Written by: Carl Tinnion - YWAM England Director for Child and Youth Minisitries

Luke 23 v 18-21
But the people shouted together, “Take this man away! Let Barabbas go free!” (Barabbas was a man who was in prison for his part in a riot in the city and for murder.)
Pilate wanted to let Jesus go free and told this to the crowd. But they shouted again, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Note
This is a perfect example of an innocent man being condemned to death to (quote) 'please the people'. The Pharisees had done their job well in stirring up the crowd into hatred towards Jesus....to the point that they would prefer Barabbas the rioting murderer to go free in Jesus' place. God manifested himself in a man and still, mankind totally missed the boat. They had waited for generations for their saviour to come, he came, they ignored him! This is a clear example of how blind we are without God, this has always been the case since the 'fall' in the garden of Eden (Genesis 1) They had a simple choice....good or evil, right or wrong, holiness or the flesh. Time and time again we make the wrong one, even when we know it is wrong! The human condition has always been to arrogantly assume we know best, that we can make it alone, that we don't need God. And the sad thing is, people are still the same today, "I don't need God” or even worse, "There is no God, Jesus who?". 

Yet we are confused about life, lonely, hurting and gagging for something meaningful to believe in. The world is in a state because we now live with the knowledge of good and evil, making us imperfect and prone to all kinds of malice, jealousy, hatred and wrong doing. Without the total acceptance of Jesus in our lives we are nothing and society will continue to go downhill until He returns. Jesus still stands before you now, what will YOU do, will you confess that he has come to lead you out of the darkness, will you make a RIGHT choice, or will you do the same as the people did two thousand years ago and choose death?

Luke 23 v 22-25
A third time Pilate said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I can find no reason to kill him. So I will have him punished and set him free.”
But they continued to shout, demanding that Jesus be crucified. Their yelling became so loud that Pilate decided to give them what they wanted. He set free the man who was in jail for rioting and murder, and he handed Jesus over to them to do with him as they wished.

Notes
It seems to me that Pilate was a weak man without the inner strength to act on his convictions. He was easily swayed by public opinion, he was a 'people pleaser'. He knew Jesus was innocent and certainly didn't deserve crucifixion, yet when the people screamed for Jesus' blood, he caved in.

Worse still, he let Barrabas go free when it was clear he was a murderer and a public menace. There was no logic at all. Often, there is little or no logic at all in public opinion even today. We read something in the paper, hear something 3rd hand and believe it to be true immediately without any thought at all. The crowd that stood before Pilate didn't even know Jesus, they formulated most of their opinion based on comments from the Pharisees who moved amongst them sowing untruths and slander against Jesus because they wanted him dead.

No one questioned these accusations, they just assumed he was guilty. Not ONE person stood up for Jesus or for his innocence.
Two thousand years later and the situation is rather similar.

Jesus still stands before the people with His arms outstretched waiting for us to believe in him and to walk with him. I wonder what would have happened if just one or two people had taken a stand and shouted out before that crowd that Jesus was the King of Kings and worth living for? Perhaps they would have been stoned, perhaps not? We will never know. What I have learnt though is that it only takes a small minority to go against the flow and sway public opinion. The question is, do you have the guts to make that stand or will you stand there hopelessly muted out of pure fear of man or the crowd?

Luke 23 v 26-31
As they led Jesus away, Simon, a man from Cyrene, was coming in from the fields. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross and to walk behind him.
A large crowd of people was following Jesus, including some women who were sad and crying for him. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when people will say, ‘Happy are the women who cannot have children and who have no babies to nurse.’ Then people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ And they will say to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ If they act like this now when life is good, what will happen when bad times come?”

Notes
On the road to the place where Jesus was crucified, Jesus had gathered up quite a following of men and women (mainly women) that had pity and compassion on him. They had seen his life, what he had done, perhaps they had seen the injustice put upon him. They were weeping and mourning for him, they knew he was going to his death. It is strange enough that Jesus took the time to address them as he walked by but what he said was important. What he was saying was 'Don't weep for me, weep for yourselves and for the judgement that is coming to Jerusalem. If the Romans do this to me when I have done nothing, what do you think they will eventually do to you and your children???'

Also, their tears would not ultimately lead them to repentance or salvation, they were just tears of pity. What Jesus requires is tears from the nations that will lead to their salvation. Don't just look at what Jesus did for you and pity him, cry for yourself and your own pitiful state. Those are the kind of tears that truly set us free. Jerusalem had their chance to repent, they missed the boat, forty odd years later the city was sacked, the temple destroyed and basically they have never recovered.

It didn't need to be like that if only they had repented of their wicked ways and turned to Jesus their Saviour. Take some time today to cry out for your nation that it would get on its knees once again in repentance for the sin of turning away from Jesus. If it doesn't happen soon, if we don't see a revival in the hearts of people in our nations....who knows where WE will be in forty odd years?

Luke 23 v 32-34
There were also two criminals led out with Jesus to be put to death. When they came to a place called the Skull, the soldiers crucified Jesus and the criminals—one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.”
The soldiers threw lots to decide who would get his clothes. 

Notes 
This is an amazing scripture to meditate on. It is one of the most perfect examples of forgiveness and pure grace that Jesus ever gave us to follow.

