Luke 23:33-24:12
A friend of mine asked me this week how I could believe in God. He said it is absurd. He challenged me: how can God allow all these terrible things that are happening in the world? Why, if he is so loving, does he allow all the evil?
It’s a good question. But he didn’t like the answer I gave him. Because I didn’t sugar-coat the truth! I said this world is under judgment. I said we are at war with God.
He pushed back and said but you believe God could stop it all?
Yes, but that would be judgement day.
Then all this, this is just a play, a wild and meaningless game for God. We all just go through the motions so that God can have his glory? I can’t believe in a God like that.
Well, you know what, it doesn’t matter what we believe about God. It doesn’t change whether God exists or not. Whether I think God is a raving lunatic or the best thing ever doesn’t change who he is because God is not a figment of my imagination or yours. He is not a creation of the church. He is not ours to edit into a more suitable picture of who God is – or who we would like him to be.
What we know about God is only what he has revealed to us. We don’t know what God hasn’t told us. He does not tell us why he allows the amount of suffering he allows. He doesn’t not tell us why he doesn’t allow much more evil and suffering. He limits the evil we do. Why? We are not told. Perhaps we cannot understand? Perhaps only when we are renewed, with a new body and a new mind can we understand the weight of the truth. Perhaps now our minds would explode! Who knows?
But we do know what God HAS revealed. What he has told us. We know what God WILL do. We know that he has set a day, judgement day, when all suffering and evil will come to an end. And we know what he HAS done. And this is the heart of the matter, and the real answer to the question my friend had “How can you say that God is loving when faced with all the suffering?”
And the answer – the huge, amazing, loud answer echoing throughout history is: the cross. The cross of Christ is God’s answer. It is at the cross we see the heart of God. It is at the cross that we see that he is not at a distance playing with us, uncaring, unfeeling. At the cross he enters our world, in poverty, in being hungry, thirsty. He experiences injustice and betrayal. Everything we’ve been through he has known. He even knows what it is to sin, not because he sinned but because he took our sin, my sin, your sin, upon himself.
It is the cross which speaks loudest about who God is. And it is the cross we celebrate today.
Because what hope is there otherwise. This is a cruel and evil world. It is terrifying, it is war, it is bloodshed. It is bombs and terrorism and evil. It is broken promises and broken homes. Even in our own homes there is violence, there is shouting, there is cheating, betrayal, hurt. Some of us are parents and making massive mistakes. Some of us know we’re not doing enough but we don’t know what to do? We can’t change ourselves to find a way out.
The Cross of Christ offers hope. For there Jesus took all our failings upon himself.
Haven’t you ever wished that you could start again? Haven’t you ever wished that you could simply hand over your life to someone else to fix.
Well, the cross says you can. Why? Because on the cross Jesus swapped places with us. He took our life, so that we can get his.
He deals with our failings and gives us his righteousness. And that righteousness, that goodness starts to work its way through our lives. We are changed from the inside out.
It’s like an old, run-down dive of a restaurant. Then one day you see the sign “new owners - under new management”. Hm. And you start to hear rumours that the food is really good. And then you see the windows are cleaned, and the floor is gleaming and the tables shining. Wow. And then there’s a fresh coat of paint on the outside. And before long the restaurant is completely different. The new owners have taken over and set about transforming the place.
That’s what coming to Christ is like. A complete transformation. That is what is on offer this Easter.
1. Jesus can save anyone, even you
39 One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!” 40 But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? 41 We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” 43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
All of us know a time when we’ve messed things up. Some things big, some things small. But you know you’ve really messed things up when you’re such a terrible criminal that you’ve been sentenced to death by crucifixion – through hanging on a cross. This was for murderers, terrorists, that kind of person. Think Breivik. Or the guys behind the bombings in Brussels. Those type of people. Down the totally wrong path.
And that’s the type of man who turns to Jesus and asks for mercy “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom”.
What would you say if you were Jesus? “No, you don’t deserve forgiveness!” Any other religion would give the answer “but you have not done enough good things, and you cannot do any before you die. There is no hope for you”. Humanism would say “It’s too late, you have made your choice. You have a mental disorder or something.”
But Jesus? Jesus says this “Today, you will be with me in paradise”.
Amazing words. Ridiculous words. Words which my friend reacted to: “So I will go to hell but you won’t? Just because I don’t believe in Jesus?”
Yes. Because all of us deserve Hell. But Hell isn’t fire and pitchforks and hehehe. Hell is simply the absence of God. We get what we want. We reject God. All of us are hell-bound, and without Christ that is where we will all end up. Because we want to be there. We want there to be no God. That’s the amazing thing which God does. He comes down to his enemies, and dies in order to save them. That’s not fair. It’s not fair that good people go to Hell along with bad people – but it definitely not fair that bad people go to Heaven. No it’s not fair. The gospel is spectacularly unfair. The innocent dies for the guilty. And the guilty go free.
That – is love.
Not namby-pamby ooo, I looove you, sentiment. But love. Brutal, heart-wrenching, go through fire and mud – that kind of love. Hard as steel. It is love which looks people like us in the eye, people who have rejected God, people who have messed things up, people who are not good like God, perfect, holy… compared to Him we are all like the criminal on the cross next to Him.. that love looks us in the eye and says “today, you will be with me in paradise”.
All you’ve got to do is ask.
