Memorize: Acceptance of penitent thief
Key Verses: 4, 9, 22, 31, 34, 43, 45,
Pilate, the Roman authority for that area passes the buck to Herod. He doesn’t want to take responsibility for this miscarriage of justice. Pilate finds no basis for the charges, and should have let Jesus go, but he yields to political pressure. He tries three times to reason with the religious leaders, but in the end he gives up and surrenders to their will. It is so sad when political leaders don’t have the guts to do the right thing.
As they lead Jesus away to be crucified Jesus speaks to those who are in the crowd. He warns them of very difficult times ahead. If they are willing to kill him based on nothing, they will certainly not hesitate to kill them as well. When trees are green, fruit is coming. When it is dry, who knows what the future holds. Jesus offers some of the fruit when he prays for forgiveness for those who are crucifying Him. What a rare commodity, to pray for those who are killing you.
One of the thieves recognizes this grace and personally asks for forgiveness. He receives it, even as he is dying justly for his crimes. No moment is too late for forgiveness. No soul too far from God’s reach, if they will but turn, they will find Him just a breath away.
The visible signs that happen when Jesus yields to death give a glimpse into what that death accomplished. All of time shifted at that moment. The curtain in the Temple that symbolized the separation between a Holy God and a sinful people was torn. Jesus opened the way for the Holy God and His sinful people to be reunited, like in the Garden of Eden. Nothing would separate them again.
Those that gathered to watch this even were torn with grief. Those immediately around the scene grieve and then leave. Those closest to Him stood a little further away and stayed. They didn’t know what these things meant, but they did know what Jesus had meant to them. They couldn’t just walk away and forget, going on with their lives. They didn’t know what to do.
A man named Joseph, a man who was seeking God, received permission to bury Him from Pilate. This he did hastily, since religious restrictions prevented a delay. Of course Jesus didn’t stay in this borrowed tomb. Isaiah 53 talks about this. Jesus, as a poor man, would never have afforded a tomb of His own. His body would normally been placed in a family tomb for about a year, while the body decayed. Then the bones would have been gathered and placed in a large clay pot and stored in the tomb, making way for other bodies to be buried in the future.
The Arnold Journey 