The Criminal and the Centurion; Luke

Описание: Delivered during the Sunday Morning Worship Service, 2/22/2026. As we come upon the scene that forms the backdrop for our text, Jesus hangs lifeless on the Cross in the aftermath of the Crucifixion. Luke turns our attention to those who witnessed Christ's death and how they reacted. After seeing the amazing signs that surrounded His death, the holy darkness, the splitting of the veil of the Temple, and the dramatic change in Christ Himself-- a centurion praises God, the crowd goes away beating their breasts, and a group of followers stand afar off. We will notice the parallels in Luke's narrative of the groups he highlights both before and after the Crucifixion, effectively drawing attention to the most crucial focus of the event which is Christ Himself. We will notice that all of the people Luke mentions have one thing in common-- in different ways they all believed Jesus to be permanently dead and therefore in some way, not who He claimed to be. All except two that is-- the criminal and the centurion. We will delve deeply into what these two unlikely converts believed and then turn the question on ourselves: "What do you believe concerning the Crucifixion of Christ?"