WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Uh, hopefully they learned their lesson from that. 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:14.000 I wouldn't want to be want to be the guy responsible for that one, but this story came to mind because, uh, as we look at the story of the crucifixion today in Luke. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:27.000 What you find as Luke describes what's happening here, and we're going to kind of just put ourselves in the story today, kind of looking at the cross, the groups of people standing around the cross, they're all looking at the same thing happening here. 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:42.000 You have a man who claimed to be God, who was healing the sick, claimed to be the son of God, uh, you know, he claimed to be uh living and for a different kingdom, claimed to be Messiah. 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:53.000 And yet he's there on the cross and so you have all these people standing around the cross, looking at the same thing and coming away with completely different interpretations of what's going on in that moment. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.000 And it turns out most of them are wrong. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:04.000 And so they have kind of their own fatal flaw in the way that they're looking at what's happening with Jesus on the cross and only one man gets it right. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:15.000 And so I I I want us to take a look at this because I think there's even a possibility for us today to kind of know what's happening when it comes to being a a follower of Jesus. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:29.000 We have kind of an understanding of who Jesus is, but if we're not careful, it's possible for us to actually look at things and and be confident in the way that we're looking and believing about things and actually totally miss what Jesus is up to. 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:34.000 And so we're gonna start today in uh Luke chapter 23. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.000 You're welcome to pull it up if you'd like, otherwise we'll read through it together here on the screen. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.000 Luke chapter 23, we're gonna start in verse 33. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:48.000 It says this, And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:52.000 and the criminals, one on his right, and one on his left. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:58.000 And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.000 And they cast lots to divide his garments. 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:13.000 And the people stood by watching, but the rulers, they scoffed at him saying, he saved others, let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:22.000 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:26.000 There was also an inscription over him, this is the king of the Jews. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:32.000 Now, one of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, Are you not the Christ? 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:35.000 Save yourself and us. 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:44.000 But the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:52.000 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.000 And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:04.000 And he said to him, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.000 So I want to take a look uh at what's happening here because Luke describes really kind of four different responses. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:16.000 Again, same cross, same Jesus, four different responses. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.000 Uh and Luke is, I I love how descriptive Luke is. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:24.000 The other uh writers of the gospels don't get into so much detail, um but I I love how descriptive he gets. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.000 So I kind of want to go through this uh kind of kind of one by one here. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:38.000 We're going to go kind of very methodically through each response here because I want you to see what happens because it's really easy to just kind of read, read through this quickly and kind of miss the distinctions here. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:46.000 But we all catch that just about everybody gets it wrong because Jesus at the end of the day doesn't match their expectations. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:55.000 So I want you to catch this theme as we're kind of go going through here that they they're kind of the way that they look at it's a little bit different, the way they respond is a little bit different. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:03.000 But all of them in some way or another are looking at Jesus and he doesn't match what they're expecting and so they come to faulty conclusions. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:07.000 So let's look first here at the rulers in verse uh 35. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:08.000 So what does it say they do? 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:09.000 It says they scoffed. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:15.000 Now scoffed, the way uh if you go to the original word here, it actually means to turn up one's nose. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.000 That's the literal meaning of the word. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:22.000 And so there's this kind of arrogance and ego to the way that they're looking at Jesus. 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:30.000 So we have the the ruling class, the authority, the people in charge here and so they're looking at Jesus and going, who are you? 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:31.000 Who are you? 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:42.000 I you said you were, uh, you know, the son of God, the Messiah, and they have this arrogance about the way that they look at Jesus. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:43.000 And so what's their response? 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:47.000 He saved others, let him save himself. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:49.000 There's this arrogance and this ego. 00:04:49.000 --> 00:04:51.000 What's the, what's the fatal flaw that they have? 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:54.000 What's the kind of the their fallacy that they're living under? 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:59.000 Is that they have this definition of what power and authority looks like. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:00.000 Again, these are the rulers. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.000 This is the ruling class. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:04.000 We know power. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:05.000 We know what power feels like. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:09.000 We know what power looks like and that's not it. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:12.000 They look at Jesus and go, that's not power. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 That's not authority. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:19.000 And so they, they completely misunderstand who Jesus is in that moment. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:27.000 What king would allow himself to be put up on the cross and killed in that manner. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.000 What kind of power what kind of power is that? 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:33.000 And so they look at him and go, that's not, that's not the Messiah. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:34.000 We know power. