Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel. And I.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the crucifixion. This is found in Matthew, chapter 27, verses 32 through 44. It is found in Mark, chapter 15, verses 21 through 32. It is found in Luke, chapter 23, verses 26. 42. Follow along with us while we read in Luke, chapter 23.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus.
And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.
But turning to them, Jesus said, daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourself and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breast that never nursed.
Then they will begin to say to the mountains fallen us, and to the hills cover us. For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him. And the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by watching. But the rulers scoffed at him, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one.
The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was also, and in Scripture over him, this is the King of the Jews. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. But others rebuked him, saying, do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. And he said, jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
So these next few events that we're studying are probably the most important events in history.
Because if Jesus didn't come and lay down his life, we would have no substitute to pay for our sins, to pay the penalty.
And ultimately all of us would have to pay that ourselves.
And so, while these events are never events, I really want to sit and take joy in. They are important events and they're events that we should hold dear because it is the time that we find our salvation.
So we start off this event as Jesus is being led away and he's carrying his cross. Right.
But we have this story where someone in the crowd is seized and he takes the cross of Jesus.
Is there anything more to that story?
[00:04:32] Speaker B: I don't know why that happened. Most likely because Jesus Christ was very weak and the cross should have been quite big and heavy. Also, another side of this story is the power of the Roman Empire. Remember, Jesus Christ was teaching, if a Roman soldier will force you to carry a burden for one mile, you go the extra mile, the second mile. So this is exactly what happened. He was forced to carry a burden and that burden became a blessing. Yeah, I like this. Carry other people's burdens because you never know which one is going to be a blessing for you.
It seems that this experience has changed Simon's life. He's mentioned as having two sons, both of them well known disciples of Jesus Christ. Later, when the Gospels were written.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah, so we never know when helping someone else will change our lives and the lives of our children and people around us. So it's always good when we can to share the burdens with other people.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: It can be a turning point.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: So the crowds were chanting, crucify him. Crucify him. But not everyone at this event was wanting Jesus to die. We have these women who are following. It's interesting that it says women and not men.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: Uh huh.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: There were women who were mourning and lamenting for him.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Jesus Christ healed some women, maybe more than men, and raised women's sons.
Why women?
It's the same story as Mary Magdalene when they were in a difficult situation, being widows, single moms, not having a husband, someone to provide.
They were more in need and they appreciated more the help they received from Jesus Christ or the miracles Jesus performed for them. On the other side, women are a little bit more relational. Their brain is wired slightly different than it is for us men, for connections, for relationships. And they can get attached faster than we men are. And I see here some of them who are mourning and lamenting for him because they received a blessing from him in a way or another.
And of course, among them we are going to see, as John said, there are other three women, all of them called Mary, all of them who have been very close to Jesus Christ.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Yeah, but Jesus says, don't weep for me.
And again, I think this gets back to the, the Whole Jesus laying down his life for us. Because what we'll find later in next episode, it is not the cross that kills Jesus, but as Jesus goes there, he's doing this for us. And this is probably, as I said earlier, the most tragic but the most wonderful event in the history of the world. That God laid down his life so that we can have eternal life.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: We touch on this topic, what you just mentioned, when Jesus Christ was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, when he cared for the guy who was hit by Peter's sword and healed his ear.
And we realized that Jesus character shines in moments like this.
I mean, if I were in place of Jesus, mocked and bitten and spit on and falsely accused and illegally arrested and tried multiple times and bounced from Anna to Qeiyafa, from, you know, Pilate to Herod and back, I wouldn't have resources to think about people around me. But look at Jesus. Even if he barely spoke a couple of words to Pilate, he has beautiful words coming from the heart.
The same loving Jesus who is interested in our well being and he has time to talk to them.
It's a number of verses and Jesus goes back and forth from them to Revelation what is going to happen in the last days.
And quoting some, you know, from the Old Testament, all of them together, shows that Jesus was interested in their well being. He was focused on that moment. He had resources for these people. And this is how his character shines in moments of crisis.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: And I think there's something really important for us in this as well. Jesus had been tortured, you know, he had been beaten, whipped, hair of his beard pulled out, crown of thorns put on his head. He's so weak, he can't even carry the cross yet he's not coming through moaning and crying and screaming. And he's able to carry on a conversation thinking about other people. And when we look at the martyrs, you know, Fox's book of Martyrs talks about people who were put to death for what they believed by the church, no less. And as they're dying, they're burning at the stake, they're singing praises to God, there's peace on their face. And the blood of the martyrs was the seeds of the gospel. As people came and saw these martyrs being killed, they're like, this is not normal and looked into it. So when we go through times of trial there, there's still that connection with God. And God is able to, if need be, take away the pain and clarify our focus so that our focus is on him. And, and so you Know, just bringing this up as we see Jesus here, his focus is on other people as he goes to the cross, even while he's carrying the sins of the world.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: Also, I like how the story about Jesus crucifixion includes a number of indirect references to prophecies from the Old Testament, Primarily Isaiah, chapter 53 and Psalm number 22.
And they talk about how Jesus was supposed to be crucified among thieves, one to the right and one to the left. How they're about to cast the lot for his garment.
Also how Jesus was supposed to be mocked. And he was. And look at this. People stood by verse 35, watching. But rulers scoffed at him, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself. If he's the Christ of God, he's chosen one.
And when the religious leaders said that, the Roman soldiers amplified it. They mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, you are the king of the Jews. Save yourself.
I don't know if you have been in a situation like this when people waited for you to be able to accuse you with something. They are not happy with you. They're kind of waiting you around the corner. And now they jump on you. They are like sharks. They are ready to devour you and use these words that run very deep and very painful.
You trusted God. Let him deliver you technically from our own hands. That is very painful. And that was an extreme pain for Jesus Christ because he knew who his father was. He knew how he trusted. He knew the plan of redemption that included his crucifixion and death. That plan was designed before the foundation of this world, from eternity. Eternity, yeah.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: Before we finish, I want to touch on one last beautiful part of this story. So the two thieves on the cross, one is mocking him, you know, save us, save yourself. If you're the Christ, he's joining the crowd. But this other thief, he says, you know, we deserve this.
We. We're up here for a reason, and we're guilty.
But he asked Jesus to remember him, and Jesus remembers him. Jesus says that he will be with him in paradise. This man didn't take Bible studies. He wasn't baptized.
There's no list of everything he does. But at this moment, I again, someone who's guilty, someone who deserves to be there, Jesus makes a place for him because he comes. And I think this is a lesson for us, that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God.
And so many people I talk to feel like they did something in their life that was so bad that God won't forgive them. And there are people who bring up events that took place when they were little, when they were young adults, when years and decades ago, as something that can't keep people, that separates people from God. But the bottom line is this thief dying on the cross the most cruel punishment that the Romans could come up with.
He deserved it, but Jesus forgave him. And Jesus can forgive us too.
Let's pray. Father God, we are so thankful that as Jesus goes to the cross, his mind is on us.
And we're thankful, Father, that he went there reaching out and sharing and making a way that we don't have to pay for our mistakes and our sins. And Father, I pray if anyone's listening now who needs forgiveness, that they can ask and you will be faithful and just to forgive them and cleanse them from all unrighteousness, that you will remove their sins as far as the east is from the west, and that they can have the assurance that they don't need to keep asking, but they know they're forgiven.
Father, help us to surrender all to you in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Sa.
