March 22, 2026 Josh Miller - Don't Miss Jesus

Josh Miller — 2026-03-22

Chapters:

• 00:00 — Welcome & Introduction
• 01:29 — Reading Luke 23:33-43
• 03:04 — Four Responses to Jesus
• 10:09 — The Second Criminal Understands
• 19:01 — Jesus Shows Up Unexpectedly
• 24:06 — How Not to Miss Jesus
• 29:42 — Jesus Exceeds Our Expectations
• 32:28 — Sermon Closing Prayer

Transcript

0:00

Uh, hopefully they learned their lesson from that. 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. 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. 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. 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. And it turns out most of them are wrong. 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. 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. 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. And so we're gonna start today in uh Luke chapter 23. You're welcome to pull it up if you'd like, otherwise we'll read through it together here on the screen. Luke chapter 23, we're gonna start in verse 33. It says this, 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, they 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. Now, 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. So I want to take a look uh at what's happening here because Luke describes really kind of four different responses. Again, same cross, same Jesus, four different responses. Uh and Luke is, I I love how descriptive Luke is. The other uh writers of the gospels don't get into so much detail, um but I I love how descriptive he gets. So I kind of want to go through this uh kind of kind of one by one here. 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. But we all catch that just about everybody gets it wrong because Jesus at the end of the day doesn't match their expectations. 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. 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. So let's look first here at the rulers in verse uh 35. So what does it say they do? It says they scoffed. Now scoffed, the way uh if you go to the original word here, it actually means to turn up one's nose. That's the literal meaning of the word. And so there's this kind of arrogance and ego to the way that they're looking at Jesus. 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? Who are you? 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. And so what's their response? He saved others, let him save himself. There's this arrogance and this ego. What's the, what's the fatal flaw that they have? What's the kind of the their fallacy that they're living under? Is that they have this definition of what power and authority looks like. Again, these are the rulers. This is the ruling class. We know power. We know what power feels like. We know what power looks like and that's not it. They look at Jesus and go, that's not power. That's not authority. And so they, they completely misunderstand who Jesus is in that moment. What king would allow himself to be put up on the cross and killed in that manner. What kind of power what kind of power is that? And so they look at him and go, that's not, that's not the Messiah. We know power. I know what that looks like and that's not it. And so they miss them. 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. And they miss Jesus. What about the soldiers? Well, it says it's a different word here. 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. And so the soldiers that actually does mean, they didn't use scoffed, uses mocked. The root, the the the root word of that here actually means to ridicule. So this isn't a turning up their nose at this arrogance. It's actually sort of they're being entertained by what's happening here. They're watching Jesus on the cross, you know, they're giving him sour wine, they're casting lots. This is entertainment for the soldiers. These are soldiers who live in a violent culture. 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. They're kind of going, see, watch him suffer. Again, the response sounds similar. Save yourself. You're so powerful. You're so strong. You serve the Almighty. Why don't you show it, save yourself? And there's this entertainment value out of what's happening here from the soldiers. Well, what's, what are they missing here? Their fallacy is their definition of strength. Again, these are soldiers, these are the tough guys. These are the guys who say, hey, we know what strength looks like. We're the guys that get to push everybody else around. We know strength. And they look up at a man on the cross and go, if you were that strong, you wouldn't be there. That's not strength. We know what strength is and that's not it. And so for a very different reason, very different perspective, they look up at Jesus and again, totally write them off. How can this guy be the son of God? How can this one be the Messiah? Because who, what, what God, what all powerful, almighty God would allow himself to be hung up on a cross like that? And so they miss him. Let's go to the criminal. You with me so far? This making sense? We're getting in the weeds, but I think these the weeds here kind of matter. Different perspectives, again, looking at the same thing. They're and for different reasons are missing who Jesus is. Well, let's look at the criminal. Again, different verbage, different language, different verb here that Luke uses to describe what happens with the criminal. Not just mocking, not turning his nose up, it says he railed at him. It's where we get the word blaspheme. And so and the and the even the verb tense here, it doesn't say he just did it once. It's an active verb. I English teachers in here, imperfect active, active and perfect. It's the means it's ongoing. So this wasn't just a one-time blaspheme. This is continuously railing, raging, slandering Jesus saying, not only save yourself, which sounded a whole lot like the rulers and the soldiers. But if you are God, save me too. Get us out of this. If you're that powerful, that strong, not only should you not be here, but neither should I. 