Luke's Gospel

Well, we're going to read that passage from Luke's gospel. So we're going to read the passage, which is Luke 23 and verse 44. It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until 3 in the afternoon. For the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in 2.

Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion seeing what had happened praised God and said, surely, this was a righteous man. When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, They beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galile, stood at a distance watching these things.

Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man. Who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judeian town of Aramothea. And he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. Going to Tyler, he asked for Jesus' body.

Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb, cut in the rock. 1 in which no 1 had yet been laid. It was preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galile, followed Joseph, and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Well, do please have a seat. And if you would like to turn back if you've got physical hard copy of the bible. If you'd like to turn back to Luke chapter 23, that would be that would be great. Welcome to everybody who's here and welcome to anybody who's joining us at home on the livestreams, great to have you with us. We have been working our way through Luke's Gospel for some time now.

And since chapter 9 verse 51, when Jesus said he was setting his face to Jerusalem, to his hour, to his suffering, to his cross. That is what's been in view. In all of our past sermons, Jesus is on his way to the cross, And now here we are at the end of Luke 23, and we're here. So let's bow our heads and begin with a prayer. Father, as we come together to the foot of the cross this evening, we pray that you would help us not to be cold and detached from it.

That you would help us not just to consider it and to think about it or worse still to switch off because we feel that we know it already. But we pray that you would help us to have our hearts melted by your grace and that you will enable us to draw near to Jesus again, and we ask it in his name. Oh, men. Oh, men. I'm sure you all know that breathtaking, awesome, happy, wonderful moments are hard to capture.

If you think about a scene of natural beauty looking at a at a hillside or a great mountain range, or you can think back in non COVID life when you were watching a great band, thrilling an audience. Or when you were inside a stadium with thousands of others in the crowd cheering on your favorite team. It doesn't matter how good the phone is or how much of a range of filters that you have The result is always disappointing, isn't it, when you try to capture it? The colors are always less vibrant than they are in real life. The mountains always look that little bit smaller than they do in real life, and the crowds are always less impressive and noisy.

They just sound tinny and muffled. Don't they when you record them? Even if you've got a 5 k ultra high definition piece of kit, it cannot ever really do justice to what you've experienced. You must have had that. Right?

When you've been at something and you filmed it, and then you've looked at the photo and you've thought, it's disappointing. It's nothing like what it is in real life. And I think for preacher and for hearers, the same thing is true as we come to the end of Luke 23. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of human history. It is the most wonderful, most thrilling, most terrifying event the world has ever seen or known.

How could we, in 1 evening or 1 bible study, capture it in all of its significance. In the introduction to his book, The Cross of Christ. John Stott writes this. In daring to write a book about the cross, there is, of course, a great danger of presumption. This is partly because What actually happened when God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ is a mystery whose debts we shall spend eternity plumbing.

Of course, there is no way we could capture all that is significant about this moment this evening. It's literally going to take all of God's people forever in order to begin to grasp the glory of things in this passage. But according to John Stock, capturing everything is not actually the problem that faces us this evening. He says that there's another danger which we've got to address. Here's the rest of the quote.

In daring to write a book about the cross, there is of course a great danger of presumption. This is partly because what actually happened when God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing, and partly because it would be most unseemly to feign a cool detachment as we contemplate Christ's cross. And for people who have heard this story before who know what the imagery means, Who know the details of it, who understand the ingredients in this recipe, that is a very real present danger, isn't it? That we could read it and talk about it and debate it and consider it and agree with it. But if this evening, we remain there but not there, there but actually in our hearts cold and detached from the cross.

If we forget that it was our sin that pinned him to the tree, If we forget that this was a demonstration of God's love for us, for you and for me, for us here, then we are in trouble. Capturing everything is not the issue. Cold detachment with what we know is is the issue. And as we go through the sermon this evening, we are going to keep coming back to that application. So that God and His kindness may help us this evening not to be cold and attached.

Now, if you've been following this series, you'll know that the last few hours in Luke have been very busy for Jesus. He has been kicked from pillar to post. There has been lots of trials. He's seen the daughters of Jerusalem, the crowds shouting, the soldiers mocking him, the thieves on the cross, Simon of cyrene, things have been moving very quickly. He's at the center of a storm of activity.

It's busy. It's noisy. But now we get the sense. That as Jesus approaches the end, the climax of his hour, things are beginning to slow down, The crowds are beginning to drop away, and that Jesus is alone as he does what he came to do. And the first point shows us that, and it's this, the savior on the cross.

Verse 44. It was about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until 3 in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. So Luke tells us, along with the other gospel writers that for 3 hours in the middle of the day, when the sun was at its highest and hottest, the light failed. And the cross was engulfed in darkness. Presumably then, Jesus, and the thieves on the cross could now only be heard as they groaned their final groans rather than seen.

