Crowd: Luke 23.34-38

 

Today we begin our Easter services and for the next four weeks we'll be at the cross on an emotional journey for us.  You'll feel some different emotions.  Sometimes when I think about the cross I feel many different emotions.  Sometimes I feel angry.  Sometimes I feel sadness.  Sometimes I feel joy.   It's hard for me to express emotions early in the morning.  I get up early but I'm not a morning person.  My wife Nancy is a morning person.  She wakes up smiling and happy.  Sometimes I'm reminding her I'm not a morning person.  It takes me awhile in the morning.

This is a very deep and impactful passage.  There's a lot of different characters at the cross.  There were a lot of people gathered around the cross.  Good character development is crucial for a good story line.  The first time we saw Snoopy we knew he wasn't an ordinary dog.  Luke does an excellent job painting this picture for us.  We get a fuller idea of what's happening.  We get a fuller view of the crowd and who's at Calvary.  I can see myself at different stages of my spiritual journey in the crowd.  Early in the morning they're gathered together.  Jesus is already crucified and here's what's happening.  

Sometimes we do not know what we are doing.

                    ³⁴And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 

 Jesus prays for the Father to forgive them for their ignorance.  Jesus has several sayings we'll look at in the coming weeks.  Here Jesus is not addressing the crowd.  Jesus is talking to the Father, praying for those who are crucifying him.  Stephen models this as well in Acts 7 when he is being killed.  Jesus prays for those who are active in the crowd, those involved in doing something to Jesus.  If we look at our world today people who are not believers sometimes do not know what they do.  Do they know they are crucifying God?  The heart of Jesus' prayer is they did not really know Jesus is God.  They will soon know this.  This recognition will come to everyone born: Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Jesus hopes we will come to forgiveness, find out who Jesus is.  The opportunity is present.  The opportunity to respond to grace is before them.  The religious leaders should have known who Jesus was.  They reduced Jesus to something less than God like just a good teacher, a good life guide.  This reminds us to be careful what our conception of God is.  We all create God in our minds.  A concept of God can be disturbing for us especially through last year's political cycle.  Politics was mixed in with who God is.  God does not represent any political party.  God is not Democrat or Republican.  It gets confusing for us.  People were confused thinking God was going to do something in one political party or another.  People in Jesus' day were waiting for a political revolution as well.  We can all cross this line without realizing it.  They expected Jesus to be something He never promised to be.  Jesus becomes our "genie in a bottle" to make us happy and make things better.  We think if we have Jesus we we will get what we want out of life.  In reality people are unable to view Jesus as fully God at the cross.  

In Exodus 32 God has a special session with Moses.  He's to lead people to freedom.  It's a holy moment and God reveals Himself to Moses.  Moses tells the people to wait while he goes up to meet with God.  Moses comes down having heard from God and when he returns he sees the people have made for themselves a golden calf.  They've created their own god.  This is their idea of how God should be.  The God we serve is a God who reveals Himself to us, not the other way around.  God is good beyond our ability to understand what good is.  He is not the god we create in our minds.  He is the One who has revealed Himself to us.  Jesus is praying the Father will help them understand.  This can be our prayer too as we ask God to strip away false notions we have of who God is.

Jesus' garments were valuable.  Most people in that time period had one primary outer garment.  The soldiers are casting lots to determine who'd get it.  This is the same as flipping a quarter for us.  The King of Glory is dying on the cross and and the soldiers are playing kid games.  Are we not doing the same thing sometimes?  The cross is before us and we are enjoying ourselves in meaningless activities.  

Sometimes we do not know what to do.

                    ³⁵And the people stood by, watching,

 The crowd displays ignorance and passivity.  What's everybody doing?  They're just standing there watching.  They're not mocking anymore, they're just standing there.  Some are grieving.  Some are there for entertainment.  Some are there out of respect for Jesus.  Ultimately there's nothing they do.  They're passive.  Failure to act is also a decision.  When we decide to do nothing it's also a decision. There's a major shift in the next verses with the crowd.  In verse 21 the crowd is shouting, "Crucify him!"  Fourteen verses later this is the same crowd.  It's a somber moment, a shift.  They're taking a pause and this can be a healthy step in our lives.  

In verse 48 the crowd has remorse.  They recognize something happened.  Maybe that's where you are in your life?  We pride ourselves in action but there's also times we just need to be.  God may have you stopped for a moment.  Sometimes it's best to do nothing and wait when you're unsure what to do.

Sometimes we lose hope.

 We just think, "Let's get to Sunday," sometimes.   We know there's good coming.  I invite you to spend time at the cross.  We lose hope sometimes too.  We see this in the religious leaders and in the soldiers too. Jesus is mocked:

            but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” ³⁶The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine ³⁷and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 

The crowd has now fallen silent.  The religious leaders are now trying to work the crowd back up.  They want to feel better about themselves.  They tear Jesus down.  They mock Him while He is dying on the cross.  How do you get to a place where you tear someone down in this fashion?  The religious leaders have been saying for over 400 years a Messiah is coming.  To them, Jesus didn't look like He was supposed to look.  They stopped looking for the Messiah.  At this moment things do not look hopeful.  It's a harsh thing to walk through. The soldiers have a gruesome job.  They crucify people.   They strip people of their humanity.  The soldiers and religious leaders are stripping Jesus of His humanity.  God became a man for us.  At the cross humanity it stripped away.  They've lost hope.  The only way someone could do this to Jesus is if there is no Jesus.  There is no hope and no reason to gather together and no reason to care about anything.  There's no reason to live.  We live and die and that's it.  This is where they are.  This helps us understand the mindset of people around us.  If Jesus is not the Son of God and there is no hope. 

It's interesting they acknowledge Jesus has saved others.    In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man.  Jesus spit in the dirt and put it on the man's eyes and the man was healed.  The man went to the religious leaders and told them what happened and they they said that's not what happened.  The religious leaders called the man's parents in to question them.  They said he can speak for himself.  They quiz the man again and again.  He said here's what I know: I was blind and now I see.  They acknowledge Jesus has saved others.  The irony of the cross is Jesus cannot save Himself and us at the same time.  Saving Himself leaves us condemned for eternity.  Jesus chooses the cross.  Jesus died for us in our rebellion.  This isn't Jesus' first rodeo!   Remember earlier in Luke Jesus was tempted.  Even Satan realizes the power of God.  Jesus responds by saying no.  That's not the way.  At the cross Jesus' heart is settled.  The temptation to come off the cross is nothing.  Jesus came to restore humanity.  Jesus didn't come to win an argument but to restore hope.  Jesus goes to the cross to bear our sin.  Where are you today?  Do you know who Jesus is?  Are you at a moment of pause in your life?  Have you lost hope?  Wherever you are, come to the cross.  We are the people Jesus died for.

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