1. His Prayer for His Executioners
“Jesus said, ‘Father , forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’” – Luke 23:34
The first three words from the cross portray Jesus the example. They express the love he showed to others. “Do not weep for me,” he had said earlier (v.28). Nor did he weep for himself. He did not dwell in self-pity on his pain or loneliness nor on the gross injustice that was being done to him. Indeed, he had no thought for himself, only for others. Unbelievable! He had nothing left now to give away; even his clothes had been taken from him. But he was still able to give people his love. The cross is the epitome of his self-giving – as he showed his concern for the men who crucified him, the mother who bore him, and the sorrowful thief who was dying at his side.
His first word was his prayer for the forgiveness of his executioners. Think how remarkable this was. His physical and emotional sufferings had already been almost intolerable. But now he had been stripped and laid on his back, and the rough hands of the soldiers had wielded their hammers clumsily. Surely now he will think of himself? Surely now he will complain against God like Job, or plead with God to avenge him, or exhibit a little self-pity? But no, he thinks only of others. He may well have cried out in pain, but his first word is a prayer for his enemies. The two criminals beside him curse and swear. But not Jesus. He practices what he has preached in the Sermon on the Mount: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).
For whom,then, was he praying? No doubt especially for the Jewish leaders who had rejected their Messiah. In answer to Jesus’ prayer, they were granted a forty-year reprieve, during which many thousands repented and believed in Jesus. Only in AD 70 did the judgment of God fall on the nation, when Jerusalem was taken and its temple destroyed.
2. His Salvation of a Criminal
“Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’” – Luke 23:43
All four evangelists tell us that three crosses were erected at Golgotha (“the place called the Skull” [v.33]) that fateful morning. They make it plain that Jesus was on the middle cross, while two robbers were crucified on either side of him. At first both thieves joined in the chorus of hate to which Jesus was now subjected (Matthew 27:44). Only one continued, however, hurling insults at Jesus and challenging him to save himself and them. But the second thief rebuked him saying, “Don’t you fear God…since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly,..But this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40-41). Then, turning to Jesus, the repentant robber said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v.42).
This ascription of kingship to Jesus is remarkable. No doubt the broken thief had heard the priests mocking Jesus’ claim to be the king of Israel, and he had probably read the inscription over his head, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” He had also seen Jesus’ quiet, kingly dignity. At all events, he had come to believe that Jesus was a king. He had also heard Jesus’ prayer for the forgiveness of his executioners, and forgiveness is what he knew he needed, since he confessed that he was being punished justly.
To his cry to be remembered by Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (v.43). There were no counter-charges brought against the criminal. He was not reproached because he waited to repent at the eleventh hour. No doubt was cast on the genuineness of his repentance. Jesus simply gave this sorrowful believer the assurance he longed for. He promised him not only entry into paradise, involving the joy of Christ’s presence, but an immediate entry that very day. And he assured him of these things with his, “I tell you the truth,” the last time he used this familiar formula. I imagine that, during the long hours of pain that followed, the forgiven thief kept his heart and mind on the sure and saving promise of Jesus. (from John Stott)
The third statement coming tomorrow!
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