This is a super natural darkness. It's like the darkness that came over Egypt when God was judging pharaoh. Do you remember how that darkness is described? Stretch out your hand toward the sky, the Lord says. So that darkness spreads over Egypt, darkness that can be felt.

A darkness that is so all encompassing, so close, so dark that you can feel it all around you. It's interesting that when Jesus was born, creation did the exact opposite, didn't it? In the middle of the night, the darkness erupted with brightness. There was light in the dark today In the town of David, a savior has been born. Creation was rejoicing with Jesus.

But now as he dies, the creation is gasping as the Lord dies for us. According to the Old Testament, darkness was a sign of mourning. And when the prophets spoke about the great and terrible day of the Lord, darkness was always there. As they spoke about this terrible moment of judgment and this wonderful day of salvation, darkness was going to be part of it. Here's what Amos says in chapter 8, and you can see how how clearly this applies to our reading tonight.

In that day declares the sovereign lord, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your religious festivals into morning and all of your singing into weeping. Darkness was a sign of mourning. But more than that, it was a sign of judgment. Paul says in Galatians chapter 3, a letter in the New Testament, that anyone who hangs on a tree is under a curse.

And so you if you were a Jew and you knew your scriptures, you would know that to see a person crucified or impaled on a tree, meant that they were under the curse of God. The darkness speaks to us of mourning, and it speaks to us of God's judgment. After this sermon, we're gonna sing a wonderful song about the cross. And in 1 of the verses, it says this. See all Israel cloaked in darkness, God's wrath painted on the sky.

God's wrath painted on the sky. It's a terrible moment, isn't it? The fabric of creation is tearing. The sign of mourning is in the sky. The wrath of God is falling on the sun.

As he bears, our sin in his body on the tree. We cannot be cold and detached, can we? When it was our sin that put the sun into the darkness. Verse 45. The sun stopped shining and the curtain of the temple was torn in 2.

And if you're familiar with this story, you'll know that in the in the Jewish temple, there was this thick curtain and it was there to divide the presence of God, the holiest place from the rest of the temple. And therefore, if you knew about this, you would know that that curtain was not just a piece of furniture. It was a reminder that by nature, a holy God and sinful people cannot dwell together. And so you imagine the sound of that curtain falling. I'm sure you all know the sound of tearing fabric.

It is quite unnerving, isn't it? If you've ever caught your pocket on a fence or caught your sleeve in a door and you've heard that unmistakable sound of stitches being unpicked and fabric tearing. It's unnerving, isn't it? How about a curtain? 10 centimeters thick.

Tearing down the middle. It's very likely that the same leaders who were at the trial of Jesus and unanimously condemned him were back serving and ministering in the temple when this happened. So you can imagine that for any Jew to see this curtain falling, to see the holy presence, open and exposed, was as shocking a sight as the sun failing in the middle of the day. But in this fearful moment, There is wonderful news for sinners like us. Have a listen to how this is picked up in Hebrews chapter 10.

Therefore, brothers and sisters since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way open for us through the curtain that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God. You see, when that curtain goes, It's a symbol to the world that the old way of drawing near is done. Now, it will be in Jesus and through Jesus. And in his sacrifice, and in his body torn for us on the cross, that is the way that we will come by faith.

Into the presence of the Holy God. How could we just consider this from a distance when Jesus loved us, and he gave himself for us so that we could draw near to God through him. Verse 46, Jesus called out with a loud voice Quoting Psalm 31. Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Psalm 31 was written by David, who is a type of Messiah King. And he wrote this psalm when he himself was in the darkness. If you read it, you see that he was surrounded by enemies didn't know where to turn, was in was in a dark period of his life and yet in the darkness, he does not turn away from God the Father, but he prays and he commits himself to God in faith. But Psalm 31, interestingly, was also used as an evening prayer by Jewish families. And what they would do at the end of the day as darkness approached They would gather together as a family, and they would read Psalm 31.

And it was a way of them saying, Lord, as we approach the unknown, As we go into the darkness, as we go into a time when we cannot see or control what is happening around us, please watch over us. Take care of us lord through the darkness. Well, here is Jesus. Enemies all around him about to go to sleep into death, trusting in his father. A few moments earlier, he didn't use that family name, did he?

He said my god my god Why have you forsaken me as the wrath of God fell upon him for our sin? He cried out that he was abandoned of the father, my God, my God, But now with the penalty paid and the work finished, it was time to go home to the father. John Calvin, great old theologian says this, about Jesus' use of Psalm 31. Let us now remember that it was not in reference to himself alone that Christ committed his soul to the Father, but that he in included as it were in 1 bundle, all the souls of those who believe in him. That they may be preserved along with his own.

