Thus we have encountered one of the most astounding and encouraging verses in all of Scripture.
Jesus promised that the criminal would be with him in paradise. Yet the text of Luke gives us no reason to believe this man had been a follower of Jesus, or even a believer in him in any well-developed sense. He might have felt sorry for his sins, but he did not obviously repent. Though we should make every effort to have right theology, and though we should live our lives each day as disciples of Jesus, in the end, our relationship with him comes down to simple trust. Have you staked your life on Jesus? Have you put your ultimate trust in him?
Do you know that, when your time comes, you will be with him in paradise? Dear Lord Jesus, how I wonder at your grace and mercy! When we cry out to you, you hear us. When we ask you to remember us when you come into your kingdom, you offer the promise of paradise. Your mercy, dear Lord, exceeds anything we might imagine. It embraces us, encourages us, heals us. O Lord, though my situation is so different from the criminal who cried out to you, I am nevertheless quite like him. Today I live, trusting you and you alone. My life, but now and in the world to come, is in your hands.
And so I pray:. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom! Jesus, remember me today as I seek to live within your kingdom! As Jesus was dying, his mother was among those who had remained with him. Jesus wanted to make sure she would be in good hands after his death.
The presence of Mary at the cross adds both humanity and horror to the scene. We are reminded that Jesus was a real human being, a man who had once been a boy who had once been carried in the womb of his mother.
When we think of the crucifixion of Jesus from the perspective of his mother, our horror increases dramatically. The death of a child is one of the most painful of all parental experiences. This scene helps us not to glorify or spiritualize the crucifixion of Jesus. He was a real man, true flesh and blood, a son of a mother, dying with unbearable agony. His suffering was altogether real, and he took it on for you and for me.
Why do you think was it necessary for Jesus to suffer physical pain as he died? Lord Jesus, the presence of your mother at the cross engages my heart. You are no longer only the Savior dying for the sins of the world. You are also a fully human man, a son with a mother.
Here are his Seven Words, the last seven expressions of Jesus Christ on the woman who anointed him in the home of Simon the Pharisee (Luke ), Just as the first word, this Biblical expression is found only in the Gospel of Luke. The Seventh Word “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk ). Gospel. It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole.
O Lord, how can I begin to thank you for what you suffered? My words fall short. My thoughts seem superficial and vague. Nevertheless, I offer my sincere gratitude for your suffering. Thank you for bearing my sin on the cross. I give you my praise, my love, my heart. All praise be to you, Lord Jesus, fully God and fully human, Savior of the world. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.
Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. In the words of the psalmist Jesus found a way to express the cry of his heart: Why had God abandoned him? Why did his Father turn his back on Jesus in his moment of greatest agony? This side of heaven, we will never fully know what Jesus was experiencing in this moment. Or was his cry not so much a question as an expression of profound agony?
Or was it both?
What we do know is that Jesus entered into the Hell of separation from God. The Father abandoned him because Jesus took upon himself the penalty for our sins. In that excruciating moment, he experienced something far more horrible than physical pain. The beloved Son of God knew what it was like to be rejected by the Father. As we read in 2 Corinthians 5: I can write these words. I can say, truly, that the Father abandoned the Son for our sake, for the salvation of the world.
But can I really grasp the mystery and the majesty of this truth? Who can understand it?
Have you taken time to consider that Jesus was abandoned by the Father so that you might not be? How can I ever thank you for what you suffered for me? What can I do but to offer myself to you in gratitude and praise? Thank you, dear Lord, for what you suffered. The fourth word that Jesus uttered on the cross was a word of anguish addressed to the Father.
It is found in Matthew Jesus uttered seven short phrases on the cross before he died. This sermon briefly examines the fifth word that Jesus uttered, which was a word of suffering, found in John In this sermon we examine the sixth word Jesus uttered on the cross, which is a word of victory.
Introduction Herbert Lockyer, in his book titled All the Last Words of Saints and Sinners, says, "The last words of both saints and sinners about to enter eternity, what they had to say before their stammering tongues lay silent in the grave, demands our deepest attention and most earnest In this sermon we examine the seventh word Jesus uttered on the cross, which is a word of contentment.
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