A WORD OF WILLINGNESS (Fifth Word from the Cross)

#247                                                            A WORD OF WILLINGNESS (Fifth Word from the Cross)

This entry includes an attached illustration from Light, Journal of The Christian Life Commission–March/April 1988    

Scripture  Luke 23:40-43 NIV                                                                                            Orig. Date 4-3-1966 (4-1976)

                                                                                                                                                                 Rewr. Dates 3-24-1988

Passage: 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[a]” 43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Purpose: Continuing a series on Words from the Cross, here given evidence of the example of faith in the life of the thief who believes.

Keywords:           Christ as Saviour               Commitment                     Faith                      Conviction

Timeline/Series:               Words from the Cross

Introduction

                It’s been several years, but when the best foreign film of the year was chosen, it was a spiritual film.  It was a Greek community, featuring the Greek Orthodox Church during the reign of the Turks.  The title, “He Who Must Die,” told the story of the citizens of this community in their efforts to enact the passion of Christ during the Easter celebration.

                A few weeks before the Lenten season, the people would elect the actors who would play the lead roles.  A  young man was chosen for the very first time to portray Christ.  He seemed especially suited to the role.  There was even some resemblance to Jesus, and he was a man completely without guile.  He, and the other chosen speaking roles were given six weeks to prepare themselves for these roles.

                During this time, however, a crisis arose in a neighboring community where people were starving.  The young man, playing the part of Christ, came to feel a burdensome responsibility to do something for these people.  He was convinced that it is what Jesus would have done.  He became so resolved and so adamant in his intent that in an angry confrontation with his townspeople, he was killed, “He Who Must Die.”

                The message of the film seemed to have to do with actions and attitudes found everywhere in every age.  Goodness, the kind that Christ brought to the earth, is subject to confrontation, anger, even death.

                What Jesus brought with him to the earth, to humanity was the concept of willing self-sacrifice.  His was a willingness to die, and to die for others.  This fifth word shows us another man who has been inspired to follow his example, to die with him.  At the very heart of the gospel is a willingness to die.

I.             A Man in the Consternation of Willingness.  V40 “Dost thou not fear God seeing we are in the same condemnation?”  Many times others had come to Jesus expecting a sign.  They had watched with curiosity in the performance of miracle.  The cripple made to walk, the blind to see, the deaf were no longer, even the dead were raised, and His lessons on forgiveness were legion, that too a miracle, preaching deliverance to the captives. 

                They had  had the sign of prophecy, but that seems not to have been enough.  Isaiah 61:1f “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the humble, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, . . . to comfort all who mourn, . . . to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.”

                They wanted something akin to Moses dividing the Sea  of Reeds.

                It makes us want to ask what the sign is that we are looking for.  Is the text of Easter not enough?  Do we question the legitimacy of Jesus?  Why are we slow to respond?

                As it is now, it was then, even at His cross they demand a sign.  In life they had asked that very question, “show us a sign?”  And He had responded in the only possible way.  “The only sign you will receive is of Jonas."  The sign  of death and burial.  The sign  of submergence, not in water but in God.  So now in death, they wanted a sign.  Give us something that will make the world remember “Golgotha.”  Give us anything but accountability.  Had the woman at the well know what awaited her, she would have stayed home.  We too are guilty of avoiding what is in our spiritual best interest.

II.            He Was a Man Caught Up in the Conviction of Willingness.  Can, should, must.  V41  “We received the due rewards for our deeds:  but this man hath done nothing amiss: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”

                It does us well to remember that others have also been crucified, and for lesser reasons.  I don’t know if there were other crucifixions at Golgotha.  I know there have been other Golgothas.  Men and women have died for causes just and unjust.  But the crucifixion of Jesus is unique in all the earth.  The place where it happened remains contested, but the fact of crucifixion and its meaning is undeniable.

                The source of all wisdom chose to die, and such an ignoble death.  If Hollywood, or Wall Street, or the Louisiana transition team or our church committees had planned Easter, none of us would have planned a lynching for our super star.

                But Easter is precisely what has turned everything around.  It has altered history.  Its impact has been universal in scope.  Other religions have been cultural and/or military.  Christianity has manifested itself as a faith of and for all people.

                We have, regrettably, become so entertainment conscious.  Phineus Barnum was a great showman.  He knew what people would pay to see.  But he isn’t remembered long after the show leaves town.

                And I remind you that Easter was not some kind of divine appeasement.  Parents sometimes find it easier to try to buy their children’s respect, than to earn it through genuine caring.  Others mandate it with threats.  But, what really happened at Calvary is that personal sin had to face up to God’s parental concern.  The parents whose children know they care, will be the ones who don’t lose them in adolescence.  Those who learn this kind of caring on the part of God will stay with their profession.  It is to see sin from God’s point of view.  It is to realize the nature of sin that separates.  But as well, it initiates the step of faith leading back to God.