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. He's not worried about the eternal. He's not worried about his salvation. All he cares about is, can you fix my circumstance right now? Show me your power. If you are God, not only can you you should not be there, but neither should I. 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. No recognition of his need for for true eternal salvation. He's just looking for a fixer. And so he looks at Jesus and goes, if you can't fix my circumstances, then what use are you to me? What use are you to me if you just don't fix my problem right now? And so he totally misses Jesus and in fact is angry at Jesus because he doesn't fix his circumstance. Again, now we have three different people looking at Jesus, completely missing him, but for different reasons. 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? Criminal number one, criminal number two, you're welcome. Uh criminal number two here, we know the ultimate result here is something happens. But I want I I it took me a long time to actually recognize this as I was studying it. 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. So, Luke describes this interaction around remember me when you get into your kingdom. But if you actually look at Matthew and Mark, they don't actually describe uh his attitude in this way. If you look at Matthew here, it says, and the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. No distinction. It puts it says both criminals were reviling. And Mark says it the same way as well. Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. So it kind of makes me wonder if, you know, did Luke hang out a little bit longer to see uh something happen here? What what changed? 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. Going, hey Jesus, some Messiah, some ruler, some son of God to allow yourself to be there on the cross. Come fix this. And so what changed? You know, I just this isn't in the text, but it makes me wonder. Did did this second criminal hear Jesus say this? They're on the cross, goes, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. might have made me pause. 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. Did did that second criminal hear that and go, who is this guy? I don't know. Was, was it the way he didn't respond to the insults? You know, he's hearing the soldiers, he's hearing the rulers, mock him, debase him, ridicule him, give him the sour wine. And instead of fighting back, instead of going, you guys are idiots for hanging me up here in the cross. Do you know who I am? Jesus hangs there quietly. But we don't we don't know what went through his mind there. 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. and he totally throws out the the order of events here. You know, we get to the second criminal here and this this chain of events looks very different. All of a sudden, he recognizes Jesus for who he is. His eyes were opened. Wait a second. This guy is actually the Messiah. He and in fact, he he is the last person to really declare Jesus's innocence and identity before he dies. What a powerful thing. One more testament, right before, right before the point of death, he goes, this is the Messiah, he is innocent. 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. And yet he's there on the cross and he's the one who gets it. And he recognizes Jesus for who he is. He declares his innocence. And then instead of reviling Jesus, mocking Jesus, he leans in and goes, Jesus, would you remember me? It's a pretty humble ask, right? 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? I got the answer right. Can you just save me? He what a what really a humble request in that moment. He recognizes, hey, I kind of deserve what I got here, but Jesus, would you remember me? I don't deser I don't deserve much from you, but at least just don't forget about me. It's a powerful moment of recognition from this second criminal. And instead of this fallacy that the others believe, he taps into actual reality that Jesus is king. 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. He gets it right. You know, that really I want to separate this into two categories here, if we were going to simplify it. So you have the rulers, the soldiers and that first criminal. 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. And yet the second criminal says, Jesus is king because he stayed. How powerful is that? What does power look like? What does authority look like? It doesn't look like a man who got himself down from the cross. 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. And then nobody else understood what his purpose was. His purpose wasn't to establish this giant, powerful empire on earth. His person, his purpose was to save us, was to die on our behalf, to pay for our sins, for our shortcomings. And it looked absolutely nothing like what everybody else expected. They expected a king would would show up and take his throne. And instead Jesus shows up and allows himself to be hung on a cross. and just about everybody missed it. Now, might be easy to go, yeah, this is pretty unique circumstances. 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? You know, I think I think a lot of us would struggle with that. How does this make sense in that moment? But this isn't the only time Jesus was misunderstood. In fact, he was almost always misunderstood in in all of his teaching and time on Earth, he was almost always misunderstood. Here's just a few examples. His own family literally says thought he was out of his mind. His own family. Well, my family might sometimes think I'm out of my mind too. Maybe that's not that unusual. But his own family, they thought he was out of his mind as he was beginning his ministry, claiming to be the Messiah. They thought he was crazy. What about Nicodemus? Jesus is talking about being born again. Nicodemus is like, how's that supposed to work? thinks Jesus is talking about a physical rebirth. You have the Samaritan woman. Jesus says, hey, I want to offer you living water. And she goes, where's your bucket? Didn't get it. You have Peter, man, poor Peter. Jesus is actually predicting this very scene we're talking about in Luke, predicting his death on the cross. And Peter doesn't just go, hey, I have questions. It says, Peter rebuke, he pulls him aside and rebuke Jesus and go, you can't talk like that. Stop talking like this, you're scaring people away. And so what does Jesus do? That's the uh, the line nobody wants to hear. Get thee behind me, Satan. Peter didn't get it. misunderstood what Jesus was there to do. And then even after Jesus death, it's the disciples on the road to Emmaus. This is the very next chapter from where we're reading right now. After Jesus death, they said, again, quote, we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Still didn't get it. And so what we find here is that this pattern of misunderstanding Jesus is not the exception to the rule. It's actually more likely than not that people misunderstand what Jesus is all about. 