TEXT: LUKE 23:33-43 #2735 CHRIST THE KING THEME: "A KING LIKE NO OTHER" I. CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO CRIMINALS. II. PRAYING A PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS. ill. MAKING A SURE AND CERTAIN PROMISE. Phoenix - 11124/13 My dear fellow redeemed, WWJD - remember when those letters were the rage? For a while they were everywhere - bracelets, key rings, just about anything that can be marked with a logo. WWJD - "What Would Jesus Do?" Later on, when the WWJD bracelet rage really started to catch on, people came up with alternates. For the high school quarterback, there was WWPMD - "What Would Peyton Manning Do?" And for homemakers, WWMSD? - "What Would Martha Stewart Do?" For teenagers, there was a bracelet with a simple W - "Whatever" or "Whassup?" take your pick. There was even one for those ofus who are aging: NWDIPOTB - "Now Why Did I Put On This Bracelet?" If this fad had been going back in the 101 century, some of the people then might have worn a WDJDOAC bracelet - "Why Did Jesus Die On A Cross?" This was the question they struggled with. If Jesus was really their promised Messiah, how could He be put to death? These verses which are now before us might seem rather a rather strange selcection for this time of year. I mean, this Thursday is Thanksgiving Day and next Sunday begins the Season of Advent. Yet our Gospel lesson focuses on Jesus being crucified. And there's a reason for that. It's because this is the last Sunday in the Christian Church Year, and on this day we celebrate the meaning of Christ's journey among us. We began that celebration last Advent. At Christmas we celebrated His birth in Bethlehem. Then at Easter we celebrated His resurrection from the dead. At Pentecost we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the New Testament Church. Now we're ready to start the whole cycle all over again, but first we want to recall what it all means. This Sunday is called Christ the King in many churches, or the Reign of Christ in others. Today we are returning to the scene of His crucifixion where we are reminded very clearly what His kingdom is all about. Here we see that Jesus is "A KING LIKE NO OTHER." I. St. Luke begins this account by saying, "When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him, along with the criminals - one on His right, the other on His left," v.33. This is the first thing we note about the King like no other. HE WAS CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO CRIMINALS. The Gospel writers use different words to describe these men. Matthew and Mark call them ''robbers,'' but Luke uses a different word - a word that literally means "members of the criminal class; professional criminals; members of the underworld." Whatever term is used, their character is clearly shown, isn't it? They were thugs, hoodlums, perhaps even cutthroat killers, as one of them seems to suggest when he said to the other, "We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve," v.4l. In other words, these men were anything but saints. Some people are horrified that the Son of God should die in the presence of such men, but I think that was the most appropriate thing in the world. You see, it was people like these men whom Jesus had come to save. On one occasion He Himself declared, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. " And on another occasion He said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. " These are the kind of people Jesus gave His life for, and we need to remember this. He didn't come for the benefit of "good" people - people at least who in their own estimation consider themselves to be "good" when compared with others around them. No, He came for the benefit of those who have a hard time being good, and I know this includes me. I suspect it includes all of you as well, doesn't it? I need to remind myself of this every time I am tempted to look down on another human being. Jesus didn't look down on people because they didn't measure up to His expectations, and He still doesn't. He looks upon them as a lost brother or sister who needs help. I He's the King like no other! He considers every man, woman, and child His brother, His sister, and if one of these brothers or sisters has fallen on hard times, it's not His nature to turn His back on them. Rather, it's His nature to reach out and help them, and this is also what He expects from us who call ourselves by His name. "A new command 1 give you: " He says, "Love each other as 1have loved you. " But sometimes that's pretty hard to do, isn't it? - especially when we see people who are in messes of their own making.... people who have fallen on hard times because of their own poor personal choices and decisions. "They made their bed," our sinful nature likes to say, "now let them lie in it! When they clean up their act, maybe then I'll help them." But Jesus didn't do that, did He? He didn't wait until we "cleaned up our act" to come and save us. The Apostle Paul puts it this way: "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: " he says, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. " "As 1 have loved you, " Jesus says, "so you must love one another. " Remember this, my friends, in the days of this new week. ll. But there's also another thing that makes Jesus a King like no other, and that is, HE OFFERED A PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS. Just think, hanging on the cross that Friday all those many years ago was the eternal Son of God Himself - the One by whom all things were made.... the One who with His almighty power could easily have struck down all of His enemies and plunged them into the outer darkness in the torments of hell for all of eternity. But He didn't. Instead, "Jesus said. 'Father. forgive them. for they do not know what they are doing.?' v.34. A prayer for forgiveness - that's what Jesus offered from the cross. A prayer for forgiveness. But for whom was Jesus seeking forgiveness? Well, obviously, He was praying for the Roman soldiers who had cruelly tortured Him and crucified Him, and who were now preparing to gamble for His clothes - the soldiers who even as He dangled from the cross mocked Him and said, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourselfl" v.37. But there were more too. "The people stood watching," St. Luke tells us, "and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said. 'He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One," v.35. These people too were included in our Savior's prayer for forgiveness. And so were even the religious leaders who, because of their own jealousy and spiritual blindness, had orchestrated His crucifixion - the people who, when Pilate had found no guilt in Jesus and wanted to release Him, led the crowd in chants of "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" But I think there were still others for whom Jesus was praying when He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." After all, this was a prayer. He could have voiced these words silently, and His heavenly Father would have heard them. But He chose to pray these words aloud - loud enough for others to hear Him and record His words because He had an even wider audience in mind than those who were present there that day. I believe He was praying for everyone in history who has ever acted cruelly, who has ever lashed out in anger, who has ever caused anyone else pain - for everyone who has ever sinned in any way, and that would certainly include you and me, wouldn't it? This is our great comfort, my friends - yours and mine! In his book entitled, "Let Me Tell You a Story, " evangelist Tony Campolo says that in his teenage years he was terrified by a visiting pastor's depiction of Judgment Day. This pastor claimed that on that day God will show a movie of every sinful thought, word, or action that we have ever done, and he ended his lurid description by saying, "And your mother will be there to see and hear it all!" Tony was petrified back then. But not now. Tony now says that Judgment Day for us Christians will more closely mirror what happened during the trial over the Watergate Scandal. As some of you may recall, the prosecutor brought in a taped conversation between President Nixon and his aides, and, just at the most crucial part of that tape - the section that would have revealed their crimes - there was an IS-minute gap of silence. Nixon's faithful secretary, Rosemary Wood, had erased all of the incriminating evidence! In the same way, I Tony Campolo says, Jesus has erased all of the incriminating evidence against us. And he's right! "Father, forgive them," Jesus prayed from the cross. "Forgive Pastor Deters and your little flock at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Phoenix, AZ, who will live in the 21st century." That prayer was heard and answered! "Yes, my Son," the Father said, "for your sake I will forgive their sins, every last one of them.