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.000 I know what that looks like and that's not it. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.000 And so they miss them. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:49.000 Let him save himself and they arrogantly stare at him, turning up their nose at him and they think that they have it and he doesn't. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.000 And they miss Jesus. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.000 What about the soldiers? 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:55.000 Well, it says it's a different word here. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:02.000 Again, if you kind of read through this quickly, you kind of go, oh, they all just kind of mocked Jesus, but Luke uses specific language here. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:07.000 And so the soldiers that actually does mean, they didn't use scoffed, uses mocked. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.000 The root, the the the root word of that here actually means to ridicule. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:15.000 So this isn't a turning up their nose at this arrogance. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:20.000 It's actually sort of they're being entertained by what's happening here. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:26.000 They're watching Jesus on the cross, you know, they're giving him sour wine, they're casting lots. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.000 This is entertainment for the soldiers. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.000 These are soldiers who live in a violent culture. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:37.000 And so this they're kind of getting their jollies out of watching this man who claimed to be God, who claimed to have authority and power. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:42.000 They're kind of going, see, watch him suffer. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.000 Again, the response sounds similar. 00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:47.000 Save yourself. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:49.000 You're so powerful. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:50.000 You're so strong. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.000 You serve the Almighty. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.000 Why don't you show it, save yourself? 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:58.000 And there's this entertainment value out of what's happening here from the soldiers. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.000 Well, what's, what are they missing here? 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.000 Their fallacy is their definition of strength. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 Again, these are soldiers, these are the tough guys. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:11.000 These are the guys who say, hey, we know what strength looks like. 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:12.000 We're the guys that get to push everybody else around. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.000 We know strength. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:19.000 And they look up at a man on the cross and go, if you were that strong, you wouldn't be there. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:20.000 That's not strength. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:23.000 We know what strength is and that's not it. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:30.000 And so for a very different reason, very different perspective, they look up at Jesus and again, totally write them off. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.000 How can this guy be the son of God? 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.000 How can this one be the Messiah? 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Because who, what, what God, what all powerful, almighty God would allow himself to be hung up on a cross like that? 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:47.000 And so they miss him. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:48.000 Let's go to the criminal. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.000 You with me so far? 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:50.000 This making sense? 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.000 We're getting in the weeds, but I think these the weeds here kind of matter. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.000 Different perspectives, again, looking at the same thing. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:59.000 They're and for different reasons are missing who Jesus is. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:00.000 Well, let's look at the criminal. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:06.000 Again, different verbage, different language, different verb here that Luke uses to describe what happens with the criminal. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:11.000 Not just mocking, not turning his nose up, it says he railed at him. 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:15.000 It's where we get the word blaspheme. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.000 And so and the and the even the verb tense here, it doesn't say he just did it once. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.000 It's an active verb. 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:26.000 I English teachers in here, imperfect active, active and perfect. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:27.000 It's the means it's ongoing. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:31.000 So this wasn't just a one-time blaspheme. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:41.000 This is continuously railing, raging, slandering Jesus saying, not only save yourself, which sounded a whole lot like the rulers and the soldiers. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:44.000 But if you are God, save me too. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.000 Get us out of this. 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:55.000 If you're that powerful, that strong, not only should you not be here, but neither should I. 00:08:55.000 --> 00:09:07.000 And so again, for this very same reason, he misses the for a different reason, but looking at the same circumstance, his fallacy here is he has a completely different definition of what a savior looks like. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:10.000 He's not worried about the eternal. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:12.000 He's not worried about his salvation. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.000 All he cares about is, can you fix my circumstance right now? 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:17.000 Show me your power. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:23.000 If you are God, not only can you you should not be there, but neither should I. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:35.000 And so again, he blasphemes Jesus looking at the same circumstance, not self-aware at all, that, oh, maybe I need some rescue here that goes beyond just my physical circumstances. 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.000 No recognition of his need for for true eternal salvation. 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:42.000 He's just looking for a fixer. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:49.000 And so he looks at Jesus and goes, if you can't fix my circumstances, then what use are you to me? 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:53.000 What use are you to me if you just don't fix my problem right now? 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:02.000 And so he totally misses Jesus and in fact is angry at Jesus because he doesn't fix his circumstance. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:09.000 Again, now we have three different people looking at Jesus, completely missing him, but for different reasons. