In this thought-provoking YouTube video, Clint Loveall and Michael Gewecke delve into the Gospel of Luke, exploring the themes of Jesus’ crucifixion, the inclusion of Simon of Cyrene, and the prophetic teachings of Jesus. They discuss the significance of Jesus’ physical weakness, the interconnectedness of different elements in the story, and the deep theological meaning behind the inclusion of Simon. With insights into the historical context and the early church’s understanding of suffering, this discussion sheds light on the profound message of the text.
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Transcript
00:00:00:21 – 00:00:21:51
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Welcome back. Thanks for joining us. I appreciate you being with us on a Tuesday as we continue through Luke’s gospel and specifically through the crucifixion narrative. We saw the preface to that yesterday. And today we get to the actual crucifixion scene fairly.
00:00:21:55 – 00:00:45:09
Clint Loveall
Fairly brief in Luke. Luke doesn’t spend a great deal of time on it, though. He does include some details that we don’t see other places. Let me let me go through this and come back and have some some conversation to others also who were criminals were led away to be put to death with Jesus when they came to the place called the skull.
00:00:45:14 – 00:01:17:53
Clint Loveall
They crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right, one on his left. Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they’re doing. And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And people stood by watching. But the leaders scoffed at him and said he saved others. Let him save himself. If he’s the Messiah, if he’s the chosen one of God, the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering of sour wine and saying, if you’re the king of the Jews, save yourself.
00:01:17:58 – 00:01:47:30
Clint Loveall
There was also an inscription over him. This is the king of the Jews. Maybe take a break there, Michael. So relatively, if you’re a church person, probably relatively standard stuff likely. You know all of the things in this text. Jesus says in the in the totality of the gospels. In other words, in throughout the four gospels, Jesus says seven things from the cross.
00:01:47:34 – 00:02:18:32
Clint Loveall
And here we have one of them, though you will know if you’re looking at your Bible, your Bible may have brackets around this thing that Jesus says Father forgiving them. They not they do not know what they’re doing. That is in some of the early texts and not in some of the other ones. And so your Bible should point out to you that that’s not it’s not unanimous as to whether that is or isn’t a part of the earliest versions of Luke.
00:02:18:43 – 00:02:48:02
Clint Loveall
It is in some early versions and and not in others. Maybe, though, to start with, Michael, we should back up. We take a lot of this for granted. Crucifixion is for the Romans, kind of their primary punishment for political prisoners, for insurrectionists, for what they called bandits. But bandit didn’t mean a thief. Bandit meant someone who led a revolt or acted out against Rome.
00:02:48:03 – 00:03:19:39
Clint Loveall
And it’s with that company that Jesus is crucified. So crucifixions were relatively common in their day. They were public. They were agonizing. Took many hours for people to die on crosses. And so this being done during the Passover, likely lots of people, lots of crowds. And here not again, not all the gospels give us detail, but here Jesus joins two others.
00:03:19:39 – 00:03:44:56
Clint Loveall
There are two others. We know nothing really about who they are, what they did, but they are they, again, are under this heading of bandit and they’re crucified with Jesus. And Luke wants us to know it. Very interesting. Jesus isn’t the center. And I don’t think that’s you know, that’s not an unimportant detail. I think Luke wants to make sure we understand one of the criminals is to Jesus, right?
00:03:44:56 – 00:03:46:16
Clint Loveall
And the other to his left.
00:03:46:21 – 00:04:13:43
Michael Gewecke
We can should be very, very clear. A juncture of the day like this, that the themes of Luke, the style of Luke that we’ve now become very comfortable with in all of this time together, remains true today remains true as we go through the study and as I put up the text for you here, I’d just like to note that this is half of the specific crucifixion scene.
00:04:13:48 – 00:04:39:12
Michael Gewecke
The economy of words is noticeable is my point, that Luke is not embellishing this story. He’s not adding any more details that are necessary. This is looking at its very core, and I want to just make sure that we understand that what Luke does is introduce us to the characters who are relevant in the story. There are two others who are with Jesus.
