Faithful on Fridays Blog

Scene Thirteen 

Let’s talk about what Luke included in his gospel as the Lord hung on that cross with criminals placed strategically on either side of Him (Ch. 23:32-34). Only Luke recorded Jesus’ prayer of forgiveness for His own people who insisted on His death. Was Luke pondering that prayer and wondering how Jesus could possibly forgive them for such brutality? Did he remember back to the time Jesus taught His followers to love their enemies, do good to haters, bless those who curse you, pray for your abusers, and don’t retaliate against people (6:27-31)? Jesus literally lived out those words in the worst possible circumstances. 

The two men beside Him heard His prayer and Jesus entered into a succinct conversation with them in the midst of His agony. The contrast of the two attitudes is revealing: one is accusative and the other humble. The first convict challenged Jesus, conversely, the other admitted their guilt. Luke focused on the one who recognized his need for a Savior knowing Jesus was the answer. Calling Him by name he asked Jesus to remember him in His Kingdom, to which Jesus replied with assurance, they’d be together in Paradise today. Luke must’ve been captivated by this interaction; what kind of love, grace, and mercy Jesus showed one humble sinner. He was learning the character of Christ as he wrote that Jew and Gentile would be together in heaven! 

Chapter 23 contains Jesus’ last words:

“Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit!”

Death was a subject Luke was familiar with due to his medical training and he alone included these last words of Christ, addressed to His Father, from the cross. He undoubtedly assumed that when one died, that was it: game over. However, he was about to hear the inside information about the resurrection. That word commit means to prove with evidence that the mission was accomplished: The Messiah died in our place. Even though His body was dead, His Spirit remained alive and so will ours. 

Moving into Luke’s final chapter we find a unique story: the Road to Emmaus. I’m guessing his interview included at least one of the two men who were walking that 7-mile trek from Jerusalem to Emmaus experiencing a divine encounter with the risen Christ. Discussing the events of that weekend, the betrayal, arrest, denial, trial, conviction, and subsequent execution of the ‘prophet’ were astounded when they unknowingly met Jesus in His resurrected body. He hadn’t heard the news? They’d hoped for political rescue from Roman rule, but it didn’t happen. They were stuck in the lower story and Jesus was about to reveal the upper story. I’m sure Jesus was shaking His head in disbelief that all the evidence didn’t convince them: the tomb was empty. They seemed to know the prophetic promises, but couldn’t ‘see’ they were pointing to Him. Next week we’ll get into Jesus’ strategy of revelation. It’s a wonderful story that’s unique to Luke so don’t miss it!