The Cross, the Christ, and the Crowd (Luke 23:33–43)

It is a fact of history that a Jewish man named Jesus lived morally, taught powerfully, and died horrifically in the first century. Ancient literature is littered with attestations to his existence, reputation, popularity, teachings, and eventual execution (see, for example, the works of non-believing first-century historians like Thallus, Tacitus, and Josephus). So, the question that any honest person must ask themselves isn’t so much “Did this really happen?” but, rather, “Since it did happen, how should I respond?” And, as we’ll be reminded from Luke’s record of Christ’s crucifixion, there are only a few possibilities. First, we can respond in passivity, apathetically or ignorantly doing nothing. Second, we can respond in mockery, arrogantly dismissing the life and death of Jesus as nonsense, insignificant, or mere superstition. Finally and ideally, we can respond with dependancy, recognizing our personal need of what his sacrifice provides.