The Compassionate Savior
Luke 23:26-43 ·November 24, 2024· Joel Passmore
Part of: Luke, No Greater Love
Part 7 of a 7 week series called No Greater Love
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So today we are concluding our little mini-series, our seven-week mini-series in Luke, No Greater Love. This is the last one of this little series. This has been Luke's narrative of Jesus' journey to the cross. All these things that happen between the Last Supper and him being on the cross. Each week has taught us something about who he is. We've seen how he's the faithful friend to betrayers, the servant leader, to selfish disciples who are only thinking about their own glory.
He's obeyed his father's will, even though it was costly for him to say, yes, I will drink that cup. He had the courage to be arrested, and he had the resolve to endure an unjust trial. A murderer was set free while he was convicted and led away guilty in our place.
And yet all of this, I think, would ring hollow to us if it weren't for this, the heart of Jesus for us, the heart of Jesus for lost sinners. There's a big difference between a kindness done from mere duty and a kindness done out of love. We all experience that. We all know that. Duty might get the job done, but without love, it isn't sweet. It isn't savory. A kindness done without love is like a meal with no taste and no flavor. It might give you calories, but it just doesn't fill you.
This hit me just the other day. At the end of the day, Nikki was really sad. And she was having trouble putting it into words why she was. We had had our weekly date that morning. There was no conflict between us or anything. But then it hit me. That morning at our date, I had been distracted and preoccupied. I was already thinking about what else I was going to do that day.
I put in the time, but I wasn't with her. Not really. It was duty that date, not love. And she could sense it. She could feel it, but she didn't want to accuse me of it. But it was true. And later, I acknowledged it and apologized for it. And even then, I thought, Lord, help this apology not be done out of mere duty, but out of love.
So today's passage brings into the foreground something that has been operating in the background this entire time. So that we can see it. Something about Christ's character. Something essential. Something that we crave. His compassion. His compassion for weak and lost sinners. Like you and like me. This passage brings it to the forefront so we can examine it. We can behold our Savior in His burning heart of love for people. And so that we can worship Him and be drawn in by the one who saved us out of love, not out of mere duty.
So let's go to Luke 23 together. This is God's Word. He gives it to us to bless us. Yes, sometimes that blessing comes with conviction. Shouldn't it? Coming from a holy God. But it also comes with encouragement. It comes with strength. It comes to us from a Father who made us and cares. And He never, ever lies to us. So let's receive it that way.
Starting in verse 26. Let's, let's kneel in our hearts to God's Word and to God Himself. 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, when Jesus said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves 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 breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on 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?
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 an inscription 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 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. Pray with me.
Lord Jesus, sanctify us by your word and help us to behold your beauty, your compassion, your tender love, your power. Draw us in, Lord, and spur us on to follow you, the one who loved us before we loved you. Jesus, we pray this in your name.
The compassionate Savior. That's what Jesus is. Our seventh description, the compassionate Savior. Even in His greatest distress, Jesus cares for others.
He is at the height of His humiliation, His suffering, His distress. And yet, our Lord does not merely save out of duty but also out of love. We see that here in three ways. There are three distinct statements to three different audiences and all of them are a reflection of His compassion.
First, there's this, concern for the suffering. So the time has come. Trial is over. The sentence has been handed down. Jesus is now going. He's going to where He'll be crucified. The Romans made such people carry their own crosses. It wasn't the whole cross, though. It was just the cross beam. The horizontal part. That's what they would carry. As He went up the hill outside the city walls, He was approaching the vertical part already staked in the ground waiting for Him.
Maybe Jesus is weak from all of the whipping, the scourging. Maybe His wounds on His back are just too much. Maybe His blood loss is too much. For whatever reason, although He at first carried His cross, we know that from John, the soldiers later draft a bystander, Simon, to carry the cross beam for Him. What an honor. What an honor for this man to serve His Lord at the hour of His need. And meanwhile, there's a crowd following Him, walking behind Him.
