Luke 23:33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing " And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 35And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One."
I know you probably have read this several times. After all we are coming up on the Easter season and there can’t be Easter without the place called the Skull. Have you ever read it and really thought about what’s going on here? It’s absolutely wild. Here are a few thoughts I’ve been playing around with…
V 33 – says they brought Jesus to a place of death and crucified Him. He (Jesus) was placed between 2 criminals (their life lead them to a place of death). Then there is this BIG BUT at the start of v34. But Jesus was asking for forgiveness not for Himself but for the ones that where crucifying Him. This says to me while they were in the process of crucifying Him- the nails, the thorns, and the pain- He was handing out forgiveness? They didn’t know what they were doing?? But Jesus knew what He was doing??
They did achieve their goal which was to kill Jesus. Crucify Him!! And as much as they achieved, Jesus achieved His goal which was to Forgive them!! On one side you have a group screaming crucify Him, crucify Him. And on the other side you have Jesus screaming forgive them, forgive them!
In v35 they also questioned Him. Was He really who He said He was. They thought that if He was the Christ He would save Himself. But he didn’t? Because He was the Christ, He embraced death so they could live.
Along with the criminals their life leads to death BUT His death leads them to life!
One of the things that I had never given much thought about until about a year ago is this: Yes Jesus did suffer horrible physical pain & humiliation (He was hung completely naked on that cross...think about that one for a moment) but what really hits me the hardest, is that Jesus, who existed with God before creation as part of the Holy Trinity, was for the first time EVER ripped away from that perfect union. No mattter how much pain we go through on this earth, we can't even begin to imagine was it was like for the Son to be separated from the Father & the Holy Spirit while at the same time carrying the unimaginable burden of the sin of all creation. When I start to have one of my pity parties at how unfair life can be; I just need to remember the suffering that Jesus chose to go through for us all. I know that sometimes we read about the crucifixion so much that it begins to lose its impact. My prayer for all of us, is that we continue to seek God and allow Him to pour His Spirit into us everyday and take every opportunity to remeber how much He loves us.
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