00:04:39:12 – 00:05:12:34
Michael Gewecke
Those are criminals. But none of the church history, church traditions, stuff that we get even in other gospels. Some more details about some of that. We’re Luke is interested. Jesus is being hung with criminals who deserve the punishment that they’ve been given. And then I think it’s worth noting that the introduction of the characters we have in this passage in 35, we have the people standing by with the leaders who are scoffing and then 36 you have soldiers.
00:05:12:34 – 00:05:46:49
Michael Gewecke
I think the grouping of that is not accidental. You have the the people of Israel, the religious rulers, the very one. So who likely came to capture Jesus from the garden are there. They are there triumphantly looking on as Jesus dies a criminal’s death. And then on top of that, you have the power and symbol of Roman might, the mighty Roman soldier, the one who has been successful in subjugating the people of Israel, the ones that the people are hoping to be freed from the people that they have been longing for.
00:05:46:49 – 00:06:09:17
Michael Gewecke
His Messiah are longing for these Roman soldiers to be gotten rid of. And it is the Roman soldier with these religious leaders who Luke wants us to know. They’re both there. They’re both watching. So. So both sides of the fence are represented in this scene. And and Luke is able to do that in just a few short sentences.
00:06:09:18 – 00:06:15:47
Michael Gewecke
It’s a beautifully simply told story. And yet it includes all the details that we need to have.
00:06:15:52 – 00:06:47:13
Clint Loveall
Yeah, and check me on this, Mike, because I don’t think that Luke is making a theological point, but we have seen in this gospel, particularly as we’ve kind of crescendoed in to the crucifixion story here, that Luke isn’t as interested in the idea of the crowd. It has been consistent that Luke has highlighted the role of religious leaders and the chief priests, etc. in this whole in this whole tale, in this whole narrative.
00:06:47:18 – 00:07:23:46
Clint Loveall
And so here the crowd stood by. You know, in other gospels, we get the idea that the crowd has animosity toward Jesus, that the crowd is chanting, that the crowd, the crowd cries, Crucify him. The crowd cries, Barabbas. Luke has kind of distanced the crowd, and that’s not his way of saying that the crowd is somehow innocent. But it is that for Luke that the blame for this, or at least the highlight that he wants to show it really lands squarely on the religious leaders.
00:07:23:47 – 00:07:51:09
Clint Loveall
This is a religious conflict. And in Luke’s telling of it and I think even something as subtle as that phrase, the crowd stood by watching not not necessarily participate. It’s not to say they weren’t. It just we don’t that distance doesn’t really exist in the other gospels as much. The crowd becomes a more active player rather than an observer.
00:07:51:09 – 00:07:55:45
Clint Loveall
And I think it’s interesting that Luke has taken this approach instead.
00:07:55:49 – 00:08:23:58
Michael Gewecke
There’s a teaching in that. Clint There’s a there’s a way of both warning the religious that would set themselves against Jesus. There’s also a kind of reminder that the people that are to be understood as being those who are being forgiven as well. I think that there’s a kind of nuance to that. But it’s fascinating that you pointed out that’s exactly in our translation, the English translation of this.
00:08:23:58 – 00:08:48:03
Michael Gewecke
That’s exactly five, six words. And and that’s the point I think I wanted to make, is that ultimately Luke is by definition, not trying to tell us all of the details. He’s trying to tell us the details that we need to know. And and I think that that’s interesting, especially as we turn our attention to what the criminals are now going to say to Jesus.
00:08:48:14 – 00:09:07:58
Michael Gewecke
These two individuals who are introduced at the beginning of the story, they go on and we we catch a glimpse of the words that they share with Jesus being hung to the left and to the right. And I think that this is an amazing sort of way of telling the story, too, to allow us to be in the story.
00:09:07:58 – 00:09:09:43
Michael Gewecke
But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.
00:09:09:48 – 00:09:40:09
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think before we get there, the only thing and this is not unique to Luke, but their idea that there was a sign there’s this inscription. This is the King of the Jews. And certainly Luke wants believers to understand the irony of that, that it is, it is hung is sarcasm, it is hung as insult. And yet, without knowing it, those who have branded Jesus with that title have proclaimed the truth.