I love that image of Jesus Christ committing his soul into the father's hands and as he does so gathering together in 1 bundle all the souls of those who believe in him and entrusting us before our time into the presence of the Father. Nobody took Jesus' life from him. You see his sovereignty over his death here. He decides when he gives up his spirit. He has authority both to lay it down and to take it up again.

Jesus is sovereignly saving us. In this moment. And the question again is in the presence of such love A love that has dealt with our sins, and a love that is guaranteeing our safety even in death. Can we remain cold and indifferent and bored? Let's move now to the centurion and the crowds who illustrate something of how we should respond.

To what Jesus has done. Firstly, that was the longest point, the savior on the cross. Secondly, the centurion and the crowds. In John's gospel, if you know the story, we're told that all of the soldiers who had a hand in killing Jesus didn't even realize that he died. So in John, if you know the story, it says this.

When they came to Jesus, and found that he was already dead, they didn't break his legs. Now hold on, those are supposed to be professional executioners. But it seems that they were so busy gambling over what was left of Jesus' clothes, that they didn't even realize that he had died, but not the centurion. He was taken up with Christ. Verse 47 tells us that he saw what had happened and we can probably conclude from that that he had seen all that had happened.

The beatings, and the mockings and the torture and the darkness and the words from the cross. Maybe he'd even had a hand in the beatings. Maybe his lips were with the mockers, and yet now, at the moment of his death, there is something about the way Jesus dies. Something about this supernatural scene. Something about the way he relates to God, that makes him see what Luke has been trying to show us that Jesus was a righteous man.

He was a righteous man. And as Chris said last week, that has gotta be more than a legal statement. Verse 47, look with me, He praised God and said. Surely, this was a righteous man. In the language of Hebrews, this centurion sees enough at the death of Christ to draw near.

But not everyone does. Have a look at the crowds. When all the people who had gathered to witness this site, verse 48, saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. Now, just like the darkness, That thumping of the chest was a sign of mourning. You might remember it from the story of the Faracy in the tax collector.

When the tax collector cannot even bring himself to look up to God and he beats his chest and bows his head. It is a sign of morning. In other words, this crowd knew that something wasn't right here. They knew really that a crime had been committed the feelings of guilt were bubbling up inside them. Something was very wrong about what had taken place.

But then 1 group walk away while 1 man praises God. And now perhaps and we'd like to think, and I'm sure it could be true, that members of this crowd did go on to repent in the same way the centurion did. But I wonder if Luke is putting the centurion in the crowd side by side as if to say, When it comes to the cross, there is a difference between guilt and repentant guilt. The crowds walk away feeling bad, guilt. The centurion draws near praising God, repentant guilt.

And the fact that it is a centurion is no accident, is it? Think about what this means for salvation history. The Jewish temple is being torn to pieces. God's people have executed their own Messiah, but a Roman, gentile, murderous, centurion has seen the truth. Jesus died.

So that people from all nations, gentiles, the unclean, could come by this new and living way. There's the centurion and the crowds. And then there's Joseph of Aramotheiah who asks for his body. And when it comes to Joseph, if you've been following our series in 1 Kings and you were with us a couple of weeks ago, I I reckon he's a bit of an obadiah figure. He's he's very high up in the power structures of his day.

He is a religious official, a member of the council, a member of the Sanhedrin, but just like nicodemus, He had become a follower of Yahweh, a follower of the true God of Jesus. Verse 51 tells us that he had been waiting for the kingdom of God and wonderfully happily he had seen the kingdom arrive in Jesus, and he believed. He's a bit like simeon and Anna at the beginning of the story. If you remember they're described as those who had been waiting for the kingdom of God, they've been anticipating the arrival of Christ. And when they saw it, there was no blindness.

They loved to see it, and they trusted in the sun. And that is why verse 51, he did not agree with them at the trial. Which is quite interesting because we're actually told that the Sanhedron voted unanimously to condemn Jesus. And so most people think that Joseph, maybe by accident or maybe on purpose, was not there at the trial because if they condemned him unanimously, but he didn't agree with them, then he must not have been there. Either way, Luke the journalist wants us to know that the innocent blood of Christ is not on his hands.

He loves Jesus. And that would explain how he treats the body in verse 53. Verse 53, he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb, cut in the rock. 1 in which no 1 had yet been laid. And it's worth knowing that for the crucified, that was not a normal burial.

To see somebody crucified was to know that they were a worthless waster, guilty of the worst crimes, not the kind of person you would want around. And just to really cement that home in your mind, they would throw the corpses into a ditch or to be burnt in a fire, but not Christ. In accordance with the Scriptures, Isaiah 53, he is given a grave among the rich. Joseph so loved Jesus that he wanted to take away the shame of the cross with a glorious burial fitting for the sun. And for the early church, This was a really important detail.

