypocrite. He told me he’s trapped in the sin of pornography, and he can’t believe God continues to forgives him, even though he continues to repent each time he falls.

 

Do you think similarly about God's forgiveness? Do you think you have sinned so many times that God is fed up with you? Have you MISSED the message of the gospel? Listen to this text in Matthew 18:21-22 – “Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

 

Please listen: If God REQUIRES us to forgive others EVERY TIME they repent, don’t we think God will forgive us in the same way? He’s not going to require of us something that He Himself will not do. That makes absolutely no sense for a holy righteous God.

 

My brothers and sisters, I can appeal to you from the Scriptures all day long. I can give you information from the Scriptures all day long. But only the Holy Spirit can give you revelation into those Scriptures.

And so, I beg you: Please ask Him for revelation from the Scriptures that assure every penitent of complete, undiluted forgiveness. Assurance from those messages of Scripture that God has really, actually, and forever cast each one of your confessed sins as far from His memory as east is from the west.

Don’t miss this message. Don’t miss this truth.

Today we looked at two more of the Lord’s words as He hung dying on Calvary’s cross. The first we looked at was, ‘I thirst.” It was this cry of the Lord that should have again reminded the Pharisees and other theologians at the cross of the Messianic prophecies they were fulfilling by crucifying Jesus.

The second word – related directly to the first – Jesus asked the Father to forgive their sins.

Let me conclude this message in this way, and as a reminder once again – “Don’t be like the Pharisees and theologians who all missed the message of the scriptures.” The prophecies that pointed to Jesus’ thirst AND to the many other events surrounding Calvary ALSO point us to His offer for complete, total, unchanging forgiveness for our confessed sins.

If we do nothing else during this season of Lent – let’s begin our day each day to thank God for His indescribable gift of mercy, grace, and forgiveness. Amen.

Lenten Message - Paradise

 

Second Sunday of Lent 2024

This Day You will be with Me in Paradise

 

Today is the second Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’  Many Christians observe this time as one in which we focus our thoughts on Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself as our substitutionary atonement for our sins. During Lent, as I said last week, many Christians take opportunity to reflect more particularly on questions such as “Who am I? Why am I here on planet earth? Why did Jesus die for me? How can I grow in my love and devotion to my Savior?”

 

I am focusing our attention this season on the last words of Jesus as He hung dying on that cross. Last week we looked at one of those words – statements, actually – “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

The last words a person speaks when they know they’re dying give us important insights into their hearts. As we saw last week, some take their last breaths fully blind and deaf to the utter terror that awaits them in only a few moments. Others are fully conscious of the terror that awaits them. And others – others who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior – others take their last breaths with joyous expectation of meeting Him face to face.

 

The last words of Jesus also give us insight – insight into His heart as He awaited His own physical death. We find seven of those last words – statements, actually, in the four gospels. These are not in the order in which the Lord spoke them:

 

1. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 2. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 3. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 4. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!"

5. "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!"  6. "I thirst.” 7. "It is finished."

 

Last week I focused our attention on His cry: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Today we turn our attention to another of His last words. It was what the Lord said to the so-called, ‘Good Thief”: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

 

I suspect most of us know the backstory to the Lord’s promise to the thief dying on a cross next to Him. The gospel writers tell us Jesus was crucified with two thieves, one on either side of Him.  Here is the context to the passage in Luke’s gospel: (Luke 23:39-42) “One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today ou shall be with Me in Paradise.”(Luke 23:39-42)

 

So, let’s now begin our examination of this promise to the ‘Good Thief”, and I will parse His promise into four parts: First, I want us to look at the word, “Today.”

 

There is not even a hint of suggestion by the Lord about what is called by ‘soul sleep’ – a somewhat modern teaching by those who are ignorant of the entirety of God's word. That enormously erroneous theology states that the soul cannot exist apart from the body, and therefore when the body dies, the soul remains with the body until the general resurrection. If that be the case, then the word ‘Today’ spoken by Jesus to the thief was a lie.

