Luke 23:32-43 Three Crosses
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: December 18, 2018 Luke 23:32-43
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 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. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise.”
(I moved the comma to the right place in the last sentence.)
(Understanding the Text) It is interesting that Isaiah prophesied about this aspect of the Messiah. “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). I do not know if this is referring to the crucifixion itself or to the fact that he was taking the place of a murderer surrounded by criminals. I have always thought of these two men as thieves, but here it says criminals, so I did a little research. Evidently Matthew and Mark have the English word “thief” in some English translations. “Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left” (Matthew 27:38). “And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left” (Mar 15:27). The word translated as robbers here is /lēstēs/ which means “(to “plunder”); a brigand: – robber, thief” according to Strong’s. However, an answer on StackExchange quotes a different Greek dictionary to say the word has two different meanings. “According to A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG), λῃστής has two meanings. The first is “robber, highwayman, bandit”. . . .The second usage of λῃστής is “revolutionary, insurrectionist, guerrilla.”
Thus, the meaning here was probably insurrectionist. It could be that these men were part of an insurrectionist group where Barabbas was the leader, and these were his two lieutenants. One was hardened and insensitive. He may have been attracted to the rebels because he simply enjoyed killing Romans and harassing Jews that cooperated with Romans. The other was more sensitive. Like Simon the Zealot, he may have joined the group because he sincerely wanted to serve God. It sounds like he had compromised his idealism in service to overthrowing the Romans and knew that he was guilty of crimes that deserved death not only by Roman law, but also in God’s sight. He must have known something of Jesus before the crucifixion and been attracted to the news that he had heard. Then, as he had watched Jesus on the cross, something had spoken to his heart. He had seen the divinity.
(Revelation of God) I find it interesting that the “good thief” believed that Jesus would come into His kingdom even though it was obvious that Jesus was dying on the cross. Had the thief read scriptures about the suffering servant that made him believe in the resurrection even as Jesus was dying on the cross? Was the thief being kind? No, I think the thief truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah and that Jesus would somehow triumph over death. If so, the thief may have been the only one who believed in the resurrection before Jesus died. Maybe, the thief was thinking of the general resurrection and wanting the Messiah to put in a good word with God for him. Maybe, Jesus was trying to emphasize to the thief that there was not some kind of maybe promise for the future, but that Jesus had authority to guarantee on that very day that the thief was accepted by God. Yes, that finally clears up my questions about why Jesus had to use that troublesome word “today” in His comment. The thief thought that maybe in the future, the Messiah could help him, and Jesus was assuring the thief that his sins were forgiven and he was approved of by God that very minute. I think we do the same thing sometimes. We ask God for reassurance thinking that we will feel confident about our standing with God sometime in the future, and God wants us to understand that we have acceptance NOW, as soon as we are ready to accept it.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that even though I deserve death, God does not want me to have death. I need to believe that I have God’s favor and that His promises are for now when I don’t deserve them and not for some amorphous future when I will deserve them. I can claim God’s promises even though I am unclean and sinful. In fact, that is exactly when I need God’s reassurance and to believe in His promises. The promises come first, living well comes after as a result. Thank You that You have already given me everything that I need. I need help to always remember how much You love me, and to hold on tight to Your promises. Amen.