Not only because it fulfilled the scriptures, but because it proved that on the cross, Jesus did not faint He was not pretending. This was not a great fiction. He really had died. In the apostles creed, which is 1 of the earliest statements of Christian faith, they make this point Have a look on the screen. It says that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under pontius pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. In 1 Corinthians 15, when Paul is giving a summary of the gospel, he tells us that as well. He says that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised in accordance with the scriptures. His his burial was very important to the apostles and to the early church because it showed this was not a fiction So it was not made up. He really died.

He was crucified and was buried. And all of that for you and for me and for Joseph. So it's amazing what Luke is doing. Gentile centurions are not the only believers. Jesus has his nicodemus, and he has his Joseph and the scope of the cross is so magnificently wide that it is able to draw these different people from different places by the 1 living way.

Lastly, the only group which appeared twice in the story, the women who had followed him. Now, we know from the other gospels that Mary Magdalen and Jesus' own mother were all part of this group, along with the mother of the sons of Zebedee. They were they were all there. Luke is the only 1 to not actually tell us who the women are. But in every gospel, the reason they're emphasized at this moment of burial and death is because come resurrection morning they are gonna be at the thrilling heart of the story.

They're gonna be right there. Have a look at how they're described on the screen in verse 55. The women who had come with Jesus from Galile followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it, Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. 1 of the arguments against the resurrection, which you don't hear very much these days, but is quite a common 1, is that the disciples stupidly went to the wrong tomb. You heard that 1?

It goes a little bit like this. Jesus did not rise again. That's all just a fabricated story. What actually happened was he stayed in the grave, but the disciples, as foolish as they are, they went to the wrong grave, saw that that wrong grave was empty, and then went shouting their mouths off that Jesus had risen from the dead. They just came stupidly to the wrong conclusion.

But verse 55 says, that the women saw where he was buried. There would be. There could be no mistakes. They saw where he was buried. And 1 of the things that is just so wonderful about these women and you see it in every gospel, is that they they they shine as models of devotion to Jesus.

Unlike the blokes, they do not leave him for a second. They had followed him from Galile, they were with him at the cross, They followed him to the tomb. They prepare spices for his burial. They are desperate to obey the law There is nothing cold and detached about them. They are last at the cross on Friday morning, and they are first at the tomb on Sunday morning.

They are a model of devotion and courage to Jesus. Jesus himself the centurion, the crowds, Joseph, and the women who followed. These these are the witnesses. The greatest most significant moment of all time comes to us not as a series of propositions, but through these accounts, of the people who saw it and understood it for themselves. And finally, so that you and I don't leave here cold and detached.

I wanna ask us all. Where do you see yourself among these witnesses? Would you say you're like the soldiers in John, who don't even realize still what's gone on, who sat here this evening and for 1 reason or another, you have just not paid attention. There's been something in your mind that has said, I'm not paying attention this evening, whether it be money, whether it be clothes, whether it be whatever. They didn't even realize that Jesus had died.

Or are you with the crowds? Understanding that what happened on this day was wrong and feeling guilty about it even, feeling that you may have had a part to play but not willing to repent and draw near, but just beat your chest and go home. Or like the centurion, like Joseph, like the women, will you draw near to Jesus? Saying everything is never the problem. This is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing.

But remaining cold and detached at the foot of the cross shows a dangerous heart that is in peril. And so I hope For all of us, whoever we are, that in the face of such heartwarming love We will draw near to this Jesus who has opened a new and living way for us, and whether it's for the first time this evening or for the thousandth time, we would draw near to this Christ who was crucified for us. Let's bow our heads and take a moment to pray and as we're encouraged in Hebrews to draw near to Jesus again. It might be that you're here and you wouldn't yet call yourself a Christian. I'm going to just say a prayer, which is the kind of prayer that you could pray along in your own heart as a way of drawing near to Jesus for the first time.

It's nothing magical about it. It's not a special formula. It's just a way of becoming like 1 of these witnesses. Who saw Christ and wanted to come to him. Heavenly father, we thank you for sending your son to die for us.

We're sorry lord that it it really was our sins that held him there, that he went into the darkness of mourning. And to the darkness of judgment for us. The Lord each 1 of us deserves to go to hell forever and ever and ever because of our sin, to live an eternity consciously under your wrath. But that your own innocent righteous son so loved the world that he went and endured it for us. And lord, we pray that you would help each 1 of us not to be cold and detached, not just to walk away feeling bad.

But to confess you to be the righteous 1, the son of God, to show the kind of devotion that these women and Joseph showed. And that whoever we are, that we would draw near to you, father, through this new and living way open for us through the sacrifice of Jesus, and we ask it in his name. Amen.