 

The word, ‘Today’, also means there is no ‘stopover’ in some place called Purgatory, which is yet another horribly erroneous idea that the Christian who dies must first suffer the flames of purgation to remove any remaining sins that the Christian brings with him or her after death and before entry into Paradise – or heaven. If Purgatory is a true Biblical idea, then the word, ‘today,’ that Jesus promised the thief was a lie.

 

No – when the Lord Jesus told that thief, ‘Today,’ He meant ‘today.’ He meant that before the sun set over Calvary’s Mountain, he’d be standing in the very presence of His new Lord because he had repented of his sins and confessed Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.

 

But – that was then and this is now. This is 2024. What can ‘today’ mean for you and me sitting in this sanctuary? I’ll gladly tell you: This promise of ‘Today” is a great message of hope for those in hospice – AND for those families left behind by a deceased loved one who died in Christ, having repented of their sins and who obediently followed Christ to the best of their human frailties.

 

And surely, the promise of ‘Today” is a great message of hope for ourselves when we lie dying in a hospice bed, because we have Jesus’ promise that when we take our last breath, our very next breath will be in the holy and glorious presence of Jesus.

 

Consider St Stephen for a moment – the first Christian martyr. As he was about to be stoned for his faith in Christ, Luke tells us: (Acs 7:55ff) “But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him . . . and [Stephen] said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”  Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.”

Or please remember what St Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth. I’ve cited this passage many times, and I encourage you to commit it to memory, as well: (2 Corinthians 5:1,6-8) “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . . .   Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

The apostle Paul, being taught by the Holy Spirit Himself, believed that Jesus’ promise to the penitent thief applies to every Christian, EVEN to himself – a remarkable and instructive thing, considering what we know of Paul’s murderous persecution of Christians before that Damascus Road experience. And what he learned from the Spirit regarding his sins and God's mercy – the SAME applies to you and me, of which we must be continually reminded: (1 Timothy 1:15-16) “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

 

Jesus told the Thief, ‘Today.” But now let’s move a bit further into that text. The Lord continued: “Today YOU will be with Me.”

 

That’s our second word for today’s message: Jesus said to the thief, “YOU” will be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Think with me for a moment what we know about this man hanging next to Jesus on his own cross. And in thinking of him, I hope we can understand how this text applies to us in this sanctuary.

 

You will please remember what the ‘good’ thief said to his criminal partner crucified on the other side of Jesus: (Luke 23:40-41) “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And when the Thief turned and said: “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42) – well, we know what the Lord told the penitent thief: “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Let’s pause a moment. Of what were YOU guilty in your past? Adultery? Fornication? Abortion? Lies? Blasphemies? Drug abuse? Self-Idolatry? Unwilling to forgive others? The list is nearly endless and each one by itself was more than sufficient to send you to the eternal Lake of Fire.

 

This is important: We need to spend time from time to time remembering who we were before Christ saved us and changed us. Why? Because only when we understand the DEPTH of our sins can we begin to understand the DEPTH of Christ’s love for us. Listen to what Jesus said earlier – and under different circumstances – to the self-righteous Pharisee in Luke 7 about an immoral woman: “Her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  (Luke 7:47)

 

Until we recognize that we were HOPELESSLY wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked before we came to Christ – then Jesus’

promise to the Thief cannot impact us as greatly as it should – because the thief becomes only a distant character in the Bible and not representative of us.

 

At the beginning of today’s message, we sang once again that wonderful hymn written by John Newton. Some of you might not know his history. He was a degenerate, wretched, evil 18th century slave ship captain. His crews stuffed the holds of those ships with men, women, and children who had hardly enough room to sit amongst the filth and sewage and accompanying illness on his ships. And when some of his ‘cargo’ died, he had them tossed overboard to sharks. Dead slaves were simply the cost of doing business.

