THREE DIFFERENT RESPONSES
Luke 23:44-49 NKJV
44 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last. 47 So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” 48 And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned. 49 But all His acquaintances, and the women who followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Luke records Jesus’ last moments on the cross and the three different responses from people who were present.
The entire land went dark for about three hours. The margin of my Bible says the sun was obscured. We are not sure if it was cloud cover or something akin to a solar eclipse, but it got dark. And Jesus cried out with a loud voice. His last act was an expression of His faith. That He was committing His spirit into the hands of God.
The Roman centurion, the one charged with overseeing the crucifixion glorified God. He declared that Jesus was a righteous man. He did not call Jesus the King of the Jews, nor did he call Jesus the Christ. But Mark’s gospel tells us that he also called Jesus the Son of God. Something about how Jesus died spoke to this man, and he knew that Jesus was special.
Some of the people who came to see the crucifixion were despondent. They watched Jesus die and knew it was over. Their hope of some miracle taking place died when Jesus breathed His last. They were genuinely sad and beat their breasts in frustration and sorrow, but it was done, and time to go home.
Another group was made up of the ones who had been closer to Jesus. These were the disciples and those women who had followed Jesus from the beginning. They watched from a distance. But there is no indication that they left when He died. These were the ones who believed in Jesus the most. Maybe they were in disbelief that He was dead. They had watched Him get out of so many difficult places before; maybe He would do it again. This is the group that believed the most and stayed the longest. This is the group that loved Jesus the most and could not tear themselves away. This was the group that held out the most hope.
Three different responses to Jesus on the day He died. But different responses to Jesus had been the story of His entire life. He had people who outright rejected Him as a prophet and as the Messiah. To the religious group, Jesus was a troublemaker, someone to be stopped.
To others, Jesus was a popular trend. They followed Him, saw His miracles, and ate the food He multiplied. He was the most exciting thing going. Exciting until they could not handle some of His teachings and walked away.
To those who followed Him closely, He was the Chosen One, the One they had been looking for all their lives. Some saw Him as a great prophet or the best chance of a resurgence for Israel. Some saw Him as the Christ, the Son of God. They may have not understood everything about Him, but they loved Him.
APPLICATION
Today, there are still different responses to Jesus. To some, He is a historical figure. To others, a good moral teacher. Other religions acknowledged Him as a legitimate religious figure, one of many. And to us, He is our personal Savior who gave us forgiveness for our sins and made us spiritually new. There will always be various responses to Jesus but our response to Him matters more than any other thing we will do in this life.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I am thankful that I have responded to You as my Lord and Savior. It is the best decision I have ever made!