There is just one day remaining in our thirteen-day read of Frederick Leahy’s The Cross He Bore. Tomorrow we will finish just on time to remember the death of Jesus on Good Friday. Meanwhile, today’s text is Luke 23:33: “And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.”
Leahy looks at what it means that Jesus was crucified between two bandits, two common criminals. Here is a brief excerpt:
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In no way did the Lord resent being placed among such men at Calvary. The quotation from Isaiah 53:12 may literally be translated, “He…let himself be numbered with the transgressors.” He was totally content with his position; we would not have had it otherwise. He knew that his place among these bandits was willed by his Father and his Father’s will was his will. These criminals, placed there by God, were appropriate company at this time for his Son.
Here, too, is the mystery of divine sovereignty and human responsibility (Acts 2:23), those parallel lines that to our finite minds never meet. Those who try to make them meet succeed only in distorting both. It is possible, but by no means certain, that in heaven the parallel lines will be seen from a different perspective. In this life they must not be tampered with. They are both true and that is enough. Let the people of God praise him that his Son was so placed at Calvary. Let it be maintained that Christ died not as the representative of his people, but in their stead, dying their death that they might live. In a word, he died as their Substitute.
Comments (3) »
1. David Porter
April 9, 2009
10:03 AM
As I consider all that I have learned from this text, and consider this scene, and all that is happening around, I can barely take it in.
Yet, inconceivably, the worst is yet to come. The dark clouds of Holy God’s wrath are still in store.
Who can possibly consider this, with understanding, and not be melted, and changed?
We stand upon most holy ground.
Be melted by the presence of God, taking upon himself, our sins, and soon to bear unspeakable, unthinkable, unimaginable pain, on our behalf.
What can we do? What can we say? What can possibly come from the lips of my fallen nature to declare to my King my thankfulness?
Holy Spirit, please intervene!
2. Socorro Alaniz
April 9, 2009
11:28 AM
ahhh…David…what insight…
let me basque here Lord, at the foot of this cross…recognizing that for this wretched one (me) you too have died and resurrected.
3. Lisa notes...
April 9, 2009
2:06 PM
“Numbered with the transgressors! There is comfort and hope for the greatest sinner who repents. Let God’s people bow humbly before the cross and marvel at the fact that any should find mercy.”
“Let each one say, ‘Why me?’ Is there any reason apart from the grace of God?”
“Not the proud and arrogant thought, but, as Amy Carmichael puts it, ‘most reverent thought’ befits the sinner before the cross. As we stand in thought before that cross our emotions are mixed. How dreadful and yet how wondrous is this place!”