The Wedding Feast (~19.49) - Moriel Ministries

Special Interest – Continued
that we may live before Him.
For His resurrection to be our resurrection,
His death must be our death, and so
Simon walks behind Him. It says “after”
Him. “Pick up your cross and follow Me”
(Mt. 10:38; 16:24). “My burden is light”
(Mt. 11:30). He did the real work and we
are simply called to carry the cross. He
had to be nailed to it.
Pick up the cross! Crucify the old nature!
Crucify the old man! Crucify the old
woman, the old creation (Ro. 6:6)! Pick up
your cross and follow Me! If someone is
guilty of it, crucify it and follow Me.
Yes, we have another name. Your
name may be “Jack,” your name may be
“Jill,” your name may be “Harry” or “Harriet,”
but no matter what your name is,
your name is also “Simon of Cyrene.” If
you are a true Christian, pick up the cross.
The Corporate Solidarity of
the Thieves
But then we have yet a third corporate
solidarity that is very important, and
we read about it in the same chapter at the
crucifixion.
One of the criminals who were hanged
there was hurling abuse at Him, saying,
“Are You not the Christ? Save
Yourself and us!” But the other answered,
and rebuking him said, “Do
you not even fear God, since you are
under the same sentence of condemnation?
And we indeed are suffering
justly, for we are receiving what we
deserve for our deeds; but this man
has done nothing wrong.” And he
was saying, “Jesus, remember me
when You come in Your kingdom!”
And He said to him, “Truly I say to
you, today you shall be with Me in
Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43)
This is important: We are ALL thieves;
we are ALL liars; we are ALL murderers.
I am a thief; I am a liar; I am a murderer.
The Bible says if someone covets something,
if they desire that which belongs to
another, then in the eyes of a holy, perfect
God, they have stolen it. If we lust after
someone’s wife, lust after someone’s husband,
or want to sleep with somebody
other than the one we are married to, as far
as God is concerned we have already committed
adultery just because we wanted to
do it (Mt. 5:27-28). We are all adulterers;
we are all thieves; we are all liars. Because
we have hated somebody without cause
we are ALL murderers (Mt. 5:21-26).
Sometimes when I watch Fox News and
I see the political corruption in the world
and the hypocrisy and the media and the
Muslims, I experience a spiritual battle not
to get angry. I hate the sin, not the sinner. I
remember that apart from the grace of Jesus
I would be no better. We are ALL murderers.
As it says in the book of Job and in
the book of Lamentations, nobody has any
reasons to complain. There are those who
may have gotten a really rotten deal out of
life; I am sorry about that. It is tough. But
no matter what happened to them, no matter
how unjust it is, because we are sinners
in the eyes of God we have no reason to
complain about how crummy our life is.
Jesus was the only one who had no sin and
He got the worst deal of all. He was totally
innocent, but He did not complain, He uttered
not a word (Acts 8:32). The rest of
us can really kvetch – whine, complain; He
did not do that. And so we have a third corporate
solidarity: the thieves, or as we put
it the “good one” and the “bad one.”
One person on the cross says, “Jesus,
You are the Messiah – get us out of this
mess!” He only wanted Jesus to do something
for him in this life, in this world.
There are people like that. They are quite
happy to profess to be Christians, or come
to Jesus, or put their hands up to respond
to an altar call, or to come forward at an
evangelistic meeting as long as they think
Jesus is going to do something for them in
this life or this world.
I do not suggest Jesus cannot and does
not do things for us in this life and in this
world. He certainly does, but that is not
what it is about. There are Christians who
know nothing but a prison cell. I sometimes
teach in Indonesia in Banda Aceh where
they are under Sharia law and the Christians
are persecuted, where Christians are
martyred. The only thing Jesus gives them
is a martyr’s crown. Yet remarkably they
are not complaining.
The “good” thief says, “Look, no matter
what happens to me, I know my sin; Jesus
had none. Please remember me in Your
kingdom.”
Both of them called out to Jesus, but
with what motive? There is somebody who
calls out to Jesus simply because they want
a free ticket, a good life in this world, and
they are missing the whole point. On the
other hand the “good thief” is someone
who calls out to Jesus, saying, “I know
what I am, I know how no good I am, and
I know how totally good You are. Please
remember me in Your kingdom.”
We are all thieves, so the question is do
we want to be a “good” one or a “bad” one?
A “good” thief is not one who does not get
caught; a “good” thief is one who knows he
deserves to get caught and that Jesus wants
to forgive him anyway.
Corporate Solidarities
After the Resurrection
These are corporate solidarities, but
these corporate solidarities go beyond Jesus’
crucifixion; they come into play after His
resurrection. And so at this time of year we
read in the following chapter of Luke an incredible
story. This narrative tells us something
that in so many ways encapsulates so
much of what the Christian life is meant to
be, but which few of us really understand.
And behold, two of them were going
that very day to a village named Emmaus,
which was about seven miles
from Jerusalem. And they were talking
with each other about all these things
which had taken place. While they
were talking and discussing, Jesus
Himself approached and began traveling
with them. But their eyes were
prevented from recognizing Him.
“Their eyes were prevented from recognizing
Him.”
And He said to them, “What are these
words that you are exchanging with
one another as you are walking?”
And they stood still, looking sad. One
of them, named Cleopas, answered
and said to Him, “Are You the only
one visiting Jerusalem and unaware
of the things which have happened
here in these days?”
Again, it is important to understand
that this was the period between Pesach and
the Feast of Weeks. Both Pesach and the
Feast of Weeks – Passover and Pentecost
– were pilgrim feasts. Jews had to come
from other regions to celebrate it in Jerusalem.
So if they were able to, they would
simply stay in Jerusalem instead of going
all the way back where they came from,
and then turn around and come back again.
They would just stay there. There had been
a lot of people visiting so that the population
swelled. It might be compared to a resort
where the population expands during
the holiday season and then shrinks again
when the holiday season – vacation time –
is over. That is the way it would have been.
And He said to them, “What things?”
And they said to Him, “The things
about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a
prophet mighty in deed and word in
the sight of God and all the people,
and how the chief priests and our rulers
delivered Him to the sentence of
death, and crucified Him.
Notice the culpability of the religious
establishment. Well, please take note: then
it was the Sanhedrin, today it is the Vatican
Curia and the World Council of Churches
– they are still crucifying Him.
“But we were hoping that it was He
who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed,
besides all this, it is the third
day since these things happened.
14 Moriel Quarterly • December 2009