He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The Thieves on the Cross - LUKE 23: 33-43
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. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 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!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Commentary
Yesterday was Christ the King Sunday. The church has seen fit that we should have the prophecy of Zechariah instead of our normal psalm. It is a beautiful reading and fitting of it's place in today's service. I think it deserves a few words of explanation.
If you read the entire first chapter of Luke through from the beginning, you will find that the Zechariah being quoted here is the father of John the Baptist. He is also a priest in the temple. He and his wife Elizabeth were also visited by angels in their extreme old age and told that they would have a child whom they should name John. Zechariah doubted it, and was struck dumb, a penalty that was to persist until what the angel foretold had come to pass.
Skipping forward to today's reading, it is now 8 days after John's birth, and his parents have brought him to the temple for the ceremony of being circumcised and named. Jesus has not yet been born.
The officiating priests want to name the child after his father, but Zechariah, still unable to speak, motions for a tablet and on it indicates that the child is to be named John. As soon as he does this, he is able to speak, and he comes forth with the above words as a prophesy. We can only speculate as to whether he thought he was talking about his own son in front of him, or about the as yet unborn Jesus.
In the full version of today's reading, we are given the following additional conclusion. “The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.”
Since we are celebrating Christ the King Sunday, we now jump ahead to the crucifixion, and the famous interchange with the criminals being crucified with him. I think this is the message we are really supposed to be paying attention to.
One criminal derides Jesus. A fitting reaction given both his prior life experience and his present predicament. But the other criminal asks to be remembered in the kingdom. I find this to be a remarkable statement of faith. Probably this criminal knows of Jesus by reputation. But we have no reason to believe he has ever seen Jesus until this moment. And in this moment what he sees is a man being brutally killed on a cross. Maybe he has seen men crucified before. It was not an uncommon occurrence and it was always a public spectacle. What he surely has NOT ever seen is a man crucified who survived the experience. To any reasonably thinking individual, this is the end of Jesus. End of story. Close the book. But this criminal knows differently.
This criminal, on faith alone, KNOWS that there is a kingdom and that Jesus will be in it. He asks to be remembered. And what he gets, is not only to be remembered but to earn a place in it. Once again. Your faith shall make you whole.
Yesterday was Christ the King Sunday. The church has seen fit that we should have the prophecy of Zechariah instead of our normal psalm. It is a beautiful reading and fitting of it's place in today's service. I think it deserves a few words of explanation.
If you read the entire first chapter of Luke through from the beginning, you will find that the Zechariah being quoted here is the father of John the Baptist. He is also a priest in the temple. He and his wife Elizabeth were also visited by angels in their extreme old age and told that they would have a child whom they should name John. Zechariah doubted it, and was struck dumb, a penalty that was to persist until what the angel foretold had come to pass.
Skipping forward to today's reading, it is now 8 days after John's birth, and his parents have brought him to the temple for the ceremony of being circumcised and named. Jesus has not yet been born.
The officiating priests want to name the child after his father, but Zechariah, still unable to speak, motions for a tablet and on it indicates that the child is to be named John. As soon as he does this, he is able to speak, and he comes forth with the above words as a prophesy. We can only speculate as to whether he thought he was talking about his own son in front of him, or about the as yet unborn Jesus.
In the full version of today's reading, we are given the following additional conclusion. “The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.”
Since we are celebrating Christ the King Sunday, we now jump ahead to the crucifixion, and the famous interchange with the criminals being crucified with him. I think this is the message we are really supposed to be paying attention to.
One criminal derides Jesus. A fitting reaction given both his prior life experience and his present predicament. But the other criminal asks to be remembered in the kingdom. I find this to be a remarkable statement of faith. Probably this criminal knows of Jesus by reputation. But we have no reason to believe he has ever seen Jesus until this moment. And in this moment what he sees is a man being brutally killed on a cross. Maybe he has seen men crucified before. It was not an uncommon occurrence and it was always a public spectacle. What he surely has NOT ever seen is a man crucified who survived the experience. To any reasonably thinking individual, this is the end of Jesus. End of story. Close the book. But this criminal knows differently.
This criminal, on faith alone, KNOWS that there is a kingdom and that Jesus will be in it. He asks to be remembered. And what he gets, is not only to be remembered but to earn a place in it. Once again. Your faith shall make you whole.