Mercy for a Criminal

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

In moments of crisis, we can be terrible judges of what will save us.

A man lost in the mountains sees a helicopter overhead — but instead of staying put to be found, he panics and keeps moving, making it harder for rescuers to reach him.

Someone trapped in a burning house tries to run back inside for their belongings — instead of getting out safely while they can.

A person drowning fights off the lifeguard trying to save them — thrashing, panicking, pulling away — because they think they have to swim harder instead of trusting the one coming to rescue them.

In moments like these, fear, pride, and confusion cloud our judgment. We fight the very thing that could save us.

That’s exactly what we see at the cross. People mocked Jesus because he didn’t look like the Savior they wanted. Power, to them, meant self-protection. Strength meant domination. A real Savior wouldn’t suffer, bleed, and die.

But God’s salvation didn’t come to us wrapped in the world’s definition of strength. It came through the suffering of Christ — and unless our eyes are opened, we’ll miss it.

26 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.

Simon was a Jewish pilgrim from North Africa, visiting Jerusalem for the Passover. Notice that Simon was forced the carry the cross… an ordinary man following behind Jesus, bearing the cross on His behalf.

The Gospel of Mark suggests that Simon’s family later became believers, and his burden became a lasting picture of what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus. We also have a cross to carry. Simon wasn’t planning to be part of God’s story, but that’s where he ended up. The same thing is true of every follower of Jesus.

27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.

It’s worth noticing that these are probably the people who had been following Jesus, which means they are not the same people who yelled “Crucify Him!” that day. Preachers often make that mistake.
Instead, these are people who loved Jesus, but they don’t understand what is happening.

28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’

31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

These are the last words of Jesus spoken to His followers. They are not words of comfort, but words of warning. He’s saying, “Don’t weep for me. Weep for yourself. Judgment is coming.”

Jesus has been telling them constantly that they are in danger. Most likely, He is referring to the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. But that destruction will be the result of their rejection of the Son of God.

32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.

33 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.

The two men were not petty thieves. They were violent criminals of some kind. Jesus is placed between them, among them.

Luke doesn’t give us much detail about the actual crucifixion, but as I mentioned last week it was brutal. Spikes were driven into the wrists and feet of Jesus as He was nailed to the cross and raised up to struggle under his own weight.

34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

This is a prayer. Jesus prays, not for Himself, but for His executioners. He is practicing what He preached, to the very end. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

And there’s mercy here. Jesus knows that they have no idea the gravity of their actions. Peter will later preach that the people acted in ignorance.

The fact that the soldiers are gambling for His clothing adds a sort of dramatic irony. They really don’t know what they are doing.

35 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!”

Most people are passively watching. And I think this is worth considering. Most of the people who reject Jesus, even today, are not actively hostile to Him. They are indifferent towards Him. They are passively detached.

But some people are actively mocking Jesus, for the reasons we discussed last Sunday. Jesus appears weak. What Messiah would allow Himself to be crucified?

36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine

37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

This was not an act of mercy, but a cruel joke. Matthew and Mark suggest that the wine was offered to Jesus on a sponge, most likely the kind used as a toilet sponge.

38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

Another joke.

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

This is an especially sad detail. This man is also facing imminent death, also suffering immense pain. It’s difficult to breath, but he chooses to mock Jesus with His final breaths.

40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

The second criminal is the only one in this scene who demonstrates true humility. He admits his own guilt. He professes that Jesus is innocent.

42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

That is a profession of faith. It’s simple. It’s theologically shallow. It’s moments before his death. But it’s enough. And Jesus responds to it.

43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Jesus immediately responds with a clear and incredible promise. You will be with me in paradise. Today! It’s immediate. It’s personal. And it hints at the true power of our salvation, which is union with Christ.

It also tells us something important about the death of a believer and the death of Jesus. Both of their bodies really died. But their human souls immediately entered the rest and presence of God until the resurrection.

That is our hope as Christians. Faith in Christ, no matter how simple, unites us to Jesus in His death and resurrection. If you want to know what it means to become a Christian, this is it. It’s really that simple.

But I want to go back to the problem for a moment… besides this criminal, no one seems to understand what is happening. And I’m not sure he really understands it, which is ok apparently.

But in moments of crisis, we tend to be terrible judges of what can save us. And I want to draw your attention to that problem. It’s not just in life-or-death situations. It’s a flaw we all seem to have.

I think of a married couple with unresolved conflict. Friends urge them to get counseling, but they refuse, not realizing that ignoring the cracks only makes them deeper.

I think of someone drowning in debt but refusing to change their spending habits.

I think of a young adult drifting from the church but thinking they will get serious about their faith one day, once they get their life “on track”.

I think of a person whose physical or mental health is deteriorating, but they put off going to the doctor when early intervention could save their life.

In each case, pride, fear, or self-deception is blinding us. We either deny the crisis or cling to a false hope.

And this is what happens at the cross. The people standing around Jesus are facing the greatest crisis — the Son of God is being crucified for sinners — but they spectate, or they mock Him. Why? Because they were looking for a demonstration of power instead of a sacrifice.

Because if this is a sacrifice, then we are guilty. We are sick. We are mistaken.

But that’s the only thing the saved all have in common – they are willing to admit their need and repent of their self-dependence.

No one says it better than Alistair Begg when it comes to this text. He says:

Without preaching the cross — to others and to ourselves — we quickly slip back into thinking that we’re saved by Jesus plus something we’ve done.

Think about that old question: “If you died tonight and stood before God, and he asked, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ — what would you say?”

If your first instinct is to answer in the first person — “Because I believed… because I have faith… because I tried…” — you’ve already gone wrong.

The only right answer is in the third person: “Because he did it. Because he lived, he died, he rose again.”

Just think about the thief on the cross.

Imagine meeting him in heaven and asking, “How did this happen? You never attended a Bible study. You never got baptized. You didn’t know any theology. How did you make it?”

I can almost hear him saying, “I don’t know. All I know is the man on the middle cross said I could come.”

That’s it. That’s the gospel.

If we don’t keep preaching that truth to ourselves every day, we’ll drift into either despair (when we see our failures) or pride (when we think we’re doing well).

Only the cross cuts through both our despair and our arrogance.

Only the cross says:
“You are worse than you think — but you are more loved than you dared hope.”

Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.
God the just is satisfied — to look on him and pardon me.

This is why Martin Luther said that most of the Christian life happens outside of us.
We are not saved by what we have done.
We are saved by what Christ has done for us.

And yes, there is a cross to bear at the end of the day. But even that was placed on our backs by God’s design, not by our choice. Thanks be to Him and Him alone!