Good Friday Musings During Confinement

      One of the worst things about being confined to my home has been missing being with my church family. This Easter, the warm hugs and handshakes on that blessed Sunday were verboten, so our greeting and reply of “He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed!” were said to faces on a computer screen. Although I’m grateful for the technology that lets us continue to worship with each other, maybe that’s why I was a little more contemplative this year in the days leading up to Easter.

      At my church, our Good Friday service consists of hymns and Scripture reading arranged around a theme of “In the Shadows.” One of the last sections is The Shadow of Crucifixion: The Seven Last Words compiled of readings from the four Gospels. One of the readings from Luke’s account gives us the criminal’s repentance:

The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.”

And an inscription also was ^[i]written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew:

THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

                (Luke 23:36-43 NKJV)

      I’ve been thinking about the penitent criminal’s words at lot this week and, having more free time because of circumstances, I decided to do a little Bible study and see what other, more learned, minds have said about this passage.

      While I believe all Scripture is inspired, I also believe the Holy Spirit chose particular men with specific personalities and perspectives to record the events so their accounts vary. Luke, a Gentile, champions the outsider or underdog in his gospel. He may very well have been a freed slave, considering being a physician didn’t carry the social standing it does today. Luke has an eye for things outside a strictly Jewish context and it is only Luke who records the penitent criminal’s words. Matthew and Mark attribute the slurs to both criminals. John Calvin offers a simple explanation for this. He says this attribution, “ought not to be accounted harsh; for the two Evangelists had no other design than to show that even the robbers who were fast dying, did not spare Him. . ..” Even with omission of the penitent’s words,  “. . . there is no inconsistency in the statement; that Christ was despised by all, down to the very robbers; for they did not speak of particular individuals, but of the class itself.” Perhaps Luke was inspired to include this because he was more sensitive to the repentance of an outlier.  

      Another item I wanted to study was the connection of Jesus’ crucifixion with Joseph, an Old Testament type (or preview) of Christ, and his imprisonment. Joseph was imprisoned with two others, the king’s baker and cupbearer, each having troubling dreams, which he interprets. The interpretation of the dreams is the baker is doomed, but the cupbearer will be restored to his position:

And Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. Now within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your place, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand according to the former manner, when you were his butler. But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”

            Unfortunately, the Bible tells us, “Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”

     The interesting thing here is the way this passage mirrors our passage in Luke. In Genesis, Joseph, who is in prison with the cupbearer, prophesies the cupbearer’s release (salvation) and the baker’s doom. The Joseph proclaims his innocence and asks to be remembered. The other prisoner faces death. Compared to the crucifixion passage, two criminals don’t ask for help, but rather one hurls insults and the other rebukes him. He proclaims Jesus’ innocence and acknowledges Who He is when asking to be remembered, “when You come into Your kingdom.”

As he’s dying, the criminal makes a remarkable profession of faith! A passage in Amos came to mind, “And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning.” (4:11) Unlike the cupbearer and Joseph, Jesus will not forget him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

      The more I looked into it, the more I realized there’s a lot in the brief exchange between the two criminals and Jesus. Though it will gain him nothing, one hurls attacks at Jesus. In his commentary, Calvin writes, “Thus desperate men are wont to take obstinate revenge for the torments they can’t avoid. . .They ought, indeed, to be tamed to humility by strokes; but this shows that the wicked heart, which no punishments can bend, is hard like iron.”

     

      His penitent companion rebukes the insults with “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?”. Calvin continues, “…even when reduced to the lowest straits, he doesn’t even begin to fear God.”

      The whole scene where two criminals flank Jesus at His crucifixion is a little ironic considering some of the disciples had argued over who would have prominence in His kingdom with the mother of James and John going so far as to ask Jesus, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” Jesus had warned, “You do not know what you ask.” Then said, “…but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

      N. T. Wright writes of the disciples in Jesus and the Victory of God, “They thought, as one might well imagine, they were going to Jerusalem to sit on actual physical thrones, and they disputed as to who would get the most important ones…[they] still cherished ambitions for the nation of Israel, and for themselves within Israel, which showed that they had not grasped the radical nature of Jesus’ agenda.”

      “but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father” – The two criminals were providentially designated to be there and at least one was eternally elected unto salvation. The penitent criminal who would never have asked to be there at Jesus’ right or left hand will nevertheless have a place in the kingdom because of what happened at the cross. He calls on the Man hanging on a cross beside him with faith in the Man’s ability to provide salvation. As Matthew Henry puts it, a “dying sinner to a dying Savior.”

      Calvin writes, “For who would ever have thought that a robber, in the very article of death, would become not only a devout worshipper of God, but a distinguished teacher of faith and piety to the whole world. . .I know not that, since the creation of the world there ever was a more remarkable and striking example of faith…”

      I’ll never read that passage the same way again. For the probably the first time, I’m grateful to be confined with time on my hands.