Crucified with the Criminals -Then He forgave them Luke 23:33-34

 Sunday of the Passion II / Palm Sunday Isa 52:13—53:12 Ps 22:1-11v or Ps 22:1-21v Phil 2:5-11 Luke (22:39-71) 23:1-49 (50-56);  Entrance into Church sometimes done Scriptures-Luke 19:29-40 Ps 118:19-29; 

 " Crucified with the Criminals- Then He forgave them" Luke 23:33

  ---This quote certainly wraps up all of the Entrance to Holy Week---" Every Divine action begins from the Father, proceeds through the Son, and is completed in the Holy Spirit." ST Basil of Caesarea

Nouwen for Friday seemed to affect thought here too for me, about the Cross,  because ultimately it is about God loving us through His Son, so that we may enter His kingdom by faith.  "Being Led to Love

The spiritual life is not giving up something. It is first of all following the One. It is not first of all letting go of all fears. It is first of all being led to love. If we keep the Lord, his Kingdom, his Word, and his Gospel in our mind, if this becomes our inner space, we will know what to do because we have that world around us. We are in the House of the Lord. We are there with God and somehow we are in the right space to make decisions because our eyes are focused. We know the beauty of God and we want to be there." 

 “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.”

- Psalm 13: 5

1. Luke 23:33"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

There was no reason to crucify Him.  The Jews insisted on it , or their leaders.  Why?" Luke 23:2-" And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King. "

Luke 22:67-" Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: 68And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. 69Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God. 70Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. 71And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth."  

Pilate found that he did nothing worthy of death.  Herod sent him back to Pilate.

Theological reasons crucified Him.  They were sure He claimed to be Divine, and that irked them for sure.  This seems to be a dividing line today as well.

Today we see division around a lot of things.  It is about Jesus being Divine as well as human.  He is part of the Holy Trinity.  

Application- If Jesus is divine and the Scriptures are full of teaching affirming this, then how does this affect my thinking?  What does He mean to me personally? 

2.  He was crucified between two criminals. Or malefactors- literally criminals. ( orig language- evil doers)

He was crucified at Golgotha, or the place of the skull- literally because of its shape like a head. "  As a matter of translation, it would clearly have been better either to give the Greek form (Cranion), or its meaning (= “skull”) in English. The Vulgate, however, had given Calvarium" Hence Calvary. 

Who are the criminals?  One was a murderer- Barrabas ( who they let go in place of Jesus who they desired to be crucified) , and one was a thief.  This sounds familiar if you hear the news.  We have thieves , and murderers all the time on the news. 

Application-We are the criminals who need redemption because of our original sin in Adam.  We should not boast.  He was wounded for our transgressions.  Is. 53:5-6 tells us this." 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

I Peter 2:24 " Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

In Adam's fall, we sinned all. ( the old way to learn the alphabet)

3. Lastly, Luke 23: 34" Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."This was the first of the Seven words from the Cross.

I missed that before. I thought it was there, but not at that place in the narrative.  We often talk about forgiveness as that is the hardest thing to do.  It is.  But as Jesus is dying on the Cross,  He forgives.

"Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," 1 Corinthians 2:8

I need no word for this as application, as we all know what this means.  We day it every day on the Lord's Day  in the prayer Jesus taught us. " Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

The application is there.  It is for us to apply ---this word from the Cross of forgiveness.

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that the words which have heard this day with our outward ears, may, through thy grace, be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living , to the honour and praise of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  1928 Book of Common Prayer, p. 49