But – oh, don’t you love the ‘Buts’ of God's mercy? But when God got hold of the man, he genuinely repented and left his slave trading business. He soon became an Anglican pastor and fierce slavery abolitionist.

 

Newton is best known for his hymn that begins: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

 

The thief on that cross could have written those words of Amazing Grace. And so could I. And so could you. But if you don’t think you could, then you still don’t understand the depth of your sins – nor the depth of Christ’s love.

 

I need to start moving this message toward a close. Let’s now look at the next phrase of the Lord to the Thief: “You will be WITH ME.” This is the third point today.

Just like that thief, our future destiny is no longer determined by what we have done. Oh, we MUST understand that. The Christian’s destiny is not determined any longer by what kind of person we’ve been, by the sins we’ve committed, regardless of their evil or how often we committed them. No, no, no. Our destiny is no longer determined by what we’ve done. It is determined by what JESUS has done – AND how you and I respond to what He has done.

“You will be WITH ME.”

Some time ago, I read a poignant tale by American fiction writer, Madeline Le’Engle (d. 2007). The story was about her grandfather. He’d always been a strong, vibrant, robust man – until the dementia demon sank its talons into his memory and slowly reduced the nearly 100-year-old to a shadow of what he once was.

 

As her grandfather lay dying, he gripped her mother’s hand and asked, almost as a child might ask, “Who will go with me when I die?”

 

Those words haunt me whenever I think of them. There he was, a once powerful, ‘in-charge’ guy who had become like a small, frightened child. I know nothing of his position with Christ. I do not know if he ever humbled himself before the cross of Jesus. But if he had, Oh! What comfort someone could have given the frightened child inside the man.

 

Of course, men and women caught in the grip of dementia are not the only ones who lie on deathbeds, fearful that no one will go with them when they die. I know many healthy people who fear such a thing. And they have good reason to fear because they live lives without so much as a passing thought about eternity – nor do they care a smidgen that obedient faith in Jesus Christ is God's absolute and unyielding requirement for eternal life.

Jesus told the thief, “You will be with Me.” And those are the SAME words the Lord of Creation speaks to EVERY man and woman who has sought Christ’s forgiveness. “You WILL BE with ME.” It is for the Christian as David wrote: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me.”

 

Who will go with me when I die? The Christian can answer without a moment’s hesitation: Jesus will go with me, every step of my journey.

Back to the text and our fourth point: Jesus said, “You will be with Me.” And where would that be? He tells us: In Paradise.

 

Some believe Paradise is heaven itself. Others believe it is NOT exactly heaven, but it is nonetheless a place of unimaginable joy, peace, and beauty. It sounds as if Heaven and Paradise are synonymous. And they might be. But it is really beyond my purpose today to discuss the varying opinions as to the location of Paradise because, frankly, IT DOES NOT MATTER where Paradise is located. What DOES matter is that Jesus is there.

 

The Paradise promised to the Thief – AND to all who follow the thief in repentance and confession of Christ’s Lordship – that Paradise is where we will see Jesus face to face – no longer with the eyes of faith, but with our physical eyes. We will hear His voice with our physical ears, and we will feel His embrace with our physical skin.

 

Listen to this promise from the prophet Isaiah, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:8-9)

 

Who cares where Paradise is located? I don’t care because wherever it is, Jesus is there. No wonder St Paul told his readers in Thessalonica – AND his readers in Ashwood meadows – (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

 

“Comfort one another.”

 

The reason you and I who know Christ Jesus as our Savior and Lord –

 

And Don’t minimize the ‘Lord’ part –

 

Those who know Jesus as Savior and Lord have every good and perfect reason to comfort each other because, as we saw today in His promise to the dying penitent thief hanging next to Him – when we take our last breath – whether later today or sometime in the future – we have Christ’s unchangeable promise that on THAT day we WILL be with Him in Paradise.

 

With Him. And so shall we be forever with the Lord.

 

THAT is why we can comfort each other with those words of promise from the very lips of our Savior Jesus. Amen and amen.