Palm
Sunday 2022
Luke (Year C)
Dramatized Passion Reading: Luke 23:1-49
Introduction
There’s so much we could say about the Gospel
accounts of Jesus’ passion, which are at the very heart of our faith.
But as we’re going to have a long reading,
we’ll have quite a short sermon.
Just before we have this dramatized reading,
I’m going to suggest a couple of themes to look out for, though of course there
are many others too, and it might be something else that particularly strikes
you today.
One thing to think about is kingship.
Who is the true king here?
What’s he like?
What’s his kingdom like?
In this account, we hear about Pilate, the
representative of Cesar, the ruler of one of the greatest empires there’s ever
been.
And we meet King Herod, who becomes friends
with Pilate.
And of course we’re shown King Jesus and we
hear something about his Kingdom.
And then I’d suggest you also look out for a
second theme of justice and righteousness.
Who does the right thing here?
Who deserves what?
Who’s guilty and who’s innocent?
After we’ve had our reading, I’m going to say
something briefly about Jesus’ conversation with the dying thief, the details
of which are given only in Luke’s Gospel, which we’re reading from this year.
* * *
Sermon
Jesus is crucified, in part, because he claims
to be the Christ, or the Messiah, the anointed one of God, God’s chosen king.
He’s falsely accused of opposing the payment
of taxes to Caesar.
The Jewish leaders want Pilate to agree that
King Jesus is a threat to King Caesar.
Pilate cross examines Jesus about whether or
not he is “the king of the Jews.”
The soldiers ridicule him by dressing him in
an elegant robe, like a parody of kingly splendour.
The bystanders mock him:
They want to see him save himself if he is the
Christ of God.
The written notice of the charge against
Jesus, hung above the cross says, “This is the king of the Jews.”
So Jesus is dying as the king.
A king rejected and scorned, but a king
nevertheless.
Of course, we know Jesus is the true and
rightful King, the Messiah.
And the dying thief, amazingly, can see it.
Jesus is utterly defeated and broken.
He’s dying the most terrible death the Roman
Empire could devise.
And yet the thief can see past the squalor and
the pain.
He says to Jesus, “remember me when you come
into your kingdom.”
The thief knows that Jesus is the king.
And amazingly he also seems to know that death
won’t be the end for Jesus.
Jesus is obviously dying – but by dying he is
coming in to his kingdom.
Jesus is clearly a very different sort of king
with a unique kingdom.
Jesus is the king who dies because he will not
save himself.
He dies to save others.
And he has the power to bring them into his
kingdom.
And then to our second theme of justice and
righteousness, guilt and innocence.
Pilate can find no basis for a charge against
Jesus.
Neither can Herod.
It’s obvious to everyone that Jesus has done
nothing deserving death.
“What crime has the committed?”, Pilate asks
again in desperation.
We’re repeatedly told that there are no
grounds for the death penalty.
The Jewish leaders and the crowd have lost the
argument for Jesus’ guilt and they’re just reduced to shouting louder.
We could paraphrase it: “We don’t care if
there’s no evidence and you’ve found him not guilty: Crucify Him Anyway!”
The Centurion in charge of the crucifixion
says about Jesus: “Surely this was a righteous man”.
So Jesus is a king coming into his kingdom by
his death.
He’s also innocent and righteous.
He is suffering unjustly.
He does not deserve death.
The dying thief sees all this.
And he’s willing to admit his own guilt.
He says to the other criminal: “We are
punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has
done nothing wrong.”
Jesus is the innocent one dying the death of
guilty.
This incident with Barabbas, the
insurrectionist and murderer, serves to illustrate the point.
We might say it's like a mini-parable made
history.
It’s a little drama which shows what the cross
achieves.
The innocent Jesus takes the place of the
guilty Barabbas.
Here’s the gospel acted out:
The guilty Barabbas deserves punishment.
But the innocent Jesus dies, and Barabbas goes
free.
There’s a reversal, a swap: the innocent for
the guilty.
There’s the Christian doctrine of the cross in
this apparently incidental accident of history.
God has surely arranged it to show us that Jesus
is dying in the place of all those guilty sinners who deserve punishment, who
will put their trust in him.
Jesus is dying for us, in our place, instead
of us:
The innocent one, bearing our guilt and
punishment, that we might go free.
He dies, that we might live.
Did Barabbas ever realise any of that, I
wonder?
The dying thief certainly had some idea what
he ought to do.
He has the insight and courage to ask for the
mercy of king Jesus.
He can make no pleas in mitigation.
He can offer no good works:
He can’t promise to turn over a new leaf and live
from now on as a reformed character.
But he simply prays: “Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom”.
And that brief prayer for mercy is enough.
The thief somehow perceives that all that is
necessary is that King Jesus should remember him with kindness.
Jesus promises him: “I tell you the truth,
today you will be with me in paradise.”
And for any of us, whatever we’ve done, the
assurance of heaven is only ever a prayer away.
That prayer of faith, looking to Jesus in
simple trust, asking for the mercy of the king, is one which Jesus will always
answer:
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your
kingdom.”
“I tell you the truth, you will be with me in
paradise.”
Jesus the righteous king died to save guilty
sinners like me and you.
As we marvel again at the crucified king this
Easter, may God give us the insight and faith of the dying thief, that we too
might throw ourselves on the mercy of Jesus. Amen.
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