Some of them are mourning and weeping and wailing. Luke directs our attention to the women of the crowd as Luke often does. Pay attention. Look at what they are saying, what these dear women are doing. These blessed women are devoted to Jesus and they are mourning and lamenting for Him. They cannot bear to see what is happening to their Lord, what He's going through. Some of these women probably had been following Him since He started His ministry.
They are undone to watch their Lord endure the suffering. Jesus hears them. Jesus hears them. Amidst all of His pain, His wounds, His weakness, He turns towards them and He looks at them and He tenderly addresses them. Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me but weep for yourselves and for your children.
He's referencing again the tribulations that are coming. the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD that's coming by the Romans. The suffering is going to be so great that normal categories of blessing and cursing will be totally reversed. People with children will wish that they didn't have any. Living people will wish that they were dead. Such will be the horror, the absolute horror of the brutal siege the Romans will have on that city and against its people.
Jesus is saying look at the violence and the injustice that they are doing while I'm here, while the wood is green. Just imagine what will happen when it is dry, meaning when I'm gone.
Though His strength is failing, His heart is not. His body is torn up from the whips. He is going to His death but He is still thinking about other people. He is still noticing other people and their distress and their suffering, their plight, their anguish. He is still longing for their protection and their care even though He is unprotected, uncared for. This is remarkable.
It's unfortunate but it's true that suffering, especially profound suffering, can make a person very inwardly focused. I've been there. Maybe some of you have as well. Going through hardship can make you a little selfish, can bend you inward. The more prolonged, the more intense, the bigger the danger. What you've been through, your own suffering, it dominates your thought life. It can become all you talk about. Soon other people and their own hardships recede from view until you can't even hear them anymore.
You can't even see them anymore. Jesus isn't like that. His suffering is far greater but He still sees the needs around Him. He sees these women and He comforts them. He still cares. His concern is not all wrapped up in Himself like what happens with us but for these women and what they will soon endure. He's a contrast to our self-centeredness but He is also the way out of our self-centeredness. He's the way forward. The care of Jesus, my friends, is better than any other care.
The counsel of Jesus is better than any other counselors because He knows us. He's suffered too and He can actually heal you. He can do it. Only His care can release us from selfishness. Friends, if you've been trying to treat your own wounds, come to Jesus instead. If you've been trying to treat your own wounds, to dress them yourselves, come to Jesus instead.
Keep treating them. Keep paying attention. Keep seeing a counselor, talking with people, talking with your friends but don't forget, Jesus needs to be in the mix, at the center of your wound treatment.
Let Him tend to them and what He's going to do is He's going to free you up and make you free again to see others, to care for them and not be inwardly focused.
Now Jesus also shows compassion in this way. He shows mercy towards the undeserving. Now Jesus is up on the cross between two criminals and a crowd is all around Him. Some are watching with morbid curiosity but we know that some are mourning still and grief-stricken about what's happening. But there's another group, more sinister. They're scoffing, they're mocking, they're taunting.
Jesus looks weaker than He ever has before in His whole life. He's never looked more helpless. He seems utterly pathetic up on that cross. And so people just let all of their inhibitions go. He saved others, let Him save Himself, they say to each other, laughing, deriding. If He's the Christ of God, His chosen one, let Him prove it. If only they knew, if only they knew how ironic this was. He doesn't save Himself because He's saving others. That's why He doesn't stop what's happening to Him.
He's saving others right then and there. Because He is the Christ of God. Because He is the Messiah. The Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom for many. Not to be served, but to serve. And then the soldiers get in on it too. If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. Both Jews and Gentiles are just participating in this mockery. This cruel ridicule of the Son of God. They call Him powerless, though He made them.
The soldiers call Him weak, though all the authority that they have has been given to them by Him. I got picked on a lot in school. A lot. Between like late elementary through middle high school. A lot. I'm not someone who enjoys fights or is all that good at them. Quite frankly, I know, you're shocked looking at me. You'd think I'd be a scrapper. I'm not someone who enjoys them or is all that good at them. But I started fights for words far more tame than this.
