In his book, Lift High The Cross, Robert Morgan tells about a most unusual cross that stood on the lawn of a Dallas church one Lenten season. The cross, which was about ten foot tall, created such a stir that pictures of it were carried by newspapers across the country and a television station in Dallas filmed it.
It was an ugly thing — made from weapons of violence and crime, most of which had been confiscated by the Dallas Police Department. There were guns and pistols, knives and bayonets, bullets, bombs, and broken glass. The cross rose out of the remains of a car that had been involved in a drunk driving fatality. An ugly barbed-wire enclosure, like they use at prisons, surrounded the whole thing. It was an ugly sight — a thing of violence and death and it caused quite a controversy.
The neighbours hated it — in fact, they started a petition to have it removed. The congregation were repelled by it. They thought it was sacrilegious and had no place on the church grounds. The pastor just commented, "The reactions to our Lenten display are understandable. No one wants to be reminded of our inhumanity toward each other. But isn't that indeed the basis for the cross?"
It was a cross no one wanted to see. Much like the cross of Christ — though his was not a cross of guns and knives, bayonets and bullets. But a cross of suffering and shame. A cross of derision and death.
A cross no one wanted to see. And yet some did see it. And it’s just as well they did, for if they had not seen it, we wouldn’t be gathered here today in gratitude for what his death means to each of us, and for each of us.
Jesus could have died in obscurity. Just one more young man executed by the Romans. But the reason he wasn’t forgotten is that some of those present that day were witnesses to the truth. And they shared the truth afterwards so that the Good News might be heard down the centuries.
Each of the four Gospels contain accounts of Jesus’ Passion and the crucifixion. There are overlaps. There are differences. But together we get as good an idea as we can of the events 2,000 years ago. For our service today we’ve chosen to use Luke’s account.
Let me read 3 verses once more
47 When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’[n] 48 And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. Luke 23: 47 - 49 NRSV
In these three verses Luke introduces us to what one Bible commentator refers to as “three sympathetic witnesses”:
The centurion who I think we can assume was in charge of the execution party.
“the crowds” who Luke tells us “had gathered there for this spectacle”.
And thirdly there are “all his acquaintances including the women who had followed him from Galilee”
Luke tells us that each of these – the centurion, the crowds and the acquaintances - saw what was taking place or they were watching what was happening. These didn’t find the cross too ugly even though it was of course. They didn’t turn away and consequently each of these three saw and watched was happening and it is through their eyes we see the importance of what was happening.
Centurion
When we think of the centurion present at Jesus’ death, we are perhaps more inclined to remember the centurion saying in Matthew’s Gospel, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54 (A verse forever tainted by John Wayne saying the words in "The Greatest Story ever told"!)
Mark’s words are similar.
But Luke records it as
47 The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, ‘Surely this was a righteous man.’
It is a significant difference. For Matthew and Mark there is an emphasis in their Gospels on Jesus being the Christ, the Messiah. But for Luke there is a different positive slant.
Luke wants his readers to know that Jesus was a victim not a villain. Jesus was in the right. He didn’t deserve to die. Luke wants to make sure his audience understands that Jesus wasn’t guilty. Luke’s audience may have consisted of Roman citizens who may well have believed in Roman justice. Such people would have asked themselves “If Jesus was tried by a Roman court there must have been a reason.”
Therefore, Luke presents his Roman witness to make it clear that Jesus was not guilty
‘Certainly this man was innocent.’ The Centurion says
But that’s not enough for Luke. He records that what the Centurion has seen brings him to faith
47 When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God
This hard-nosed Roman soldier is convinced of Jesus innocence and is brought to faith by witnessing Jesus’ death on the cross. What better proof would there be if you were a Roman reading Luke than the word of a Roman officer?
The crowd
48 And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts.
Let me emphasise “the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle”
It’s perhaps hard to comprehend, but people did used to gather to watch executions. And before we get all self-righteous, 150 years ago public executions were still happening in this country. The last one took place on 26th March 1868. The Times newspaper recorded that
Yesterday morning, in the presence of a vast concourse of spectators, Michael Barrett, the author of the Clerkenwell Explosion, was hanged in front of Newgate. In its circumstances there was very little to distinguish this from ordinary executions. The crowd was greater, perhaps, and better behaved;
It’s the starkness of that report. It’s almost as if it’s been written by the cricket correspondence!
Throughout Luke chapter 23 there are references to “the crowds” or “the people”. They shout for Jesus’ execution. They shout for Barabbas to be released. They shout “Crucify!” Then a large number of people follow Jesus on his way to the cross including women who mourned and wailed for him.
And now we have the crowd at the place of execution. A crowd waiting for the innocent Jesus to die. A crowd we must assume made up in part of those who not long before were shouting for his death. But a crowd who now beat their breasts as a sign of anguish. As a sign of mourning. As a sign of penitence. As an act of contrition or a plea for mercy. A crowd who had gathered for the spectacle of watching an innocent man die are now so moved that they return home thinking “What have we done? Was he really the Messiah? Have we helped kill him?”
All his acquaintances
49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
The acquaintances are not identified. They may or may not have included the eleven disciples. But most likely these are the relatives and / or the larger group of followers and disciples that are occasionally referred to in the Gospels such as “the seventy-two”.
It’s perhaps hardly surprising that they stand at a distance. Would you want to witness the barbaric death of someone you love up close? And surely you’d be excused for distancing yourself from him if you were worried about your own skin?
Yet the acquaintances watching from a distance play a crucial role. They are the key witnesses to what is happening. They see the transformation of the centurion. They see the transformation of the crowd. And they have seen why this came about – even if they perhaps do not fully understand it. For they have seen how “forgiveness” transforms lives.
In verse 34 Jesus says:
34 … ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’
These words could be addressed to the soldiers at the foot of the cross gambling for his clothes. But the words apply to the centurion, to the crowds and to the acquittances too.
“Father forgive them”
And let’s not forget, those words apply to us too. “Father, forgive them.”
I doubt that on that Friday afternoon, the centurion, the crowds, the acquaintances, even Jesus’ closest disciples, fully understood what was happening. They could not have fully realised that God had looked down on the universal problem of human sin and realised there was only one way for the problem to be dealt with. That was for God himself, in the human form of his son, to come in to the world and rescue it.
John 3:16 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Or as The Message puts it powerfully
John 3:16-18 The Message (MSG)
16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. There was no other way of Saving the world from sin.
Saving every person in the world from sin could only be achieved by God himself.
Only God’s innocent son can absorb and deal with the sin of the world.
Only God’s innocent son can take the curses of the world and give back blessing.
Only God’s innocent son can take the hatred of the world and give back love.
Tom Wright puts it this way:
“It is because in his death on the cross we see a love which can only be identified as God’s love.
Therefore we Christians can say: He was not just a great teacher dying for his beliefs. He was not just a good man suffering innocently. He was, and is the loving God himself, come as a human being to save men, women and children from sin and death. And from all the stain and fear and guilt and shame which cling to our hearts, our memories our imaginations, our lives.”
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him; the people stayed there watching, the leaders jeered at him and the soldiers mocked him. Some women, his friends from Galilee, looked on from a distance.
Let us Pray
Lord, open our eyes to the wonder of this day, and help us to respond in the only way we can
With heartfelt gratitude
With joyful praise
And with loving service
Offered in your name and for your glory.
Gracious Lord, for all you willingly endured we thank you. Amen.
Acknowledgements
Robert Morgan illustration eSermons.com
New Interpreters Commentary on Luke
Tom Wright - Luke for Everyone
Nick Fawcett - Prayers for all seasons
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