Here we have Jesus, on the cross, nails stuck in His wrists and ankles, a huge wreath of spikes sticking into His skull, naked for everyone to see and to laugh at......and what doe he say? "Father, forgive them, because they know not what they are doing." Jesus had every reason to condemn and invoke God's wrath upon the men that had done this to him. But no, our Jesus asked God for mercy upon them. That blows my mind. These were his enemies and when the time came Jesus proved that he lived what he preached. Forgive your enemies he once said (Matthew 5) These are not just nice Christian words for us today but words of power and freedom. We have all faced that moment of testing when we need to forgive those who have hurt us or turned against us. How did you do? More importantly, how are you doing today? Many of us probably even face these challenges every day of our lives. This is where we find out if our faith is real or just indeed hollow words that we whisper in church on Sundays.

It is important to remember that we too can be offensive to Jesus and the Holy Spirit....and we too sometimes 'know not what we do'. WE need Jesus' forgiveness on a daily basis in our own lives. We too deserve the judgement of God and yet are spared because of Jesus. Let us remember this truth when we find it hard to forgive others, remembering the standard that Jesus has laid down before us to follow.

Luke 23 v 35-38
The people stood there watching. And the leaders made fun of Jesus, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself if he is God’s Chosen One, the Christ.”
The soldiers also made fun of him, coming to Jesus and offering him some vinegar. They said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!” At the top of the cross these words were written: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Notes
I have often pondered at great length over this passage. People taunted Jesus "if you are the son of God, save yourself" We think, poor Jesus, it must have been terrible to face such abuse. But have you ever realised that he COULD have saved himself? He WAS the son of God and the angels WERE at his bidding. If Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, talked to demons and walked on water, it wouldn't have been much of a deal to step off the cross, strike everyone dead and walk away. Think about it.

He didn't do that. He hung there, on the cross, spilling his precious life blood all over the floor because he knew he had to do it. He knew that there was no other way to find forgiveness before God. He knew that there would be no other way into heaven and eternity except through Him.

He endured pain, humiliation, attack from demons all at the same time. He was also fed vinegar and later he was even stabbed in the side with a spear. All for us. I have heard some people say that he would have done it even for one person! That is the Lord whom we love and follow....what an awesome privilege!
Sacrifice is a choice we make and a choice Jesus made on our behalf.

With Jesus, every second he hung there bleeding was a choice he made for us. I hope that wakes you up to the mind blowing power of the cross, take some time to thank Jesus for the choice he made for you to die in your place that you might live and be forgiven. Hey, don't just thank him, get on your face and weep with gratefulness!

Luke 23 v 39-43
One of the criminals on a cross began to shout insults at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Christ? Then save yourself and us.”
But the other criminal stopped him and said, “You should fear God! You are getting the same punishment he is. We are punished justly, getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Notes 
Jesus' desire was that ALL would believe in Him and therefore live with him for all of eternity. It is not a complex thing to believe or confess Jesus as Lord of your life. Here we have a thief hanging on the cross beside Jesus, condemned for his crime and left to die. All he said was "Jesus, remember me in your Kingdom" With that Jesus said "Today you will be with me in paradise. Wow. Perhaps that goes against our tidy little structures of the sinners prayer but Jesus saw this mans heart and instantly received him into the Kingdom of heaven. Did this man deserve such kindness, such grace, such forgiveness? No. He did not, and yet Jesus freely gave it out, even in His own death. What does this say about our Lord? That he is perhaps impartial in his lavish forgiveness to those who truly ask for it. Lets face it, none of us deserve what Jesus has given us, none of us are that perfect. There is always hope for us too, even if we have turned away from him and want to come back (check out Luke 10:25-37)

Jesus died for all, his gift is free for all who desire it in truthfulness.
This challenges us to never give up on others because Jesus will receive people into his Kingdom even on their deathbed after a life of ignoring him. This is neither fair nor just, but it is Gods way and who are we to question it? Think about this facet of God's character today and let it sink deep into your spirit as truth that will set you free. Forgiveness is always available to those who genuinely come before Jesus in repentance.

Luke 23 v 44-49
It was about noon, and the whole land became dark until three o’clock in the afternoon, because the sun did not shine. The curtain in the Temple was torn in two. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, I give you my life.” After Jesus said this, he died.
When the army officer there saw what happened, he praised God, saying, “Surely this was a good man!”
When all the people who had gathered there to watch saw what happened, they returned home, beating their chests because they were so sad. But those who were close friends of Jesus, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance and watched.

Notes 
This is perhaps the deepest truth of the death of Jesus on the cross. The temple curtain was torn in two at the point of Jesus' death. What does this mean?

Traditionally, the curtain had separated man from the inner room of the temple of God. This inner room was the most Holy place where God resided.

Only the high priest could go in there but once a year and even then, he had to go through a long process of purifying himself of sin and defilement etc. They even had to tie a piece of rope to his leg in case he died so they could pull him out again!!! If man looked upon God in any kind of impure state he could not live. God is that Holy! God realised that man was never going to match up to that kind of expectation and so Jesus needed to come and stand as the middle man for us to be able to come into His Holy presence. Because of Jesus, we are washed pure of our sin. We are able to enter into God's presence and rather than Him seeing our dirtiness he sees the spirit of Jesus living in us. Jesus dying removed that curtain between us and God for ever. We can now enter into His presence whenever we want, talk, worship, just be. This isn't just limited to church on Sundays either... ANYtime.

Take some time to ask the question, 'Do I understand the significance of this? And if so, am I making the most of this opportunity to commune with the living God in heaven?'
Get into Gods presence on a daily basis and you will never be the same again.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes