Luke 23:27-43 (Last Sunday of the Church Year)              
St. John, Galveston 11/26/25
Rev. Alan Taylor
 
+ In Nomine Jesu +
 
Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.
 
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at (Jesus), saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other 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.” 
 
    Who would have ever thought it would be this way when God came to visit His creation? The contrast between Genesis 1, where we are told that “God walked among His creation in the cool of day,” and the Gospel reading for this morning, where an unruly mob shouted insults at Jesus as He was crucified, couldn’t be more pronounced.  
 
    In Genesis 1, sorrow and suffering were foreign concepts to God’s creation. Adam and Eve had fellowship with God, communion, if you will, in a way that you and I can now only long for in the glory of heaven. In Revelation 21, the Apostle John described the day of the restoration of all things when God comes again in glory. “And I saw the holy city (he said), New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
 
    Frankly, the image of God and man in Genesis 1 and in Revelation 21 are what you would expect to find when God visits His people, images of peace and harmony, of joy and gladness, of unity and oneness. Instead, Jesus comes to earth and He is ridiculed and beaten. In the end, He walks the Via Delorosa, the way of sorrows. He wears a crown of thorns that pierces His brow. He’s dressed in a purple robe. The color would be perfect for Him since it designates royalty, were it not placed on Him in a ritual of ridicule and mockery. In the end, the soldiers who were present at His crucifixion valued His purple robe, a piece of dyed cloth, more than they did their creator and Lord.  
 
    We must enter the Kingdom of God through trials and sufferings. Jesus called us to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. As He made His way to the mountain, the Place known as, the Skull, He broke beneath the weight of the cross that was placed on His shoulders. Simon of Cyrene followed closely behind Him. Perhaps Simon was there to depict graphically the life of a follower of Jesus, because he literally took up the cross of our Lord and followed Him.
 
    When they arrived at the top of the mount, they laid the cross down on the ground and they put Jesus on it and nailed His hands and feet to it. Then they hoisted it up and dropped its base down into the hole that had been dug in the ground. The people looked on, and rather than weep and mourn, they ridiculed and mocked Jesus. The soldiers offered Him a bit of sour wine to drink. They took a piece of wood and wrote on it the charge against Him. It was written n Latin, Greek and Hebrew. It said, “The King of the Jews.”  Though the people wanted it to be changed to say, “He SAID He was the King of the Jews,” Pilate denied their request, saying, “what I have written, I have written.”
 
    This all brings us back to the question I posed at the beginning of this message. Who would have ever thought it would be this way when God came to visit His creation? Please, don’t make the mistake of thinking that things would have been different if Jesus had come during our lifetime, as if people today would have received Him warmly. 

    The fact is, the two men who died on crosses that day, on either side of Jesus, represent the world that Jesus came to save. They represent every man, woman and child, some who refuse to believe in Jesus and some who plead with Him to be remembered when He comes in His kingdom. The one man, we are told, “railed at Jesus.” It’s an interesting that has been translated here as “railed.” The word is βλασφήμει. You hear it, right!? The man blasphemed Jesus. Which means, he denied Him. He insulted Him. He dishonored Him. He took His name in vain. He said, “Are you not the Christ!? Then save yourself and us.”

    So it is that many people today blaspheme the holy name of Jesus, not simply by words and deeds. Lord knows we all blaspheme Him in such a way, “in thoughts, words, and deeds, by what we’ve done, and by what we’ve left undone.” But, He’s given us a new heart and new Spirit, that we seek His grace and His forgiveness. Indeed, “for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us and lead us, that we may delight in Your will and glory in Your holy name.”   
    
    The other man who died that day alongside of Jesus, rebuked the first man. “We’re getting what we deserve, (he said). But, this man has done nothing wrong.” He’s innocent of the charges against Him. He’s been unjustly accused and condemned. Most importantly though, this second man asked something of Jesus. He didn’t ask Jesus to deliver him from the cross. He didn’t ask Him to spare his life. He didn’t even ask Him to come down Himself and demonstrate His awesome power and strength to the people. No. He simply said, “Remember me, when you come in your kingdom.”
      
    Ultimately, the Kingdom of God isn’t reserved for those of the highest moral character, or for those with the most impressive resume. Jesus didn’t say to the man who asked Him to remember him in His kingdom, “I’m sorry, you’re just not the kind of person I’m looking for to fill My Kingdom.” No. He said, “today, you will be with Me in paradise.” The man’s body was, no doubt, laid in some “potter’s field,” but his soul went to be with Jesus.

    God’s promise in visiting His creation is one of restoration. It’s a promise of renewal. The day will come when God will again walk among us in the cool of day. His presence won’t be a terror to our souls. Rather, He will be the very meaning of our heavenly existence. As St. Paul once said, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”   
    
    And so, as we await the day of His coming, we sing with a heart of joy and hope. 
 
“Crown Him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon His throne,
Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own,
Awake, my soul, and sing
Of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless king
Through all eternity.”  

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
   
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.
 
+ Soli Deo Gloria +