This is blasphemy. That's what this is. Jesus could have fought back, right? He was weak, but He could have summoned legions of angels right then to take Him down and take out those people. To wipe them out. Instead, He does the exact opposite.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He is enduring a shameful and unjust death and He is being mocked as He's doing it. But He extends grace to the undeserving.
He doesn't want their blasphemy held against them. Though they deserve judgment, immediate judgment, for how they're treating the Son of God, He asks His Father to overlook these sins made in ignorance. This is not a pardon of all their sins. He's not bestowing salvation on them. He is just giving a specific ask. Don't let this put them out of reach of salvation, Father. Give them a chance to repent. Give them a chance to turn around. To come to Me to acknowledge what they've done.
Father, delay Your judgment. Give them a chance to repent. And in fact, some of these people do repent. They do. Look in Acts 2. Peter preaches a sermon to some of these same people. He says, let it be known to the house of Israel that this Jesus whom you crucified has become God and Christ. He has been revealed as being the Lord and Savior. And they say, well, what do we do? They're cut to the heart. And He says, turn and repent for the forgiveness of your sins.
And that's what they do. They turn. They repent. And on that day when Peter preached that sermon, 3,000 people came into the kingdom of God and were saved. All because Jesus said, wait. Don't judge them yet.
You've got to give them more time. They'll come around. Mercy characterizes Jesus' entire ministry. He didn't come to be the judge. He came to be the sacrifice. Even while He is dying and being mocked for it, Jesus extends mercy freely and without fanfare. He speaks only to His Father because that's the only person who needs to hear it. What a contrast to judgmental, grudge-holding people like you and me. You'd better do something to earn my forgiveness, we say.
But that isn't mercy. That isn't how Jesus lived. And that isn't how He died. Hallelujah that He is merciful. Hallelujah that He's patient and long-suffering. Hallelujah that He gives grace even to His enemies. Even on the cross.
He's a contrast to our judgmental hearts and once again, my friends, He's the way out. He's the way out. Listen, many of you have been sinned against in very one-sided ways.
By family, by friends, by superiors. I can relate. The pain is real and the pain is deep. The temptation is so strong so strong to hold on to our grievances and wield them as weapons to protect ourselves. But a warning for you, this is exactly what Satan wants us to do.
He wants us to think that other people's sins are worse than ours. He wants us to think that we would never do anything like that and how dare they. He wants us to believe that we are the judge, not God. He wants us to put ourselves in that place instead of God. Satan wants this because he knows that if we do this, it's going to choke out our spiritual life and starve it. the weapon we have is forgiveness. The weapon we have is forgiveness. And that weapon is put in our hands by a faith that says, I too am an undeserving sinner saved by the grace of God by faith in Christ.
That's how we get the weapon of forgiveness in our hands. And then we wield that weapon to wage spiritual warfare not against our enemies but against Satan himself and the bitterness in our own hearts and dissension among us and judgmentalism.
We wage war against our pride. We wage war against our works righteousness. And as we wage war we do it remembering who we are. Only the radically forgiven can offer radical undeserved forgiveness. They can and they should even 70 times 7.
I don't know about you but when it is all sudden done I want to be found on the side of the merciful on the side of the gracious on the side of the forgivers because that means that I will look like my Savior.
Jesus is the way out of our posture of unforgiveness when we receive the forgiveness that he gives us. So that's two ways that Jesus is compassionate. What's the third?
Assurance to the faithful. I've said this before but the good news gets even better. If you think what I've said so far is good news just wait. Not only are the crowd and the soldiers mocking Jesus but he also hears it from right beside him. One of the criminals hanging on a cross next to him joins in. Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us. It's mockery but it's also a dare a challenge.
Do something about this you so-called Messiah. Before Jesus can respond the criminal on his other side speaks up. Do you not fear God? The second criminal rebukes the first for his denial of right and wrong. When justice is bearing down that first criminal still has no remorse. But the second one understands we are receiving the due rewards of our deeds.