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. 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. Over and over. That list I gave you was is could have been two or three times as long. Over and over, Jesus shows up in a way that people don't expect. 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. 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. I would never, I would never misunderstand Jesus like that. I would never misunderstand what he's up to. 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. We kind of have this expectation of Jesus is going to take care of it like this. This is how he's going to work. And rather than pressing in and going, God, what are you up to? What do you want to do here? How do you want to make this happen? What's your purpose and your plan in this circumstance? We can kind of assume that oh, we kind of know how this goes. 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? It's not because anybody's a bad person. I think there's a lot of good intentioned people. There were some good, maybe some good intentioned people around the cross that didn't understand what was happening. The disciples. They they were trying. They were had been following him and yet they're kind of notably absent in this story, right? They're afraid themselves that they they themselves are going to get crucified. It's not everybody is a bad person. 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. 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. You know, we we have a choice in how we we handle this. 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. So I wanted to ask you a couple questions here. If there's a pattern of people missing Jesus at times. When was the last time that Jesus surprised you? I thought he was going to work this way and in fact, he worked a different way. Have you allowed yourself to be surprised by that? Or do we sometimes just miss him? When was the last time he changed your mind? 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. Man, Jesus never shows up in the room and and something doesn't change. He's always at work, always doing something. And for us, part of our relationship with him is pressing in and going, Jesus, what are you doing here? 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. 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. and he has this oh moment on the cross. Oh, maybe I this guy isn't what I thought he was. Wonder what that that looked like. When was the last time Jesus changed our mind? My hope for us is we don't miss him. Again, so many examples of people looking at the exact same thing. And yet if we're not careful, we can miss what Jesus is doing. That can show up in our relationships with people, it can show up in our jobs. 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? Maybe God's doing something in your relationships, in your families. Maybe you have an expectation of how that should go. Maybe Jesus has a has a different way of looking that at that. Maybe he has a different goal than what you have in mind. So what does that look like? And so, uh I want really want to ask this question as we're kind of just wrapping up here. How do we not miss him? If it's, if it's kind of likely or easy to miss what Jesus is up to, how do we not miss him? So the first one here, very practical, is to be is to listen with an open heart and mind. Now, you can maybe break this up into two if you wanted. Sometimes we just need to listen. I'm guilty of this one a lot. Sometimes I'm just not asking. Jesus, what's your plan here? What would you want to do? How do you want this to work? And then spend some time listening. 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. Almost everybody we talked about today actually heard Jesus talk about this for a long time. He he was pretty direct about what he came to do. 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. Peter heard him say it. He listened, but did he do it with an open heart and mind where he fully understood what Jesus was up to? No. And so I think it's possible even for us to go, okay God, I'm kind of listening a little bit. But are we listening with an open heart and an open mind? Can he change your mind? 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? Jesus isn't building the kingdom we often expect. And so many people have heard that and yet didn't didn't receive it. The second one in here is look for Jesus in the meek, not the mighty. What what I mean by that is, we, especially in our culture today, but I think this has been true for a long time. We tend to pay attention to the things that are impressive, things that are dramatic, show of force, power and authority. It's rarely where Jesus lives. Jesus is never chasing power or status. He's just not. He's washing feet. He's touching the the lepers. He's eating with sinners. He's hanging out with the humble and the overlooked. And so if we're looking for Jesus in the dominant, in the spectacular, in powerful political parties, we might miss him. He's in the quiet acts of service, the place no one else wants to be. No one expected Jesus, the king of kings being hung up on a cross and there he was. And so if we're looking for Jesus, we shouldn't be looking for him at the top of the food chain. We should be looking for the for where he's serving those the meek and the lowly and the humble. That's where Jesus hangs out. And then last, we need to seek relationship and not just rescue. So often we can be like that first criminal. Fix my