Sunday 20 Nov 2022

November 20: Luke 23:33-43

Key Verse: Luke 23:40
But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence?

Devotion:
It is amazing to see the power of a crowd. The more people hear them the more others want to join in and things get out of hand very quickly. Many a riot is started by one person who sews an idea into others heads and that idea grows like a cancer until it has consumed the crowd and people are all doing what they ought not to do; and they are doing it willingly in their own minds...

The crowd was certainly won over by the chief priests who shouted out that Jesus should be crucified! They all joined in until it was too late and the Romans were worried too many people may start a riot which could not be contained. They gave in and crucified Jesus along with two other criminals who had done very bad deeds.

Jesus refused to give in to the crowd as they jeered and mocked Him. He refused to allow them to break His heart because His heart was set on accomplishing what His Father had set out to do – to save us all from our sinful ways! The two criminals who were also being hanged had very different hearts. The one refused to admit he was in the wrong and jeered with the crowd to try and get Jesus to use His powers to set them free.

The other criminal admitted his sins before Jesus and knew in his own heart he deserved to be punished; he was sorry for what he had done. Jesus saw inside the hearts of the two men and spoke out to the one who admitted his own guilt telling him he would join Jesus in Heaven presently!

Points to Ponder:
Do you give in and follow the crowd?

Or will you admit your shortcomings and follow Jesus?