March 28-Palm Sunday/Sunday of the Passion-St. Luke 23:1-49

‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.’ (Ps. 19:14) Amen.

‘Grace, mercy and peace will be with you, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.’ (2 John 3) Amen.

‘But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”—a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.’ (Vv. 18-19)

Last week in Odessa, we looked at one of the outcasts of this part of salvation history. Again, we will look at two more. Have you ever noticed that bookending done here by Luke? He surrounds the Savior of mankind with outcasts when He was born and when He died.

Way back at Christmas and Epiphany, we heard about shepherds. We learned that Jesus’ earthly adoptive father and protector would be a carpenter by vocation. Finally, we saw the arrival of Gentiles who followed the stars and prophecies. They may have been converts to Judaism but they may also have been unbelievers. Last, when those wise men left, Jesus’ parents took him off to Egypt for safety.

All of these people and the final place were all outcasts or worse.

Gentiles and the country of Egypt would not even have been on the radar for the average Jew as being acceptable for association with the Messiah of God. We see that in the continuing unbelief of the chief priests and scribes and even the reaction of the crowd at the end of Holy Week.

Again, Jesus is to be crucified and He is numbered among outcasts and worse. When Jesus is sent off to be crucified; He takes the place of Barabbas. A man who was a convicted murderer. Also, notice that this murderer’s name means, “son of the father”. You and me, in our sins, we are sons of the father just like Barabbas. We are murderers and rebellious. In our sins, we are no better than this man and should be hung on a cross as Jesus was. You and me, we who are sons of the Father by adoption had our place taken by Jesus. The only One who was the true Son of the Father. The One who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) became sin to redeem you.

‘Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving of death. I will therefore punish and release him.”’ (Vv. 20-22)

Pilate does his best to get Jesus out of this mess. He heard and listened to his wife. She had had a dream the night before that this guy Jesus would not be a good thing for him. She told him and warned Pilate to wash his hands of the matter. A fact also recorded by the holy Evangelists.

So, Pilate tries and tries and tries to let Jesus go. The chief priests and the crowd will not allow it. They essentially have been promised a very grisly show by the chief priests and they want it. They threaten to riot and Pilate can see the beginnings of anarchy beginning to show around the edges of the crowd and he knows that would be a poor career move on his part. That is, allowing one more rebellion if he can help it in this rebellious province he had been assigned to.

Pilate finally tries a middle road. He attempts to pacify the crowd by having Jesus whipped, that is, punished, and then released. No big deal. This Roman, who would have been considered an outcast within Jewish society and certainly according to the Law, is the only one trying to hold back the crowds and help Jesus! Those who should have been trying to do this; they are trying to work the crowd up further instead. Again, we see an outcast taking Jesus’ side when the children of Israel should have been the ones to do this.

The people of course continue to demand the murderous “son of the father”, Barabbas to be released to them. They want what is coming to them. They want Jesus put to death. As we will see, they had showed up for the show.

‘But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.’ (Vv. 23-25)

Finally, Pilate can see that it is clear that he will get no where with these people. He gives in to their demand and releases Barabbas. Pilate, in order to save his professional skin, hands Jesus over to be crucified to fulfill the will of the crowd. Pilate knew, there had been too many rebellions under his command of this province. If he was transferred again for such bad governance, he would be sent off to the Persian front, modern Iran, to fight with the Legions. He was comfortable with his life where he was. If there was going to be another transfer, Pilate wanted it to be toward Rome, not away.

So, Pilate gives the crowd what they had asked for. Again, as we will see later, this is not quite what they expect in the end. Of course, with the devil, things are never quite what they seem in the end.

With the devil and his whispering in our ear of the great things we will receive or gain if we do it his way, it becomes a whisp in the wind. When we give in to temptation and do what the devil and our sinful flesh whispers to us to do all we are grasping in the end is a mirage. As Jesus tells us, Satan is a liar and the father of lies (Saint John 8:44).

‘It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.’ (Vv. 44-46)

So far, we have seen two more outcasts in the eyes of the Jews. We have seen the actions of Pilate; the Roman governor and we have seen Barabbas. The man who was a murderer and a rebel. Both of these men, they were outcasts in one way or the other. Both of them helped Jesus. Pilate tried to help Jesus to avoid this fate. He took Jesus’ side. In the end, both of them helped Jesus toward His goal of redeeming you and me and them.

Now, we come to another of these outcasts who take Jesus’ side.

It is Noon, the sixth hour; it is the part of the day when the sun should have been at its height. As all of you know, if you are outside at noon, it matters not if you are in the field or if you are in your garden. If you are outside working on something, there should be too much sun not the absence of light. Now, this was most likely not simply the darkness of nighttime but rather the kind of darkness that was seen in Egypt at the time of the Exodus. That is, a darkness that could be felt. This is the darkness of the ninth plague that came right before the death of the firstborn in Egypt (Exodus 10:21—11:10). Here, during the Passover feast, which commemorated that death of the firstborn, the tenth plague for the Israelites, we have the death of the true Firstborn, Jesus. He was the true Passover Lamb so that the Angel of death would pass over you.

At the end of this darkness, at three o’clock in the afternoon, when the sun itself hide from the death of its Creator, the great curtain in the temple was torn in two. This curtain was about as thick as the length of a large hand, that is, about six or eight inches thick. It was torn long ways from top to bottom. This is to show you and me, we who have been gifted with faith by the Holy Spirit, that there is now no separation between God and us. Jesus has removed that and we have direct access to the Father through Jesus rather than through a High Priest.

‘Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.’ (Vv. 47-49)

It is into this setting that the ultimate outcast, a Roman legionnaire and a centurion at that, praises God! The one who had lead the crucifixion detail[1] was the last one any of us might expect in this role.

This is not what we expect when we read Luke’s account of the death of Jesus. The crowd assembled for the show gets what they thought they wanted, a crucifixion. Now that they have this, the go home from this show beating their breasts. That is, they go home showing remorse for their actions, which lead to Jesus’ death. They recognize, even if the chief priests did not, that something different had happened this time. This was no ordinary Man who was put to death. These people are ripe for Peter’s sermon on Pentecost.

Praise God with that centurion, yet take it to the next step as only you who are the baptized can. Praise God for saving you from your sins and giving you a place in Paradise with the thief. As we heard about that outcast this Lent, we stand with him. We stand with Barabbas, the murderer, lost and condemned by God’s righteous judgement to eternal death for our sins. Jesus, who is the true Son of the Father and the true Firstborn stands in the gap for you and bears the full brunt of God’s holy wrath for our sins. Praise God with the crowds on Palm Sunday who sang back and forth between them as Jesus passed. ‘“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”’ (Saint Luke 19:38) Jesus died for you. Jesus has redeemed you. Jesus made you a son of God and this in spite of your sins. He has forgiven those sins and made you white as snow.

In Jesus’+ Name. Amen.

[1] http://weedon.blogspot.com/2010/03/another-mozolak-gem.html