At this moment for that second criminal it has all become clear. He can see it. He is a wrongdoer. A criminal. A sinner. And sinners deserve punishment. But the man next to him has done nothing wrong. Nothing. You see how he's seen and acknowledged the truth. His own sinfulness. In Christ's complete righteousness. He sees it. And then he turns. He immediately acts on it. He turns to Jesus. Jesus remember me. Remember me when you come into your kingdom.
He believes that Jesus is Lord and that he has a kingdom and he even believes that somehow this Jesus who is dying next to him is going to come back to enter that kingdom. He believes all of that. And this is not just a statement of fact. It is a cry for help. Remember me. This is a plea for Jesus to show mercy. It's a cry of faith.
This is an amazing moment. Thank you Luke for giving us a record of this. This man was at the very end of his life. There was no further for him to go.
There were no books to read. There were no quiet moments to contemplate. This is the end of his life. but then he encountered Jesus. He happened to be put next to Jesus instead of being crucified the next day or the day before. He encountered Jesus. He saw himself as he truly was and Jesus as he truly was and he did something about it. He cried out in faith.
Jesus' response is like if you asked a friend to borrow $100 to help pay for groceries and the friend turns around and pays off your mortgage. Jesus' response is so over the top when it comes to his love and his compassion and his blessing for this man. Though Jesus is dying, who knows how many breaths he has left in his body? He speaks a word of assurance to this dying man. Remember, people died in crucifixion because they suffocated. They had to pull themselves up to take a breath.
Jesus pulled himself up so that he could turn to this man and say to him, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. This is a promise. I tell you the truth, listen to me. In this one sentence he says so much, that one ragged sentence from his torn body. It affirms that this man's faith is genuine. It's genuine.
He accepts his confession, his repentance, his trust. He says, my child, that's it. You've done it. You've put your faith in me. Second, Jesus is also affirming to us, faith is all it takes to be saved. The criminal didn't have to get down off the cross and do 15 good works. He didn't even have to be baptized.
Faith is all it takes. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone, it is offensive to us. It's offensive to the part of us that wants to earn our salvation. I've been asked by people, do Christians really believe that a person on death row who has done horrible things, that if they put their faith in Jesus, they will go to heaven.
that's exactly what we believe. If they put their faith in Jesus, they will go to heaven. And that's exactly what happens here. We have the exact situation right here. And praise God for it because we're all bad people. We're all on death row.
that Jesus saves bad people by simple faith in him alone. It's the only way. It can be the only way. And finally, if that weren't enough, Jesus gives the assurance of where he will go and when. He will be with Jesus that very day. If you ever wondered what happens after death for those who have faith in Christ, here is your answer. Here's your answer. Jesus himself says that for those with faith in him, death is merely a doorway, a transition. And on the other side is immediate peace, an immediate rest, an immediate welcome by our Savior.
He calls us in and he says welcome. Welcome, I've prepared a place for you. What a promise. Can you imagine how this criminal felt when he heard these words? He was still dying. But now, for however many moments he had left, he had assurance of his salvation and assurance of his destination.
I imagine those last few breaths that he took were some of the most peaceful in his whole life. If you haven't come and responded to Jesus like that second criminal, don't you want that kind what are you waiting for?
Come to him like this second criminal acknowledging who you are and who he is and crying out and saying Jesus remember me. Put your faith in him and have him tell you you will be with me.
That faith saves you. I save you because you have put your faith in me. Take hold of that assurance. That's all it takes. It's all it takes. If you do have that assurance, if you do have faith in him, live in peace. Live in peace no matter what happens to you. There's no need to fear death.
Beloved by the Lord, there's no need to fear death. It's just a doorway to be with our Savior. Let's remind each other of the promises that we have, the assurance that we have in him. Let's help each other walk with that peace and assurance.
Our Savior had a heart of compassion even while he suffered. He gave himself not out of mere duty but because of his great love for us.