Luke 23:33-49
The Lord Jesus is led to the sinister place of the Skull where He is crucified between two malefactors. "Father, forgive them . . ." – such is His sublime response to all the evil which men do to Him (cf. Luke 6:27). If they repent, their crime – the greatest in all the history of mankind – will be expiated by His very death itself.
At the cross where all are present, from the rulers (v. 35) to the wretched thief (v. 39), the entire wickedness of the human heart is shamelessly revealed; cynical looks, scoffing, provocation, coarse insults . . . but witness now the amazing conversation which develops between the crucified Saviour and the other thief, convicted of his sin (v. 41). With God’s enlightening he discerns in the despised Man, crowned with thorns, who is about to die alongside him, a holy Victim, a glorious King (v. 42). And he receives a priceless promise (v. 43). Thus on the cross itself, the Lord already enjoys the first fruit of the dreadful travail of His soul.
After the last three hours of impenetrable darkness, the Lord Jesus resumes once more the fellowship broken during the abandonment which He has just suffered. And in complete serenity He commends His spirit into His Father’s hands. The death of the righteous One is the occasion of a final testimony which God gives through the Roman centurion.