Centurion: Luke 23.44-47 (ESV)

Have you ever been wrong before?  Rightfully wrong?  I've experienced this in my March Madness bracket this year.  I've been wrong.  It's a year for the underdogs.  Sometimes we're wrong and when we realize it's a good thing.  The Centurion was glad to discover he was wrong.  Today we're in Luke 23:44-47 seeing what happened in the life of the Centurion at the cross.  The Centurion was in charge of crucifixion, but as he led something changed.  What changed is representative of what happens in our own lives.  We want people to understand Jesus is our Savior.  Maybe you have been searching out who Jesus is?  We can find Jesus in a variety of ways.  Some have found Jesus through a sermon by Billy Graham through preaching, some through singing but God also uses other things that happen in our lives to speak to us.  Today we notice the things God used to speak to the Centurion.  Let's think about the kinds of things God uses to bring someone to Jesus.  We also need to ask what God is showing us.  Luke emphasizes the innocence of Jesus.  All of the Gospels are correct but Luke emphasizes Jesus is innocent, without sin.  Jesus is the One who took our place.  Even creation recognizes the innocence of Jesus.  The crucifixion of Jesus was wrong and unjust.

Creation groaned as the Creator was crucified.

 Divine displeasure is expressed in this moment.  Think about what's happening in creation.  Creation knows the Creator is before them.

                        ⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵while the sun's light failed.

 This image of darkness is spread over the brightest part of the day, throughout midday, the afternoon.  In the Middle East they'd take naps at this time of day because it was so hot.  Remember Abraham was taking a nap at this time of day when he had angelic visitors.  The contrast here is that Jesus is on the cross and it's dark.  We have many ways of explaining the image we have here.  Some scholars say there may have been a violent wind, a wind so violent it tore the curtain.  Maybe it was a gust of wind filled with dust?  Or maybe like a heavy fog like they have in London?  It's called London fog.  A heavy fog comes in and it's so dark the street lights come on.  There can be even more explanations for why it can be dark in the middle of the day, but there's something else happening.  We realize there's more to this.  This isn't just coincidence.  Nature itself is rejecting what's happening on the cross.  This is harder for us in our culture.  Other cultures have a closer connectedness with nature.  C.S. Lewis wrote about the connectedness of God and creation.  It influences the Centurion and it can be explained.  It's that moment when we feel like God is trying to get our attention.  The sun failed; the sun refused to shine.  This is an image of creation rejecting what's happening.  Creation groans.  In the book of Revelation creation rejects mankind; we brought sin into the creation.  This is the same as being kicked out of the garden of Eden.  There's a hint of this at the cross.  It's like creation is asking, "What's wrong with you people?"  "Do you not realize you crucified the King of Glory?"  "This is God!"  Creation is testifying.  There's physical darkness but there's also spiritual darkness.  This is the lowest point in the history of mankind.  When you crucify the King of Glory you cannot get any darker.  God loved us so much He sent His Son to live among us and restore us.  We nailed Him to a cross.  What's God do in that moment?

God came near.

 God steps in.  The Temple is affected:

            And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 

 Notice the passive tense here.  It doesn't say God or a wind tore the curtain.  It doesn't tell us how it happened just that it happened.  There's all kinds of things happening in the Temple and the curtain is torn.  There were thirteen curtains in the Temple.  The largest was a 60 foot curtain that separated the Holy of Holies.   Once a year a priest would enter.  They'd tie a rope around him in case he died in the presence of God they could pull him out.  Very few people saw this place.  It's where God was present.  The torn curtain represents something significant.  It means God's presence is no longer veiled and hidden.  People went to the Temple to sacrifice animals as a sin offering of worship.  In this moment the sacrificial system came to an end.  There was no more reason to bring an animal to sacrifice.  That system was forever broken, even for the Jews.   Why's there no longer a need?  Jesus is the sacrificial lamb of God.  There's no longer anything separating us from the presence of God.  This is God stepping into our lives.  Mankind is in darkness doing the stupidest thing, crucifying Jesus and God comes closer to us.  God removes what keeps us from Him.  While we are rejecting God, God comes even closer to us.  Jesus on the cross is a stunning reminder of what God does in our lives.  When we are at our weakest, when we are furthest away from God; God comes near.  People burn us and abandon us.  God comes closer.  God grabs a hold of our hearts and gives us a love we've never known before.

