Watched, Jeered, Mocked, Abused!

Luke 23:35-43

The people stayed there before the cross watching Jesus. As for the leaders, they jeered at him. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’ Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

  One of the criminals hanging there abused him. ‘Are you not the Christ?’ he said. ‘Save yourself and us as well.’ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus,’ he said ‘remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ ‘Indeed, I promise you,’ he replied ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’

Food for thought!

Have you ever felt like Jesus was on the cross on that Friday: watched by the people; jeered at by the leaders; mocked by the soldiers; and abused by a criminal? This was too much on one person; everybody mentioned in the gospel reading, except one, was against Jesus.

Sometimes we are like this Jesus. Or better, many times Jesus lives in us. This is what St. Paul says in 2Cor 4:8-10

You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us — trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us —he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us.

What St. Paul is saying is that sometimes there is advantages in disadvantages (and the disadvantages of advantages). As the Bible says, "Some pretend to be rich, yet have nothing; others pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth." Proverbs 13: 7

Sometimes being the underdog is good; being the David is better than being the Goliath, because all the time the underdog wins; David wins Goliath; Jesus always wins. In the midst of the watching, the jeering, the mocking and the abuses, Jesus was focusing on his ultimate victory! In the midst of insults Jesus said to the only man that was not insulting him, "Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Nelson Mandela was confined to a prison cell for 26 years because of his outspoken views against apartheid. During this time, Mandela’s focus was beyond the prison; his focus was on South Africa free from apartheid. As we all know, Mandela ultimately triumphed and went on to be elected to his country’s highest office.

In today's gospel reading, the only man that did not insult Jesus said, "Have you no fear of God at all?" he said. "You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." When this man said these words, he was looking beyond his present moment of agony; he was seeing beyond his present problems into the future. Remember me, he said, when you come into your kingdom.

Like Jesus, like Mandela, like the bandit on the cross, we need to learn to put our faith to work. Faith is a “leap.” Faith is leaping across the gaps between the known and the unknown, the proven and the unproven, the actual and the possible, the grasp and the reach. There is always a chasm between where you are right now and where you want to be — by faith make the leap forward! What lies ahead? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Next year? Beyond this life? Believe in faith! Believe in God! Believe in tomorrow! Take the leap of faith!

There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.

We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one. None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. (Rom 8:36-39)