In approaching these verses on the death and burial of Jesus, you will see something of what it means to trust your life to God.
I heard of someone recently who went to buy a crucifix necklace for a gift. The assistant in the jeweller’s shop said, “Would you like one with a little man on it?”
We can do better than that. We must. The invitation to you is to know the man on the middle cross, and through him to trust your life to God. You can, and you must.
We’ll turn the verses round a little. Luke has written them chronologically, but we’ll take them in a slightly different order.
These notes accompany a sermon on YouTube delivered at Bromborough Evangelical Church in November 2023. You can hear more in the series in our sermon index.
Know that Jesus died an innocent man (47-56)
You’ll remember that when Pilate tried Jesus in court he said three times that Jesus was not guilty. Pilate only gave Jesus over to crucifixion to keep the crowds happy. But what the centurion at the crucifixion said was quite different: Read Luke 23:47.
“This man was righteous” or “innocent” (ESV, NLT). On Jury service, we found defendants “not guilty”. But that’s not the same as saying they’re “innocent”! What has the centurion seen, for him to say such things?
Supernatural phenomena: Darkness for 3 hours. More, Jesus’ own character: He prayed for the forgiveness of those crucifying him; he deflected the tears of his mourners to grieve for themselves. Sin is a taker, at heart. Jesus gave and gave again.
Lots of people grieved at the sight of Jesus hanging there. Read Luke 23:48. It was just a spectacle, an event, to many. A sad event, but not something that would be much remembered later (as they might have thought).
For others, it was more than just a spectacle: Read Luke 23:49. For Jesus’ followers, there was nowhere else to go. All was lost.
Jesus’ corpse
So Joseph came and asked for the corpse: Read Luke 23:50-52.
Not everyone among the Jewish leaders had agreed to the unjust trial to get Jesus killed. In fact, Joseph was “looking forward to the kingdom of God” – a way Luke has of describing a true man of faith. It’s no surprise to us that such a man should be inclined to Jesus even in death, even if he didn’t quite know why.
But now time was short; the Sabbath would begin at 6pm so the body needed to be buried nearby – and quickly. Read Luke 23:53.
It’s a make-do funeral, with Jesus’ body laid in a borrowed tomb just as he’d been born in a borrowed stable. So the women take note, and make their plans: Read Luke 23:54-56.
Which brings you to two eye-witness certainties:
- Jesus was dead. There is no mistaking this.
- He was innocent. He did not deserve any punishment.
The actions of those women confirm to you Jesus’ death. Burial spices and perfumes were expensive and took time to prepare. They knew he was dead; you can be sure of it.
They would hardly have imagined it, but the way they watched where Jesus was laid also prepared them to become among the most important people who ever lived! They would be eye-witnesses of his resurrection. “Are you sure he was dead?” Yes. Absolutely.
Let those women encourage you. Your griefs and pains aren’t easy, but the Lord will use them to bring you to himself, to glorify his grace, and to do good. Your pain is not a punishment (if you’re a Christian), but rather training in godliness for usefulness in his kingdom.
If that sounds hard, keep reading…
Trust Jesus to atone for your sin (44-45)
What do we mean? Firstly, you must realise that you have sinned and do sin against God. Not sure? He commands you to love him and love your enemies. You don’t. No-one does.
In fact, we repeatedly choose to go our own way instead of God’s way, even though he’s our Creator and knows what’s best for us. His commands are love, and they are good. Our society calls good evil and evil good, and that God’s declared word (the Bible) is not loving, but bigoted.
But God is God, whether you like him or not. He is your creator, and he is good, wise, holy, loving, and just. And you’ve sinned against him. God says the wages of sin is death (separation from life now, and in the life to come: separation from God).
That’s where the death of Christ comes in for you. Read Luke 23:44-45.
When Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane he did say it was the hour of the dominion of darkness. So did darkness finally have its way?
- Is the literal darkness of that afternoon a sign that darkness has eclipsed God’s light?
- Does the torn curtain in the temple mean there’s now no means of approaching God?
Nothing of the sort – though it might have looked like it. Jesus died an innocent man, so when we say “the wages of sin is death” you might wonder why Jesus died at all. But his innocence meant he could die for others, not himself.
The temple curtain
Think about the curtain for a moment. Matthew, Mark and Luke all mention it. It’s the curtain in the Jerusalem between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place inside the temple.
