"The One True Story"

The verses of our text feature a highly charged narrative of people reacting to Jesus. For just a few moments this morning, let’s step into this dramatic scene. Let’s look closely at the people present on this day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The women: Loud, emotional grief fills the air as Jesus walks to his death. These are not polite tears of grief. They are deep sobs of anguish. Luke points out how it’s the women who truly grieve – continuously and publicly – for Jesus on this dark day of death.

The crowd of people: Many are watching, pensive and curious. Others are lamenting with the women. The atmosphere is a mix of sympathy, concern, disappointment, disgust, and uncertainty. They are watching and waiting.

The soldiers: They don’t really care what’s happening to Jesus. They have a job to do, and they have done it so much that that are able to do it quite efficiently. A little gambling under the cross provides a diversion, but it shows that they could care less about Jesus. To them, he’s just another criminal to crucify. Except for the centurion, the soldiers even have some fun at Jesus’ expense. They ridicule him as king of the Jews who can’t even save himself. But the irony of the situation is dramatic. Hanging naked and open to mocking, by not saving himself, he is saving them, for they are included in his words of forgiveness.

The Jewish leaders: Unbelieving and vindictive, smug and confident, their fear of Jesus turns into audacity. This Jesus isn’t so dangerous anymore. They see him as weak and pathetic, a fraud who claimed to be the Christ. You have to wonder if they aren’t just a little afraid though. They had seen Jesus’ miracles. If Jesus suddenly uses his great power, there were not near enough soldiers to save them. Yet, their hatred and open rejection of Jesus is just as evident as the women’s grief and love.

The criminals: Matthew record that both of them revile Jesus at first. In Luke, just one speaks against Jesus, and you can hear the contempt in his voice. He is angry and sarcastic as he joins in the mocking. But the second criminal is broken and beaten. He sees himself as a truly lost and condemned man. His honest admission of guilt leaves him with but one hope. Others see a failed and fallen messiah, but he sees the Messiah. In an act of faith, he places himself into the outstretched arms of the Christ. He sees Jesus as the One who can save him. He confesses Jesus as the King, and receives more than he could imagine – he receives the gift of paradise.

Jesus: Compassion and concern for everyone else is all we hear. He speaks to the women. In love, he forgives everyone, including those who persecute him. He gives paradise to a humbled criminal. Jesus is not weak and fallen. He is in control, strong and deliberate in his words and actions. He fulfills just what was foretold of him. Numbered with the transgressors, he bore the sin that needed forgiveness.

This Sunday pushes our attention toward the last things. We wait for Jesus’ promise to return in judgment to be fulfilled. This last Sunday of the church year the reading push us back to the cross, as Jesus fulfills the ancient prophecies of the Christ. He delivers his people from darkness and into his kingdom through the forgiveness of sins, because he is the firstborn from the dead.

We know the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and death has a happy ending. We know that Jesus will come back and fulfill the promises on that day of final resurrection, when everything will come to an end. One minute, we’ll be eating a meal, driving a car, or working, and the next minute, we’ll see Jesus in all his glory. Those who have died will have their physical bodies rise up and live again. On Judgment Day, those who believe in Jesus will enter into the final, glorious, heavenly life forever, with body and soul reunited.

Remember the old TV series Columbo from the 1970’s? That show had the odd twist that the viewers knew from the start who had committed the crime. The

The One true story is in the words of our text. But there is conflict in the one true story. We are mocked by others and by death. Jesus is mocked too. The happy ending is ridiculed. People ask, "How can you believe Jesus is coming back? It’s been so long. Perhaps He’s forgotten about you. You need to face the fact that this life is all there is, and you need to make the most of it."

Death makes an even greater mockery of our faith. The body stops breathing. The heart stops beating. Death mocks us. Death tells us "that it is all there is to look forward to. I’ll swallow you up and take you away from everything you want and hope for, and Jesus can’t do anything about it.

Even the strongest Christians struggle with death’s mockery and the grave’s ridicule. Remember how Jesus was mocked by many of the people who were at his crucifixion.

But there was a sudden reversal in the one true story. The criminal is finally broken and asks for Jesus to remember him. And in the midst of death, in the midst of mockery, the criminal receives paradise.

Jesus answers the criminal’s request, giving him paradise, and turning the mockery of the sign into a sign announcing the one true story for all to believe. "Today you will be with me in paradise." The criminal’s happy ending is assured. Our happy ending is assured. Mockery can’t take away Jesus’ words.

The criminal saw the sign on the cross "This is the King of the Jews," and he believed it. The One who doesn’t save himself saves others by his death. It’s not that Jesus couldn’t save himself as the mockers claimed, but that he wouldn’t. He needed to take our punishment to the cross, so that on the Last Day, we would be judged innocent, free to enter God’s presence with body and soul joined together forever. The sign on the cross is not ridicule, but the one true story. Jesus is the King who saves us because he did not save himself.

Three days later, the women who watched him doe are the first to se him mock death. The grave is empty. It couldn’t hold Jesus. He destroyed the power of death over us. Death was swallowed up in victory and because his body rose from the dead, so will ours.

He silences those who make fun of him. Their mockery will die away and never be heard again. But Jesus lives and his words will never fade away. This is the One True Story. Jesus gives paradise from the cross by saving others instead of himself, and so we can look forward to that day of fulfillment when He silences all mockery with our final resurrection from the dead. We enjoy the rest of the story as we listen to Jesus’ words of promised paradise.

You know, a little prayer that would be pretty good to add to our personal prayers might be the prayer of the criminal; "Lord remember me in your kingdom." Jesus will answer our prayer the same way he answered the criminal. Listen as he promises us paradise:

At the Baptismal font: we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are given a new birth of water and the Spirit, our sins are forgiven, and we are strengthened with God’s grace unto life everlasting. We are clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness, and that robe covers our sins. We are able to stand before the judgment seat of Christ without fear, to receive the inheritance prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

At the beginning of the service, we admit, just like the criminal, that we are broken and helpless. Our defiance drops away, because deep down, we know that we are poor miserable sinners. Then come the words of hope and promise. Through faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we are given the power to become children of God.

We know the end of the story, and until then, we keep praying with the criminal; "Lord remember me," and we look forward to the fulfillment of the promise of paradise. We look forward to the final resurrection and being in the presence of Jesus, our King. Amen.