Because we’re all a bit thick – really, could God really forgive me. No, I’ll have to sort myself out a bit, do a few good things, put on my best suit, wash my face – stupid stuff like that. Because we are a bit thinck and think that God can’t really mean forgiveness forgiveness, forgiveness for everything – Luke, the writer, tells us two more times that yes, this is really true.
33 When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Forgive the guys who used me as a punching bag, spat at me, mocked me whipped me, stripped me naked, and then hammered nails into my hands and feet causing me agonising pain – those guys, Father, forgive them.
And if we haven’t got the point yet from Luke points out that the most unlikely person responded: the Roman Centurion. The man in charge of the crucifixion!
47 When the Roman officer overseeing the execution saw what had happened, he worshiped God and said, “Surely this man was innocent.”
Jesus can save anyone. Even you.
2. Jesus died, really died, so that you can live
44 By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 45 The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. 46 Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.
It went dark, a symbol of judgement, as Jesus hung on the cross. He is being judged for our sins. He’s taking our place. Then Jesus shouts his innocence – Father... – because he is not a sinner and he will be vindicated. And then he dies. Death came because of sin. And so Jesus, carrying our sin, dies.
The soldiers think job done. The Roman officer is amazed and wants to know more “Who is this Jesus”. The crowds were sad. And Joseph comes and asks for his body. We know from the other gospels that when the soldiers checked to see if Jesus really had died, they also stabbed him in the side. Yes, this dude’s dead.
His friends, his disciples, women and men - they saw Jesus die. All went away sad. There was no cunning plan, no oh, don’t worry it’s actually Judas with a changed face on the cross. (We know it wasn’t Judas because we know how Judas died - He tried to return the money after Jesus’ death on the cross – pretty difficult if HE was the one on the cross. And then hanged himself.)
There was no big conspiracy. Everyone was depressed. The baddies won. The goodies lost.
53 Then he took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in a long sheet of linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb that had been carved out of rock.
I think the most damning evidence is this in verse 1 of chapter 24 24:1 But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared – they went to the grave with burial spices. Not with party packs to welcome him back – hurray you’re alive! Not even with medical stuff – bandages etc. No: burial spices. Spices for dead people. Nobody thought Jesus was alive. He was dead. Dead, dead, dead. They’d seen it happen with their own eyes, heard his cry of agony, carried his dead body to the tomb. Dead.
And that is a very, very GOOD thing. It is the reason we call Good Friday Good Friday! Because if Jesus did not die, then our sins are not paid for, and there is no way back to God. We are at war with him, we have rejected him, and we are hellbound. An eternal existence without God.
But because Jesus DID die. Well, our sins are dealt with, and the way to God is open. Jesus is the way. Because he died, we can live forever, eternal life – which is life with God.
Jesus died, really died, so that you can live.
3. Jesus rose, really rose from the dead, so that you can live.
5b Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
Ah, now we get to the part that many of us struggle with. Rising from the dead? Really? But this the heart of the matter. Everything hinges on this. Because if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then everything else is lost. His death is meaningless, just another death. Christianity is a cruel joke if he did not rise.
So of course. Much nonsense spoken about this. I read recently that that we can’t really know. That we just have to have faith. The humanists love to prance around shouting about how rational they are, and how irrational Religion is. Well most religion is. But the resurrection of Jesus is not irrational. It is rational. It is based on evidence, not faith. There is a reason why many of the top scientists – rational people - in the world even today, are Christians. Science itself was birthed out of Christian thinking, out of the Christian worldview. People who say the resurrection is irrational know nothing about rationality or about history.
Because we have the eyewitness accounts. We know that their lives were changed by this. We know that within about 10 years this new religion, based on the resurrection of Jesus, spread across the whole known world, coming to the attention of the Roman Emperor. This brand new religion had huge growth – but it had an enormous weak spot. The message they went out with was that Jesus had risen from the dead. It’s a stupid, hard-to-believe message now. It was a stupid, hard-to-believe message then. People weren’t dumber then. In fact, with all the nonsense posted on the Internet, I think we’re dumber now!
But, back then, they would have checked out the story. Spoken to people. Looked for the body. Just like today, people reacted to this ridiculous claim, and set about to prove it wrong. And nobody could, and many, like, many today, looked at the evidence and had to say “I believe”. The evidence was so strong that they continued to believe it even as they were arrested, beaten tortured, and killed. The reaction to Christianity was very harsh – yet people still flocked to the new faith in numbers.
Now, you don’t have to believe in the resurrection – but then you’ve got to come up with another explanation as to why thousands of people who could easily disprove the resurrection rather died than give up their faith in Jesus.
The most rational explanation is the one the eyewitnesses give us: Jesus rose from the dead.
And if he rose from the dead, then you and I can live forever.
Jesus can save anyone – even you.
Jesus really died – so that you can have life.
And Jesus really rose again so that you can live forever.
So, what does that mean for me?
First there is hope. Evil and suffering is not the end. It will not be victorious. Death does not have the last laugh. Jesus has beaten death. Life has overcome – and is offered to you.
Second. No matter what you’ve done there is forgiveness. No matter how bad you are, or have been, or even will be – his grace is bigger, his blood has paid the cost, his love can cover you. You are forgiven.
Third. You have to deal with Jesus. You have to humble yourself, and ask for forgiveness. Ask to come under new management. There were two criminals on either side of Jesus. One went on to eternal death. The other two eternal life.
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