00:09:40:10 – 00:10:06:02
Clint Loveall
The reader knows that that’s accurate, that that that is real, that that is genuine. And yet in the story it functions for those who are opposed to Jesus as as criticism, as insult or ridicule. And it is it again, it’s just one of those nice nuances that Luke gives us that highlights the story. But let’s look at this scene.
00:10:06:07 – 00:10:36:10
Clint Loveall
I believe only Luke gives us this scene. Only Luke gives us this conversation. Verse 39, One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding Jesus and saying, Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us. But the other rebuked him and said, Do you not fear God since you’re under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we’re getting what we deserve for our deeds.
00:10:36:10 – 00:11:03:27
Clint Loveall
But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me? When you come into your kingdom, Jesus replied, I tell you the truth today you will be with me in paradise. So again, Luke, and I believe only Luke lets us over here. There are reference is to the criminals in other gospels there in one gospel, I believe it’s Mark.
00:11:03:27 – 00:11:30:49
Clint Loveall
They join the crowd in Shrout, shouting at Jesus. But here Luke dials that focus even further. One of them, ironically, given that he’s there, having the same punishment, lashes out against Jesus. All you know, Sure, you’re the Messiah, why don’t you do something And the other one chastises him, rebukes him, and then turns to Jesus in this beautiful moment of faith.
00:11:30:54 – 00:12:05:13
Clint Loveall
Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And it is fascinating, I think, Michael, that in Luke, really the first person to appeal to Jesus as Savior in the cross is a thief. We’ve seen this consistently throughout the Gospel. It is the lowly who come to Jesus. Jesus is criticized for his welcoming sinners, for eating with them, for being with the wrong people.
00:12:05:27 – 00:12:30:51
Clint Loveall
And here, while the disciples have abandoned him and Peter has denied him and nobody else knows what to do with this situation. We have a condemned a man who, by his own words, is condemned justly, who turns to Jesus in faith and says, Remember me when you come to your kingdom? Well, what an unlikely thing to say to a man who’s dying on the cross when you come to your kingdom.
00:12:30:55 – 00:12:45:11
Clint Loveall
What can that mean? That is a profound statement of faith for this man at this moment. And I think, you know, that can go unnoticed. But I don’t think Luke wants it to.
00:12:45:16 – 00:13:12:52
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, you’re right. I think that the the fascinating move that has happened now, if we are attentive to it, is in the first part of the story. We have been introduced to the ones who put Jesus on the cross, the religious leaders and of course the powers of the world. Now were introduced to the choice that that gives to everyone that follows.
00:13:12:57 – 00:13:41:51
Michael Gewecke
We all are one of those criminals on the cross. We all stand in these very words, getting what we deserve for our own deeds. The question is whether or not we turn to the one who has been condemned for us, or that we essentially deride him or rebuke him. The the way that Luke tells the story is he both combines the set up of those who bring Jesus to this point.
00:13:41:51 – 00:14:15:19
Michael Gewecke
And then also the choice for every believer that will follow and letting us into that conversation is surprising. Clint, from the readers perspective, not from Luke’s perspective. And you’re exactly right to say that that we shouldn’t be surprised that some of the deepest spiritual lessons we’re going to learn in the story are going to be from those that society has literally pushed to the outside edges, the people who have done the most wrong, the people who deserve the least amount of time and attention, those are the people who are going to get it first.
00:14:15:19 – 00:14:42:12
Michael Gewecke
And that’s exactly what happens in this book. Now, what’s fascinating is the story goes on is, is that there are more characters who are going to get it, and they’re also going to surprise us. But the first one is the one who is rightly connected with Jesus in that moment, turning to Jesus. And I think just as tellingly and sobering and dare I say even darkly, is the one who does that.
00:14:42:12 – 00:15:04:51
Michael Gewecke
And that’s intended that in the midst of our own sin, we are just as likely to be clouded in our vision of who Jesus is as we are to see Him for who He is and paradise. That idea of something redeeming on the other side of the cross or death, the idea that that thing is is a by four cated reality.
00:15:04:51 – 00:15:16:01
Michael Gewecke
It’s binary. It’s one or the other. That that’s a very stark reality that Luke is painting for us and doing so theologically from the story of Jesus in this moment.