circumstances, please. Look, he's a very, very capable fixer. He is. He and he is interested in what's going on in your life. He can heal. He is powerful. This has nothing to do with his capability. It has to do with his heart. And his heart is a lot more concerned with relationship with you than he is just about fixing tough circumstances. You know, the crowds missed him because they were looking for political liberation. They wanted somebody to come in and overthrow the Romans. They wanted someone to come in and fix the injustices that were taking place in their society. And so because Jesus came in humble, give unto Caesar what is Caesar's, that's not the answer that they wanted to hear. They go, this maybe this isn't the guy. You know, the sick, they just wanted to be healed. The crowds, they wanted to be fed. And yet when Jesus talked about, you need to follow me, follow me, and it's going to look like suffering. They're like, I'm not so sure this is the guy I thought he was. 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. Where are you with him? Are you walking with him? Are you following him? Are you are you walking alongside him? Are you truly a disciple, an apprentice? Are you concerned with him or what he can do? 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. And again, ask for that. Ask for him to fix your circumstances. Ask for him to intervene. He's a generous God. But also, let's seek him first. At the end of the day, he's offering himself. That's what's so powerful about that thief on the cross there. He asked, Jesus, would you remember me? Again, this simple, humble ask. And what does Jesus offer? You will be with me in paradise. He doesn't in that case fix his physical circumstance, but he offers him something that matters even more. 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. So when we're talking about not missing Jesus, I'm not talking about lower your lower the bar. This isn't a lower the bar conversation. Hey, Jesus might not show up like you thought, so don't be too disappointed. He's just a little different. No, it's actually much bigger and so much better. So much better. This the, he asked to be the criminal asked to be remembered, and he says, you're going to be with me in paradise. I can do you so much better than that. You're going to be with me in paradise. 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. I've got something so much better than you've ever hoped for or imagined. And so, what we're doing here is is not trying to lower our expectations of Jesus. We're trying to align our expectations with what he's truly capable of. And that looks like the best thing he can offer, which is himself and an eternity with him. And so I I don't know what you're you're going through right now. I don't know what's going on in your life. Uh but I just want to encourage you this morning. Whatever you're going through, Jesus is with you for one. He has answers, two, and three, the answers just may not look like you expect. And so let's lean in. Let's ask. Let's let's lean in with an open heart and mind. Hey God, with this circumstance going on right now, what's your plan? What's your heart? What's your outcome? What's your purpose? How do you want to use this? Because I can I can come in with my expectations to a fault. I kind of like want to have put put a plan and a strategy together. Okay, we're going to get from here to here and here the hundred steps. 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? So sometimes just taking the the stop and the pause, asking and listening. God, what's your purpose and plan? and allowing him to change your mind and perspective is just where we need to start. And it turns out his he's pretty smart. And he's pretty good. 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. So I don't know what that looks like for you. I don't know what relationship is on the rocks. I don't know what's going on in your business. I don't know what's going on, you know, in your family. I don't know what's going on in your health. But I can tell you that Jesus cares, he's good, and he has a plan. 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. Let me pray. Lord, I just thank you uh that you are that good. Man, I know I can be uh, stubborn. I could be dense. 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. And yet God, we recognize that you are king. And your ways often look different than our ways. And so this morning, Lord, we just want to submit ourselves to you. You are the one, Lord, who has it all figured out. You are the one with the plan. You are the one who's capable of stepping into our circumstances. And God, we we recognize most of all that you want to be with us. God, that the best thing that you offer us is yourself. That was the point of the cross. where sin had separated, you made a way for us to be with you. And so God, let us not get distracted by our own plans and our own ways. 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. Lord, would you just reveal those to us? God, would you change our hearts and our minds? God, we want to see you for who you are. And Lord, we want to be people who don't follow just our own ways, but follow your ways. And so God, would you help us to do that? God, and at times I can recognize that we are we could be like anybody in this story in Luke. We could be like either one of those criminals. 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. And so God, would you just continue to to redeem us and restore us, to change us and make us more like you. We love you. And God, I just thank you for your patience with us. God, I thank you that that criminal after probably a lifetime of walking away from you. In that last moment, saw you for who you are, and you were quick to forgive and redeem and restore. And so, whatever we're bringing into this room, our own past of failures and our own uh past of falling short. God, I thank you this morning that you come to each of us with grace and love and forgiveness. And so God, we receive that this morning. We're grateful for that this morning. And God, would you just help us to as we move forward today in this week, to honor you and everything that we do. Do this in your name. Amen.