Ready or Not - Week Three: Good Friday In November

 

It’s one week to Advent… and it’s Reign of Christ Sunday 

This three-week series has helped us prepare our hearts for Advent.  We will always be surprised by Christ, but if our hearts are open, we can glimpse what we can do “in the meantime.”  

Today, we are going to experience Good Friday and a mysterious, surprising story found only in Luke’s Gospel. 

But first, let me ask you a question.  

Have you ever felt like the Universe was against you?  

I'm talking about the moments when people turn on you, when you find yourself falsely accused, when you get blamed for things you had no control over, when it feels like you're living Job's life.  

We've all had some taste of this at least once in our lives.  Some of us more intensely than others, but we all get it.  

Here's the thing: when we are going through seasons like this, it's hard not to feel bitter, angry, and disillusioned.  

Being able to show grace and mercy to other people when you’re up against it is not easy.

 

The Cross shows us what this looks like.  

In the midst of the worst agony a person can experience, when every one was either against him, or had abandoned him, Jesus forgave, and showed mercy. 

The kingdom of God is characterized by forgiveness, grace, and sacrifice… 

It’s a paradox that we claim to believe, yet struggle to practice.

In a moment, we’ll hear a story that can change our lives… 

But I want to share the one big idea that will carry through this entire message today, one that is hard to embrace, but is also the most life-giving and hope-filled idea in the history of ideas.  

BEING READY FOR GOD’S KINGDOM MEANS TRUSTING IN THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS. 

Luke 23:33-43

33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

• Luke highlights the ridicule and mockery that Jesus endures on the Cross. 

• Humiliation: the sign on the Cross, the soldiers offering him “sour wine.” 

39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding[e] him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

• The criminals (thieves) are most likely found guilty of sedition and violence. 

• The “Good Thief” - St. Dismas, a brief history of his legend. 
• The ancient church theologians tried to reconcile the discrepancies. 
• Augustine even mused that Dismas had been baptized at some point and wrote about a story in which he encountered the infant Christ.  
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• Jesus says to him, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” 
• The ancient Church did a lot of rhetorical gymnastics to make sense of this.  
• They wrote about how Dismas was with Jesus during the "harrowing of Hell," and was somehow simultaneously in Heaven with Christ, and also in "Paradise."  

We can get lost in the questions about what Jesus literally meant, and lose sight of the significance of the paradoxical image of the Cross.  

In his moment of greatest despair, agony, and at the verge of death, Jesus showed grace and mercy to someone who didn't "deserve" it.  

Some Important Questions

• How do we respond to the King who reigns from the Cross?
• The Crucified God, the suffering servant, the Lamb of God. 
• Are we willing to extend grace to others, even when it is difficult?
• Or are we too focused on our own needs?
• Are we willing to embrace the radical love Jesus exemplifies?
• Can we show grace and forgiveness? 
• Can we accept it, fully and completely?

BEING READY FOR GOD’S KINGDOM MEANS TRUSTING IN THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.