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:19.000 Now, I want to get into the second criminal here and now we we obviously know we just read and even sung about this morning, how the second criminal here, and these are very technical terms, right? 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:21.000 Criminal number one, criminal number two, you're welcome. 00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:27.000 Uh criminal number two here, we know the ultimate result here is something happens. 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:32.000 But I want I I it took me a long time to actually recognize this as I was studying it. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:42.000 But there's actually a good argument to be made that this second criminal didn't start there in this place of understanding who Jesus was. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:47.000 So, Luke describes this interaction around remember me when you get into your kingdom. 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:54.000 But if you actually look at Matthew and Mark, they don't actually describe uh his attitude in this way. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:03.000 If you look at Matthew here, it says, and the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:05.000 No distinction. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:08.000 It puts it says both criminals were reviling. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:09.000 And Mark says it the same way as well. 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:14.000 Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:20.000 So it kind of makes me wonder if, you know, did Luke hang out a little bit longer to see uh something happen here? 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.000 What what changed? 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:32.000 Because I think there's a good argument to be made here that maybe initially both criminals there on the cross are kind of joining in the mockery. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:41.000 Going, hey Jesus, some Messiah, some ruler, some son of God to allow yourself to be there on the cross. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.000 Come fix this. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:45.000 And so what changed? 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:47.000 You know, I just this isn't in the text, but it makes me wonder. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:53.000 Did did this second criminal hear Jesus say this? 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.000 They're on the cross, goes, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:02.000 might have made me pause. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:12.000 What kind of response is that that a man is saying this, praying for the really the salvation and the forgiveness of those who just hung them on the cross. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:17.000 Did did that second criminal hear that and go, who is this guy? 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.000 I don't know. 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:24.000 Was, was it the way he didn't respond to the insults? 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:31.000 You know, he's hearing the soldiers, he's hearing the rulers, mock him, debase him, ridicule him, give him the sour wine. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:37.000 And instead of fighting back, instead of going, you guys are idiots for hanging me up here in the cross. 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:39.000 Do you know who I am? 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:43.000 Jesus hangs there quietly. 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:47.000 But we don't we don't know what went through his mind there. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:56.000 But what we do know is at some point the second criminal comes to a very different conclusion than everybody else standing around the cross. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:00.000 and he totally throws out the the order of events here. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:05.000 You know, we get to the second criminal here and this this chain of events looks very different. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:10.000 All of a sudden, he recognizes Jesus for who he is. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:12.000 His eyes were opened. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.000 Wait a second. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:19.000 This guy is actually the Messiah. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:28.000 He and in fact, he he is the last person to really declare Jesus's innocence and identity before he dies. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.000 What a powerful thing. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:39.000 One more testament, right before, right before the point of death, he goes, this is the Messiah, he is innocent. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:47.000 This criminal on the cross, not probably theologically trained, not one of the religious leaders, certainly not one of the guys that should get it. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.000 And yet he's there on the cross and he's the one who gets it. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:51.000 And he recognizes Jesus for who he is. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:53.000 He declares his innocence. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:14:03.000 And then instead of reviling Jesus, mocking Jesus, he leans in and goes, Jesus, would you remember me? 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:06.000 It's a pretty humble ask, right? 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:14.000 He he doesn't match the first criminal and going, hey, Jesus, I see you're the Messiah, can you get me out of this jam? 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:14.000 I got the answer right. 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:17.000 Can you just save me? 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:20.000 He what a what really a humble request in that moment. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:26.000 He recognizes, hey, I kind of deserve what I got here, but Jesus, would you remember me? 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:31.000 I don't deser I don't deserve much from you, but at least just don't forget about me. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:37.000 It's a powerful moment of recognition from this second criminal. 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:50.000 And instead of this fallacy that the others believe, he taps into actual reality that Jesus is king. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:15:03.000 Again, we have four different groups of people here, four different perspectives, and this unassuming criminal on the cross taps into the reality that Jesus is king. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:07.000 He gets it right. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:12.000 You know, that really I want to separate this into two categories here, if we were going to simplify it. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.000 So you have the rulers, the soldiers and that first criminal. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:26.000 Their perspective on what's happening here, if you were to just kind of simplify it down is that if Jesus were king, he would get himself down. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:33.000 And yet the second criminal says, Jesus is king because he stayed. 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:36.000 How powerful is that? 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:37.000 What does power look like? 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.000 What does authority look like? 