00:15:16:06 – 00:15:41:58
Clint Loveall
I think one of the things Luke would appreciate about this story is it does present the idea of choice. You have two guilty men who look to Jesus and have to ask the question of is there hope for me? And one of them seems to join the crowd. But the other and I do. I don’t want to. I don’t want to overdo this, but this is such a profound statement of trust.
00:15:42:03 – 00:16:15:27
Clint Loveall
Remember me when you come into your kingdom. So what has this man done? He’s confessed his guilt and he’s placed hope in the dying Jesus, believing that somehow the dying Jesus might have a kingdom that can include him after his own death. And I think that’s almost certainly I don’t I think you would have a very hard time reading this as if he thinks Jesus is going to let him off the cross.
00:16:15:27 – 00:16:46:13
Clint Loveall
I don’t I don’t think that’s in this at all. He sees in Jesus a hope that might include even him in spite of his guilt and in spite of his sin and in spite of his failures. And I think we maybe underestimate the size of this confession or the size of these words. This is one of the largest proclamations of faith.
00:16:46:13 – 00:17:15:02
Clint Loveall
I think we run into in the Gospels, maybe in the scripture. And then there’s this last bit Jesus speaks with assurance and reassurance. I tell you today you will be with me in paradise. So what does Jesus respond? He responds with promise. He responds with hope. Now, just for whatever it’s worth, people have taken this and said they’ve tried to weigh into the argument Do you go to heaven when you die or is it later?
00:17:15:07 – 00:17:46:09
Clint Loveall
That’s a conversation that happens. And some people will point to the fact that Jesus says today that that’s not what Luke is writing about. I think that’s not the purpose this serves. This is a word of affirmation. I don’t know that you need to worry about the literal timing of what Jesus means here. I think that is to I think that’s just to look for something that the text isn’t really intended to be about.
00:17:46:13 – 00:18:03:12
Clint Loveall
So I think we can get distracted, but we don’t need to. Jesus speaks reassurance and hope to this man who has put his trust in his faith in Jesus and says, You will be with me in paradise even today for whatever we think that means.
00:18:03:25 – 00:18:30:05
Michael Gewecke
So I think that the question that a close reader is going to ask of the attacks is what kind of king is Jesus? And that question goes all the way back to what we read in 23, three, a few days ago when a pilot asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answers, as you remember, clearly you say so that moves forward.
00:18:30:05 – 00:18:55:32
Michael Gewecke
We remember that pilots ultimately going to say to the crowd that he sees no reason to crucify Jesus. We know that that is a way of saying that Jesus is not some kind of worldly threat, because if that was the case, then then Rome has a way of dealing with those insurrectionists. But here I think it’s really fascinating.
00:18:55:37 – 00:19:20:29
Michael Gewecke
Remember me when you come into your kingdom hanging under a sign that says, This is the king of the Jews? The question to the discerning reader is what kind of king is this? And Luke provides the answer. It’s the kind of king who can reign on the other side of death itself. It’s a kind of kingdom that lives outside of any humanly conceived kingdom before.
00:19:20:29 – 00:19:46:07
Michael Gewecke
This is the claim that Luke is making that if you look at Jesus hanging in the cross to the world, this is a political execution and the ending of a human life. But from the perspective of faith, it is the fulfillment of Jesus’s teaching and prophecies. It’s the culmination of a life in ministry lived, and it’s a culmination not in the sense of ending, but rather in inaugurating something brand new.
00:19:46:12 – 00:20:14:49
Michael Gewecke
And yes, the idea that the person who sees that and speaks with faith that that idea of what Jesus says today is an expression that today this man has expressed faith or or today this is going to happen in paradise. Clearly, what Luke is interested in us seeing is is the nature of who Jesus is, not clarifying our natural questions about what does this new kingdom look like and how quickly do I enter into it.