- The Most Holy Place was where God placed his particular presence on earth among his people.
- He is so holy that sinful people like us would die if we tried to approach him.
- So he gave the temple and the system of sacrifices so that you could approach him.
- You could sacrifice an animal to atone for your sin.
- The animal would die instead of you.
- Every year on the Day of Atonement the High Priest would go through the curtain, offering sacrifice for his own sin and for the sins of all the people.
- This was a gift from God – a means of you approaching him and enjoying fellowship with him.
It wasn’t a perfect system, because they were just animals. But it did two things over and over: (a) it reminded you that you’re a sinner deserving death; (b) that it would be so much better if one sacrifice could atone for all your sin.
The letter to Hebrews says that all the temple imagery was just a 2D shadow of the 3D heavenly reality.
The temple sacrifices were given as a picture of what God always intended to do for you through Jesus. So: Jesus’ death is that perfect once-for-all sacrifice, for all who will accept it, for all sin, for all time.
More than a curtain
More, he’s the High Priest. But he hasn’t gone through some earthly curtain. He has passed through death and entered heaven itself – the true throne room of the universe! That old curtain tore both to reveal that the old system has become obsolete and that Jesus has burst through a new and living way for you to approach God.
He is the better High Priest offering a better sacrifice bringing you a better covenant than anything that went before! The innocent man died to be an acceptable sacrifice for your sin.
And (spoiler!), he lives! He has entered heaven and he stands there as your great High Priest, representing his people forever.
So when Satan whispers in your ear, “You’re a rubbish Christian. That sin will keep you from heaven. You’ve blown it now! Aha!” You can say, “Wash your mouth, you liar. Jesus is my saviour, my advocate, my sacrifice, my High Priest, my brother. He has saved me, you cannot snatch me from his hand. There is no condemnation for me in Christ Jesus. Away!”
Say “no” to the accuser, “no” to lingering doubts, and “yes” to Jesus and forgiveness he bought for you. If you’ve never done it, turn right now to the risen saviour and call out to him for forgiveness of your sins. He has done everything imaginable and more to make that possible, and he is the one calling you to do it.
Entrust your life to God (46)
Verse 46 mustn’t be passed over too quickly. Read Luke 23:46.
- The author of life, breathing his last.
- Watched by enemies, by family, by followers.
- We all, like sheep, went astray and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
In his moment of death and darkness, he calls out, “Father.” We might have expected him repeat his earlier quoting of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” But this is altogether more intimate, more trusting. An ending.
“Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit” shows how his thinking and his language are shaped by Scripture. Read Psalm 31:1-5.
It’s a psalm written by King David.
- David was surrounded by enemies and hostility, false worship and idolatry.
- It’s not clear how things will work out in the future, but he does know this: He will entrust himself to God.
- God will do good, and will do David good.
- God will bring justice. Psalm 31:24 Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in the LORD.
That was David’s life and experience: He trusted God. Jesus has completely lived out the depth of those psalms (in fact, many of the psalms can’t even be applied to David – they can only speak of Jesus, e.g. Psalm 22).
A life entrusted to the Father
Jesus has entrusted his whole life to the will of his Father. And so, at the end, he laid down his life as a final act of loving obedience. He entrusted himself to the will of the Father to the end.
Even at the end, Jesus was in control and chose his last breath. And because of his death, you can entrust your entire eternity to him. He has bought you life, when the wages of your sin is death. But he’s collected for you, and offers life.
That also means that you can entrust today to him. And tomorrow. You can entrust your hospital appointments to him, your parenting, your work stress, your fears.
Jesus entrusted himself to the commands of God. So you can entrust yourself to him and take those risks to love others, to speak about Jesus, to invite someone to church.
You know when a child is holding a toy that’s really precious to them, but you’re worried it’ll get broken somehow? You say, “Shall I look after that for you?” They put it into your hand in trust; they expect you to take care of it.
Trust the Father
Be the child. “Father, into your hands I entrust my hopes, fears, stress, anxieties, cares, future, eternity.”
There are no safer hands.
See what Jesus has bought for you by his death?
- A forgiveness of sin for all eternity, and:
- The right to be called a child of God, to come to God daily end trust your life to him.
Jesus will ask you to take up your cross daily, and life may well be hard, and you can still pray Psalm 31: “The course of my life is in your power… Make your face shine on your servant…”
Every day and even to death, trust your life to God.