"Forgiveness"

Forgiveness Luke 23:34

Luke tells us about the passion of Jesus. He recounts in painful detail how Jesus stood before Pilate and Herod, was sentenced to death and was crucified and killed. Today’s story is all about struggle, not celebration. Passion not palms. A cross, not a crown.

1. Jesus struggles with elders of the church or the Elders of the Church struggle with Jesus

• The elders bring Jesus to the Roman governor Pilate, and accuse Jesus of perverting the nation (vv. 1-2). . 2And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar

• When Pilate says, "I find no basis for a charge against this man." elders insist that he has stirred up the people (vv. 4-5). “They insisted, "He stirs up the people all over JudeaB by his teaching”

• The elders want Jesus to be convicted of sedition -- the crime of speaking in a way that incites people to rebel against the Roman emperor. The punishment for this crime is crucifixion

2. Pilate Struggles with Jesus or Jesus struggles with Pilate

• Pilate struggles with the idea that Jesus must die. When he learns that Jesus is under the jurisdiction of King Herod, he sends Jesus to see the Jewish king. Herod and his soldiers mock him and treat him with contempt. But, in the end, they can do nothing but send him back to Pilate for punishment (vv. 6-12).

• Pilate announces that Jesus has done nothing to deserve death and says, "I will therefore have him flogged and release him." But elders and the people shout, "Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!" (vv. 16-18).

• Pilate wants to release Jesus, but is overwhelmed by the crowd they continue to shout, "Crucify, crucify him!" (vv. 20-21). Giving in to their demands, Pilate releases the criminal Barabbas, and hands over Jesus to be crucified.

• Pilate releases Ironically, the man who "had been put in prison for insurrection and murder" (v. 25). Barabbas walks away from the charge of sedition, while Jesus gets crucified for it.

3. Jesus struggles with His Fate. Jesus could have said I give up on these people Looked at the Fate I have been given because of them, but instead he says, vs 34 “father for give them they no not what they have done.

• Forgiveness happens in places like Charleston, South Carolina, families of the Emanuel A.M.E. Church shooting victims forgave the man accused of killing their loved ones.

• Forgiveness happens with Amish families who forgave the gunman who shot 10 Amish girls before turning the gun on himself.

• Forgiveness happens at an old rugged cross Jesus forgives those who have unjustly accused him, mocked him, treated him with contempt, tortured him and crucified him,

• Jesus says father forgive them who said, "He saved others; let him save himself" (v. 35).

• Jesus says father forgive The soldiers that mock me offering sour wine, and saying, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!" (vv. 36-37). Even one of the criminals crucified next to him says, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" (v. 39).

• Jesus forgives the Prostitution, He forgives the Addicted, He forgives the Hatreds, He forgives those who cause harms, He forgives the drunkards, He forgives unkindness’s, He forgives the murderer, He forgives the Lost souls, He forgives people like us!

4. Finally Jesus forgives although he struggled with elders, Pilate, and his fate

• We, too, are challenged to be faithful in times of suffering and struggle.

• When we trust God through our own periods of passion, we find that the cross is never the end of the story.

• Life breaks us, each and every one of us. But then God makes us stronger in the broken

• Jesus shows forgiveness and faithfulness, powers that can overcome sin and death. Through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus achieves an unexpected victory, one that offers us forgiveness and new life, The Cross is not the end of the story