                I Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God.”

III.           Finally, He Is Brought to the Commitment/Willingness.  V43 “This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”

                He concluded, as so must we all, that the one way to God is through Christ.  It is what the world does not wish to do.  The world wishes to find its way intellectually.  Paul Harvey reported (4/4/76) a major Ivy League school (Harvard) had eight punishable crimes per day on the campus.  Security had become a major expense.

                John 6:40 “This is the will of  him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.”

                This is that essential difference between these two men.  Both were similarly guilty.  They were judged fairly, and sentenced justly.  Forgiveness is assessed to the one because he looks to the son in faith.

                Believers are to come to renewal and revival in the self-same way.  Sin is still the distress of the spirit.  We must continually look to the Son.

                J.S. Whale in his book, “What Is a Living Church,” reminds us “Christendom’s deadliest enemy is not a doctrinaire godlessness but a practical atheism.”  I think what he means by that is that too many run around with a name-tag of Christian, and a lifestyle of worldliness.

Conclusion

                Leonard Griffith (E14p164) writes that the pearls  of the former House of Austria periodically lost their luster through exposure.  They would then be taken back to the ocean and left in their natural state.  Their beauty would always be restored.  The church also, through exposure to the world, loses its luster, and if it does not immerse itself continually in the ocean of God’s redeeming love, it will lose its way.  Holiness can be recovered only in the sanctuary, in the place of prayer.

Illustration from Light, Journal of The Christian Life Commission – March/April 1988

                When teaching phonics to my pre-schooler, we started at the beginning of the alphabet.  “This is the letter A,” I said, “Do you know a word that begins with A?”  The poignant reply came, “A is for AIDS.”

                So it is in our lives—A is for AIDS.  It is the beginning and ending of every facet of our existence.  Those of us who have contracted AIDS are the new untouchables.

                I was infected with the AIDS virus by a blood transfusion while still pregnant with my first child.  As a result, our baby also contracted the virus.  Although I frequently was ill and fatigued, I passed it off as being “the new mother syndrome.”

                Our baby was quite ill as well, requiring weekly trips to the doctor, and I blamed much of my exhaustion on stress.

                Having no idea that I was carrying the AIDS virus, two years after the birth of my first child, I became pregnant again. Our second child was premature and also had multiple medical problems.

                When the baby was five months old, I received a call from the blood bank that had supplied the blood for my transfusion.  They said that the donor who had given the blood for my transfusion had AIDS.

                My world started reeling.  As soon as I heard the words, all of the events of the past three years came into focus with a searing clarity—the children’s inability to stay well; the doctor’s frequent head-shaking and statements: “This is rare”; “The medicine should have worked.”

                Within two months, I had lost most of what had constituted my world.  Our baby was in critical condition with only days or weeks to live.  My husband had lost his job and career when his employer found out that his family had been touched by AIDS.  Our older child had to be removed from day care.  We were asked not to return to our church.  Our confidentiality had been breached, and as word spread throughout our community, we quickly fled and relocated in another town.  We were too terrified to risk harassment and persecution.

                Several months after our move, our baby died, and the second phase of my isolation began.  This isolation was self-imposed by fear.

                The few relationships I have had are superficial and almost totally based on fabrication.  How could I truthfully answer simple questions: “Why did you move here?”  “What  was wrong with your baby?”  I couldn’t talk about the fact that my heart was breaking every time I looked at my little girl.  I couldn’t share the fact that my marriage was fragmenting from the incredible stress in our lives.  I couldn’t “act sick” lest someone get suspicious, so I hid my symptoms and pain.

                I didn’t reveal anything about the severity of our daughter’s illness lest my child be totally ostracized from all socialization.  I couldn’t even contact former coworkers to explain why I had suddenly disappeared.  I was in a new city with no friends, no church, no “home,” no job, a struggling marriage, a very sick child and the grief of our baby who had died.  I had never been so alone in my life.

                We reached out to a local church.  The pastor was supportive, but when he asked parents about the possibility of our child attending Sunday School, the parents said “no.”  We do not attend church now.  The rejection runs too deep.

                To Christians, I would say that AIDS cripples not only the body, but the heart.  At a time when the AIDS victim is dealing with death and dying, heavy financial burdens and physical debilitation, they need support, care, and concern—not rejection!  If there was ever a time to reach out and touch the “lepers” of our day, it is now.

                I wear the Scarlet A.  I keep it well hidden.  You may never see me cry or realize from my appearance that I  have been infected by the virus.  Nevertheless, I have been shattered. I need love, compassion, and community to help me make it from day to day.  I have done nothing immoral or illegal to contract this disease, but those who have, hurt just as deeply as I.  Their needs are as great or greater than mine for a compassionate and loving response to AIDS.

                (Reprinted from the Baptist Standard-Texas)