It's like a child having fun playing in the mud.  They have mud all over them and when you encounter that child they want you to hug them.  "You're dirty," you might say.  You might ask them what happened and tell them you have to hose them off.  This is God stepping into our world.  The Temple curtain is torn and God is reaching out washing us off and making us new.  In Jesus' last moments God came near.  

Jesus gave Himself for us.

 This was a powerful moment.  Jesus is about to speak before He dies.  Let's see what the Centurion saw that transformed him.  Jesus did not die as a helpless victim.  Jesus died in full power and capacity to come off the cross.  Jesus willingly gave His life.  He set an example for us.  We are powerful people filled with the Spirit of God.  Nothing can come against us that we cannot rise up and overcome.  Jesus demonstrates this on the cross.

                        ⁴⁶Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. 

 Most people at this point in their crucifixion do not have the capacity to speak in a loud voice.  It's remarkable that Jesus still has the power to speak.  He is victorious.  Jesus prays one more time.  Jesus begins his prayer, "Father."  In the garden he prayed, "Father I commit myself to You."  "Glorify Yourself in me."  "Not my will but Your will be done."  Jesus prays to the Father.  Jesus is fully in control.  He prays, "Into Your hands I commit my spirit."  This is prayed in Psalm 31:5.  It was a common bedtime prayer for devout Jews.  It's a recognition that we are afraid at night and we might not be here in the morning.  This was a regular prayer.  In praying this here it's like Jesus is saying, "The End."  Jesus commits himself into the hands of the Father.  No one is taking Jesus' life from Him.  He is giving His life.  He willingly sacrifices.  This is what we do too when we come to Christ.  God does not force anyone to follow Him.  It's our own choice.  God calls us to repentance and to give ourselves to Him.  It's our own choice.  God calls us to lay ourselves down and give ourselves to Him.  This is what we are about here in this church.  We are willing to pay the price.  This is who we are as a church.  We have about 75 people we have sent out this weekend.  The PathFinder's class has set aside time to seek God together on a retreat.  Youth and their families are serving together this weekend.  We are here to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations.  We have a church member serving in disaster relief as well.  This is who we have been.  This is who we are and this is who we will be.  This isn't our idea.  Jesus paid the price to reconcile us.  We say, "God, we are Yours.  We will serve.  We are Your people."  In 1 Peter 4, Peter preaches that just as Jesus committed Himself to the Father we commit ourselves to God.  We are called to do the same, to commit ourselves to God.  We entrust our souls to a Faithful Creator.  The Centurion sees all of this happening, what Jesus has done.

Evidence at the cross leads to worship.

 What the Centurion sees  he knows is different and this leads him to worship.

                        ⁴⁷Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!"

Luke is telling us Jesus was innocent.  We hear this from Luke four times in this chapter through Pilate, Herod, through the thief on the cross and now through the Centurion.  He's looking at what happened and he sees there's something different here.  This is not an ordinary man.  He is innocent!  This man had no desire to follow God but in this moment the Centurion recognizes the power of God and now he is transformed.  This is holy ground.  Surely this is the Son of God.  It's a powerful moment!  Capture here in this moment that even while Jesus is dying on the cross people recognized who Jesus was.  The thief was transformed, the crowd was transformed and the Centurion is transformed.  It's clear at the cross that this man was innocent and this man is giving Himself for us.  What Jesus did on the cross was for us.  God came near to us, gave Himself for us and this is the moment for us to be in the presence of God.  God surprises us.  Jesus is who He says He is.  We can be reconciled to God.  Have you done that?  Can you tell God you've been a mess and ask for forgiveness?  Can you give yourself to Him?  God promises He will receive us.

Sermon by Dr. Scotty Carpenter.  Sermon Notes by Jeni Martin Johnson.