The Real Tragedy of the Cross (Luke 23:26-49)

Luke 23:26-49 shows us the death of Christ on the cross.  The death of Christ is something many would consider one of the greatest tragedies of history.  Here was a man who had done nothing deserving of death being killed in the most excruciating way ever invented.   Movies, like The Passion of the Christ, focus on the brutal and bloody scourging of Jesus and dwell on the immense suffering He experienced on the cross.  But the Gospel of Luke has a different message.  Luke does not even mention the scourging and He does not dwell on the suffering.  Luke’s particular point is much clearer when we see that he includes details not mentioned in the other gospels including the exchange between Jesus and the women who were weeping for Jesus as well as with the criminals on the crosses next to Jesus.  The text is designed to show, and Jesus even says it in the passage, that there is a greater tragedy coming than the suffering and death of the Christ.  We should be lamenting it.  Listen to find out what that tragedy is.

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