00:20:14:54 – 00:20:54:59
Michael Gewecke
To a man who is hanging on a cross next to Jesus, who’s just expressed, as you’ve said rightly, Clint may be one of the greatest statements of faith imaginable, that to that man, Jesus says Your faith will result in something beyond what you can imagine paradise, something beyond what you could even have experienced in this life. That hope, that promise is the kind of thing that just comes right on the heels of the prophetic word that Jesus offered to the Daughters of Jerusalem, saying, You should be weeping, not for me, you should be weeping, that you’ve had children for all the suffering to come to you.
00:20:55:06 – 00:21:19:39
Michael Gewecke
But to this man who’s expressed faith in him and the work that he’s doing, the man who is standing upon his own on the doorstep of death for himself, it’s to that man that Jesus proclaims hope and promise and new life. And that’s the kind of king that Jesus says. That’s the kind of kingdom that he’s inaugurating. And Luke Luke is teaching us that, I think, in a meaningful way.
00:21:19:40 – 00:21:48:29
Clint Loveall
Yeah. I think one of the answers to your question, Michael, what kind of kingdom is it? It’s the kind of kingdom where there’s hope for sinners, and that’s, that’s Luke’s encapsulation of the gospel. I have to imagine that’s why Luke found this this scenario, this conversation so compelling, because Jesus near last act is to proclaim forgiveness. He he he said it in the first part of the passage.
00:21:48:34 – 00:22:07:51
Clint Loveall
Forgive them. They do not know what they are doing. And now to even the guilty, they were guilty. Now this man is guilty. So we have the we have the corporate pronouncement and then we have the personal pronouncement. So what kind of king is this? This is the kind of king that forgives sinners. What kind of kingdom is this?
00:22:08:06 – 00:22:25:46
Clint Loveall
This is the kind of kingdom that sinners have hope to enter through. Jesus Christ. And that’s that’s the gospel. That’s the story, that’s the proclamation. And Luke does just an incredible job of condensing it down and handing it over to us.
00:22:25:55 – 00:23:02:18
Michael Gewecke
To an onlooker standing on the hill that day, to one of the members of that crowd or the religious leaders or the Roman soldiers. This looked to be one thing absurd. It looked to be men being killed for for crimes committed. What Luke wants the reader to know is that that is only in the world of physical appearances, and that if someone knows the rest of the story as we do, we know there’s much more happening there.
00:23:02:18 – 00:23:29:29
Michael Gewecke
And that’s, I think, the power of Luke’s storytelling. Luke doesn’t need to add a whole lot of embellishments. He doesn’t need to add a whole lot of character details. He doesn’t need to flesh out the life story of these criminals. What he needs to do is show us Jesus, and if we see Jesus in the story, then we understand that all of these other alternative perspectives are finite and limited and that ultimately Jesus is going to be above all of them.
00:23:29:40 – 00:23:53:35
Clint Loveall
And that’s the challenge of the text, right? There are two men, these two thieves who look at Jesus, and the question is, what do they see? And then the question for the reader is, what do you see on on one hand, you have this ridiculous scene of two men being charged for something or hung on crosses next to a man being charged for religious crimes.
00:23:53:40 – 00:24:30:34
Clint Loveall
Who tells one of them, You will be with me today in my kingdom. That makes no sense that that is crazy absurd. And yet Luke says there’s more to it than that. And that’s and that’s the choice that the gospel offers us. What do you see when you see Jesus? And we’ve seen that now through the eyes of Pilot Herod, the the crowd to some extent, and ultimately the religious leaders and now these two men who see two different things, or at least potentially apparently see two different things.
00:24:30:39 – 00:24:39:24
Clint Loveall
And so as Luke comes to the culmination of the gospel, ultimately the question for us will be and now what do you see?
00:24:39:28 – 00:24:57:01
Michael Gewecke
There’s a lot there’s a lot to see. And ultimately, I think as we come down to that question of faith, we’re going to turn directly to the heart of this matter as we continue this story tomorrow. We certainly hope you’ll join us for that. Subscribe for studies like this as we go through. Luke, There will be more to come.
00:24:57:10 – 00:25:09:12
Michael Gewecke
And of course, given this particular video, like in its impact on you, if you think another might benefit by it, hitting that like button helps others find it. And we would certainly love to see you as we continue on with this study tomorrow.
00:25:09:14 – 00:25:10:06
Clint Loveall
Thanks for being with us.