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 It doesn't look like a man who got himself down from the cross. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:55.000 Jesus ultimate show of power and authority is that he was willing as king to stay on that cross because who he was, nobody else understood. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:57.000 And then nobody else understood what his purpose was. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:03.000 His purpose wasn't to establish this giant, powerful empire on earth. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:14.000 His person, his purpose was to save us, was to die on our behalf, to pay for our sins, for our shortcomings. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:18.000 And it looked absolutely nothing like what everybody else expected. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:24.000 They expected a king would would show up and take his throne. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:29.000 And instead Jesus shows up and allows himself to be hung on a cross. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.000 and just about everybody missed it. 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:37.000 Now, might be easy to go, yeah, this is pretty unique circumstances. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:44.000 And so, I could see how that would be confusing for the people around the cross there to go, yeah, why would that be a king? 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.000 You know, I think I think a lot of us would struggle with that. 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:49.000 How does this make sense in that moment? 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:52.000 But this isn't the only time Jesus was misunderstood. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:17:01.000 In fact, he was almost always misunderstood in in all of his teaching and time on Earth, he was almost always misunderstood. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:02.000 Here's just a few examples. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:07.000 His own family literally says thought he was out of his mind. 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:08.000 His own family. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:10.000 Well, my family might sometimes think I'm out of my mind too. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.000 Maybe that's not that unusual. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.000 But his own family, they thought he was out of his mind as he was beginning his ministry, claiming to be the Messiah. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.000 They thought he was crazy. 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.000 What about Nicodemus? 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:22.000 Jesus is talking about being born again. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:26.000 Nicodemus is like, how's that supposed to work? 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:30.000 thinks Jesus is talking about a physical rebirth. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:31.000 You have the Samaritan woman. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:34.000 Jesus says, hey, I want to offer you living water. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:36.000 And she goes, where's your bucket? 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.000 Didn't get it. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.000 You have Peter, man, poor Peter. 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:47.000 Jesus is actually predicting this very scene we're talking about in Luke, predicting his death on the cross. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.000 And Peter doesn't just go, hey, I have questions. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:57.000 It says, Peter rebuke, he pulls him aside and rebuke Jesus and go, you can't talk like that. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:59.000 Stop talking like this, you're scaring people away. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:02.000 And so what does Jesus do? 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:04.000 That's the uh, the line nobody wants to hear. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.000 Get thee behind me, Satan. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:09.000 Peter didn't get it. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:13.000 misunderstood what Jesus was there to do. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:17.000 And then even after Jesus death, it's the disciples on the road to Emmaus. 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:20.000 This is the very next chapter from where we're reading right now. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:28.000 After Jesus death, they said, again, quote, we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.000 Still didn't get it. 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:39.000 And so what we find here is that this pattern of misunderstanding Jesus is not the exception to the rule. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:47.000 It's actually more likely than not that people misunderstand what Jesus is all about. 00:18:47.000 --> 00:19:01.000 Over and over, people try to get Jesus to fit into their box and their perspective, rather rather than letting Jesus define what he's there for and how he's going to work. 00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:11.000 So what I want us to catch, this is kind of my first point for the morning here, is that Jesus has a pattern of showing up in ways that people don't expect. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:12.000 Over and over. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:17.000 That list I gave you was is could have been two or three times as long. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:23.000 Over and over, Jesus shows up in a way that people don't expect. 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:39.000 And so what I want to kind of hypothesize for us this morning that if we're not careful, we today are just as capable as as capable at looking at Jesus and what he's doing and coming up with the wrong conclusions. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:48.000 I don't think we can't look back at all the people in the scripture and just go, those guys were just not that smart, but I've got it together. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:54.000 I would never, I would never misunderstand Jesus like that. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:58.000 I would never misunderstand what he's up to. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:05.000 I think we get ourselves in trouble if we even not that we would say it that blatantly, but I think we can do it kind of unintentionally. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:08.000 We kind of have this expectation of Jesus is going to take care of it like this. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:10.000 This is how he's going to work. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.000 And rather than pressing in and going, God, what are you up to? 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:15.000 What do you want to do here? 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:16.000 How do you want to make this happen? 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.000 What's your purpose and your plan in this circumstance? 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:23.000 We can kind of assume that oh, we kind of know how this goes. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:34.000 And I think it's just as possible for us today to look at what Jesus is doing and make some assumptions, rather than open our minds and our hearts to go, God, what are you doing here? 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:36.000 It's not because anybody's a bad person. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.000 I think there's a lot of good intentioned people. 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:43.000 There were some good, maybe some good intentioned people around the cross that didn't understand what was happening. 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:46.000 The disciples. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.000 They they were trying. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:54.000 They were had been following him and yet they're kind of notably absent in this story, right? 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:58.000 They're afraid themselves that they they themselves are going to get crucified. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.000 It's not everybody is a bad person. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:11.000 It's not all people who are actively trying to work against Christ that miss him, it's even the good intentions that miss what he's doing. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:27.000 I think sometimes we we come to Jesus expecting a certain thing and then when it doesn't happen the way we expect, we either are disappointed or angry with him or we just decide to go a different way. 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:30.000 You know, we we have a choice in how we we handle this. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:44.000 We can either conclude like some did around the cross that maybe Jesus isn't who he said he was, or we can consider that maybe our expectations might have been off. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.000 So I wanted to ask you a couple questions here. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:54.000 If there's a pattern of people missing Jesus at times. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.000 When was the last time that Jesus surprised you? 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:04.000 I thought he was going to work this way and in fact, he worked a different way. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.000 Have you allowed yourself to be surprised by that? 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:09.000 Or do we sometimes just miss him? 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:13.000 When was the last time he changed your mind? 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:25.000 If our minds are never changed, if we never are in relationship with Jesus and he either does something different than we expect or we don't have to change our mind sometimes, I think we're probably missing something. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.000 Man, Jesus never shows up in the room and and something doesn't change. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:32.000 He's always at work, always doing something. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:39.000 And for us, part of our relationship with him is pressing in and going, Jesus, what are you doing here? 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:50.000 You know, I think about, uh, again, that criminal on the cross, that the the second one, that may have been, have started mocking Jesus alongside the first. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:23:01.000 And I kind of wonder what that moment might have looked like where he's, he's there on the cross, watching everybody insult Jesus, maybe even participating himself. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:07.000 and he has this oh moment on the cross. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:12.000 Oh, maybe I this guy isn't what I thought he was. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:16.000 Wonder what that that looked like. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.000 When was the last time Jesus changed our mind? 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:27.000 My hope for us is we don't miss him. 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:32.000 Again, so many examples of people looking at the exact same thing. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:35.000 And yet if we're not careful, we can miss what Jesus is doing. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:38.000 That can show up in our relationships with people, it can show up in our jobs. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:47.000 You can show up in your workplace and you can do things the way you want to do them or you can be open to, hey God, what are you, what do you want to do? 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:51.000 Maybe God's doing something in your relationships, in your families. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:55.000 Maybe you have an expectation of how that should go. 00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:58.000 Maybe Jesus has a has a different way of looking that at that. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.000 Maybe he has a different goal than what you have in mind. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:02.000 So what does that look like? 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:06.000 And so, uh I want really want to ask this question as we're kind of just wrapping up here. 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:07.000 How do we not miss him? 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:16.000 If it's, if it's kind of likely or easy to miss what Jesus is up to, how do we not miss him? 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:22.000 So the first one here, very practical, is to be is to listen with an open heart and mind. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:24.000 Now, you can maybe break this up into two if you wanted. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:27.000 Sometimes we just need to listen. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:28.000 I'm guilty of this one a lot. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:30.000 Sometimes I'm just not asking. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:33.000 Jesus, what's your plan here? 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:34.000 What would you want to do? 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:36.000 How do you want this to work? 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.000 And then spend some time listening. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:45.000 Sometimes we just need to start with the listen part, but it's important that we get the full sentence here too, with an open heart and mind. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:52.000 Almost everybody we talked about today actually heard Jesus talk about this for a long time. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:58.000 He he was pretty direct about what he came to do. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:08.000 Again, with Peter, he was talking about, hey, by the way, I'm going to suffer and die on the cross and it's important and necessary for your salvation. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:10.000 Peter heard him say it. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:16.000 He listened, but did he do it with an open heart and mind where he fully understood what Jesus was up to? 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:17.000 No. 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:22.000 And so I think it's possible even for us to go, okay God, I'm kind of listening a little bit. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.000 But are we listening with an open heart and an open mind? 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:27.000 Can he change your mind? 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:37.000 Are we trying to get Jesus to fit our expectations and our boxes or are we giving him permission to to change things up for us? 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:42.000 Jesus isn't building the kingdom we often expect. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.000 And so many people have heard that and yet didn't didn't receive it. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:55.000 The second one in here is look for Jesus in the meek, not the mighty. 00:25:55.000 --> 00:26:01.000 What what I mean by that is, we, especially in our culture today, but I think this has been true for a long time. 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:11.000 We tend to pay attention to the things that are impressive, things that are dramatic, show of force, power and authority. 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:14.000 It's rarely where Jesus lives. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:18.000 Jesus is never chasing power or status. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:19.000 He's just not. 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:20.000 He's washing feet. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.000 He's touching the the lepers. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:25.000 He's eating with sinners. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:27.000 He's hanging out with the humble and the overlooked. 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:38.000 And so if we're looking for Jesus in the dominant, in the spectacular, in powerful political parties, we might miss him. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:45.000 He's in the quiet acts of service, the place no one else wants to be. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:50.000 No one expected Jesus, the king of kings being hung up on a cross and there he was. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:55.000 And so if we're looking for Jesus, we shouldn't be looking for him at the top of the food chain. 00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:00.000 We should be looking for the for where he's serving those the meek and the lowly and the humble. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.000 That's where Jesus hangs out. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:09.000 And then last, we need to seek relationship and not just rescue. 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:12.000 So often we can be like that first criminal. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:16.000 Fix my circumstances, please. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:18.000 Look, he's a very, very capable fixer. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.000 He is. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.000 He and he is interested in what's going on in your life. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.000 He can heal. 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.000 He is powerful. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:31.000 This has nothing to do with his capability. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:32.000 It has to do with his heart. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:42.000 And his heart is a lot more concerned with relationship with you than he is just about fixing tough circumstances. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:47.000 You know, the crowds missed him because they were looking for political liberation. 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:50.000 They wanted somebody to come in and overthrow the Romans. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:57.000 They wanted someone to come in and fix the injustices that were taking place in their society. 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:05.000 And so because Jesus came in humble, give unto Caesar what is Caesar's, that's not the answer that they wanted to hear. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:08.000 They go, this maybe this isn't the guy. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.000 You know, the sick, they just wanted to be healed. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.000 The crowds, they wanted to be fed. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:21.000 And yet when Jesus talked about, you need to follow me, follow me, and it's going to look like suffering. 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:26.000 They're like, I'm not so sure this is the guy I thought he was. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:37.000 Because Jesus, though he is capable of fixing circumstances and often does, what he is always most concerned about is the state of your heart. 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:40.000 Where are you with him? 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:42.000 Are you walking with him? 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.000 Are you following him? 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:46.000 Are you are you walking alongside him? 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:50.000 Are you truly a disciple, an apprentice? 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:53.000 Are you concerned with him or what he can do? 00:28:53.000 --> 00:29:03.000 And so if we're concerned more with how he can fix things for us, how he can rescue us from our present circumstances here, we we might just miss the whole point. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:05.000 And again, ask for that. 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:07.000 Ask for him to fix your circumstances. 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:08.000 Ask for him to intervene. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:10.000 He's a generous God. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:16.000 But also, let's seek him first. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:17.000 At the end of the day, he's offering himself. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.000 That's what's so powerful about that thief on the cross there. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:25.000 He asked, Jesus, would you remember me? 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:27.000 Again, this simple, humble ask. 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:29.000 And what does Jesus offer? 00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:33.000 You will be with me in paradise. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:42.000 He doesn't in that case fix his physical circumstance, but he offers him something that matters even more. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:50.000 And so what the the last thing I just want us to to notice this morning is that Jesus is always better than our expectations. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:57.000 So when we're talking about not missing Jesus, I'm not talking about lower your lower the bar. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:00.000 This isn't a lower the bar conversation. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.000 Hey, Jesus might not show up like you thought, so don't be too disappointed. 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.000 He's just a little different. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:10.000 No, it's actually much bigger and so much better. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:13.000 So much better. 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:19.000 This the, he asked to be the criminal asked to be remembered, and he says, you're going to be with me in paradise. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:21.000 I can do you so much better than that. 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:23.000 You're going to be with me in paradise. 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:31.000 What Jesus always offers is we we're asking for things that seem kind of like a big deal, but Jesus goes, you you just you don't get it. 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:35.000 I've got something so much better than you've ever hoped for or imagined. 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:40.000 And so, what we're doing here is is not trying to lower our expectations of Jesus. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.000 We're trying to align our expectations with what he's truly capable of. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:50.000 And that looks like the best thing he can offer, which is himself and an eternity with him. 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:53.000 And so I I don't know what you're you're going through right now. 00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:55.000 I don't know what's going on in your life. 00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:58.000 Uh but I just want to encourage you this morning. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:03.000 Whatever you're going through, Jesus is with you for one. 00:31:03.000 --> 00:31:09.000 He has answers, two, and three, the answers just may not look like you expect. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.000 And so let's lean in. 00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:13.000 Let's ask. 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:15.000 Let's let's lean in with an open heart and mind. 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.000 Hey God, with this circumstance going on right now, what's your plan? 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.000 What's your heart? 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:22.000 What's your outcome? 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:22.000 What's your purpose? 00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:24.000 How do you want to use this? 00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:29.000 Because I can I can come in with my expectations to a fault. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:32.000 I kind of like want to have put put a plan and a strategy together. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:36.000 Okay, we're going to get from here to here and here the hundred steps. 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:42.000 And so if I'm not careful, I don't take the time to go, okay, Jesus, actually, what's the destination you have in mind and how do you want to get there? 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.000 So sometimes just taking the the stop and the pause, asking and listening. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:48.000 God, what's your purpose and plan? 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:52.000 and allowing him to change your mind and perspective is just where we need to start. 00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:56.000 And it turns out his he's pretty smart. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:57.000 And he's pretty good. 00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:04.000 And so whenever we submit ourselves to his plan, he's going to present something that's so much better than we could have done ourselves. 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:05.000 So I don't know what that looks like for you. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:08.000 I don't know what relationship is on the rocks. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:09.000 I don't know what's going on in your business. 00:32:09.000 --> 00:32:13.000 I don't know what's going on, you know, in your family. 00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:15.000 I don't know what's going on in your health. 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.000 But I can tell you that Jesus cares, he's good, and he has a plan. 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:28.000 And so my hope for us is that we would not just try and fix it ourselves, but we would lean into the one who's so much better than we could ever hope or imagine. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:33.000 Let me pray. 00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:38.000 Lord, I just thank you uh that you are that good. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:41.000 Man, I know I can be uh, stubborn. 00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:44.000 I could be dense. 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:53.000 God, I can look at things that may be so inherently obvious and yet I miss them just because I I I'm used to doing things my way. 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:58.000 And yet God, we recognize that you are king. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.000 And your ways often look different than our ways. 00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:07.000 And so this morning, Lord, we just want to submit ourselves to you. 00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:10.000 You are the one, Lord, who has it all figured out. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.000 You are the one with the plan. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:17.000 You are the one who's capable of stepping into our circumstances. 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:23.000 And God, we we recognize most of all that you want to be with us. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:28.000 God, that the best thing that you offer us is yourself. 00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:30.000 That was the point of the cross. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.000 where sin had separated, you made a way for us to be with you. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:38.000 And so God, let us not get distracted by our own plans and our own ways. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:48.000 God, if we have ways that we've uh looked at you or expected things of you that are not who you are, that don't reflect your character or your purpose or your plan. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:51.000 Lord, would you just reveal those to us? 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:54.000 God, would you change our hearts and our minds? 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:57.000 God, we want to see you for who you are. 00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:02.000 And Lord, we want to be people who don't follow just our own ways, but follow your ways. 00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:06.000 And so God, would you help us to do that? 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:11.000 God, and at times I can recognize that we are we could be like anybody in this story in Luke. 00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:13.000 We could be like either one of those criminals. 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:23.000 We can be like the rulers and the soldiers who just miss you, who maybe bring our own ego into circumstances, who don't reflect your heart. 00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:31.000 And so God, would you just continue to to redeem us and restore us, to change us and make us more like you. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:33.000 We love you. 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:35.000 And God, I just thank you for your patience with us. 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:40.000 God, I thank you that that criminal after probably a lifetime of walking away from you. 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:50.000 In that last moment, saw you for who you are, and you were quick to forgive and redeem and restore. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:56.000 And so, whatever we're bringing into this room, our own past of failures and our own uh past of falling short. 00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:03.000 God, I thank you this morning that you come to each of us with grace and love and forgiveness. 00:35:03.000 --> 00:35:05.000 And so God, we receive that this morning. 00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:08.000 We're grateful for that this morning. 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:15.000 And God, would you just help us to as we move forward today in this week, to honor you and everything that we do. 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:16.000 Do this in your name. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:26.000 Amen.