The sermon explores the self-giving love and forgiveness of Jesus, demonstrated through his response to mockery and persecution during his crucifixion, as depicted in Luke 23:33-43, Psalm 22:7-8, 15, 18, 24, and Matthew 5:39, 44.
Welcome church! Today we’re going to look at a passage from the Gospel of Luke involving the crucifixion. We talk a lot about crucifixion as Christians because the cross is a central part of our faith.
In 2004, the movie The Passion of the Christ was released. It’s a movie about the final hours of Jesus’ life on earth as told in the gospels. The movie had a profound impact on people because it was realistic and made you feel like you were actually witnessing the brutal events of the cross. It put into perspective the agony and suffering Jesus endured on our behalf.
It’s well documented that strange things happened while the movie was being filmed. Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus, was struck by lightning while they were filming the Sermon on the Mount scene. Several minutes later an assistant director was also struck by lightning. Later, Caviezel was accidentally hit during the flogging scene because the actor swinging the whip missed the hidden whipping post and instead struck Caviezel. Caviezel dislocated his shoulder while carrying the 150-pound cross through the streets of Jerusalem towards Golgotha. The crucifixion scene was shot in 25 degree weather with 34 mile per hour winds, and Caviezel ended up getting severe pneumonia.
But some good things happened, too. The actor who played Judas, Luco Lionello, was a committed atheist at the time. After playing the Judas role and participating in the passion narrative, the actor found faith and committed his life to Jesus Christ. It was a life-changing experience for him. The movie itself was a life-changing experience for many of us.
How many of you saw the movie? Didn’t it make you feel like you were actually there watching the events unfold?
The movie had a profound impact on people because it was realistic and made you feel like you were actually witnessing the brutal events of the cross.
Today we’re going to read a passage that took place while Jesus was hanging on the cross.
Jesus was crucified in a public location called the Skull. I’d like to start with a little background on crucifixion itself.
God in Christ endures the pain and humiliation of crucifixion
We’ve become desensitized over the centuries to the scandal of crucifixion. To say that “the Son of God was crucified” was an absurd assertion. It would not compute in the minds of first century Romans, Jews, or pagans. Often it does not compute in our own minds today! Powerful people were not crucified. Kings were not crucified. Important people were not crucified.
Crucifixion was the dreaded death penalty for slaves and criminals. Crucifixion was for the expendables, those whose lives did not matter except to be killed in a way that would instill terror in those watching. Crucifixion was a brutal method used by the Romans to maintain dominion over the population.
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The cross reveals God’s incredible self-giving love and forgiveness. It’s totally free and available to us all.
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