“Let him save himself” (Luke 23:35).
“Save yourself” (Luke 23:37).
“Save yourself, and us” (Luke 23:39).
This is what those who are “of the world” tell Jesus. This is what those who are “of the world” say to each other. This is what we say to ourselves.
“Save yourself.”
“Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.”
“Take some time for yourself.”
“Save yourself, and us!”
“God helps those who help themselves.”
Did you know that last one is not in the Bible? It is quoted constantly as if it were. “God helps those who help themselves.” It is a better-known phrase than John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
The two phrases could not be any different. The John quote, which is actually from the Bible, tells us about how God saves us through faith. God saves us.
The one that is not from the Bible tells us that we need to be the ones who take the initiative to save ourselves. We save ourselves.
“Be the author of your own story.”
“You can do it.”
“Trust in yourself.”
“God helps those who help themselves.”
“Save yourself.”
Those of us who are “of the world” take great pride in our self-made accomplishments. Those of us who are “of the world” can clearly see that if it were not for our own hard work, we would be nowhere in life.
Maybe we are right. Maybe we care a lot about making our way in this world and this life, and we have accomplishments to prove that we have done exactly that. Maybe our own success has been our focus in life. Maybe, that is what drives our life. Maybe, at the end of the day, all we care about is saving ourselves…or more graciously, ourselves and our friends and family.
“Save yourself,” we whisper to ourselves when the times get rough. “Save yourself,” we whisper to ourselves because we are too afraid to lay our burdens on anyone else’s shoulders. “Save yourself,” we say into the lonely night as we twist and turn and try to figure it all out before the sun comes up.
Do you know what Jesus did not do? Jesus did not save himself. He was not the focus of his own life. His own welfare was not the center of his own actions. Instead, he made his life all about others.
He healed people who were blind. Just ask blind Bartimaeus (Luke 18:35-43).
He found people who were lost. Just ask Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10).
He ate with people who were tax collectors and sinners. Just ask Levi and the tax collectors and sinners who were feasting with Jesus at Levi’s house (Luke 5:29-39).
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” Jesus explained (Luke 5:31-32).
Jesus, “the King of the Jews,” as the sign above his head on the cross declared, did not save himself. He was not that kind of king. Rather, he hung on a cross of humiliation for the sake of other people; to save them. Jesus was not a rich and successful king as our world defines a king. But he was a king. He was a king with and for the people. He is “our” king.
I know of a faithful member of a church who was given a harsh warning from the pastor when he started hanging out on the front porch with some unsavory neighbors. You know, the ones with the beer in hand, playing shoot the squirrel, sitting on the old couch in the front yard. “You are who you hang out with,” the pastor warned the faithful church member. “You won’t get anywhere in the world hanging around them.”
Do you know what the faithful church member answered? “You are right. You are who you hang out with. I hang out with Jesus. Maybe, they will become a little more like him by hanging out with me.” The faithful church member was exactly that: “faithful.” He hung out with the wrong people, because that is where Jesus hung out.
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Luke 5:31-32).
Jesus hangs out with the wrong people, he hangs out in the wrong places, and he winds up on the wrong throne. Christ’s worldly throne, after-all, is not one with gold plating atop a marble staircase. Christ’s throne is a cross.
No one fights to the death to sit on that throne. No one strives to be nailed to a throne in the middle of a kingdom of dying criminals. But Jesus does. Jesus was a king with and for the people. He is “our” king.
Those who walk up to Jesus’ cross, taunting Jesus and spitting in his face, do not actually think that he can save himself. It is a display of mockery for the benefit of all who pass by on the road into the heart of Jerusalem. But these people who mock do say one thing that is absolutely true, “he saved others.”
Yes, that part is the absolute truth. Jesus did save others. He healed others when other people could not. He guided others when other people would not. He accepted others when other people refused. “He saved others.”
And he is going to do it one more time before he dies.
You see, Jesus, our King, refuses to use his powers to save himself. After-all, Jesus explicitly states that he “is not a king of this world” (John 18:36). But Jesus will go to any length to use his powers to save others.
One of the two criminals hanging with Jesus at the very end of his life refuses to join with those who taunt. Instead, that criminal admits that he wasted his time in this life. “We indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,” the man admits (Luke: 23:41).
He is one of those people who tries only to help himself, but in doing so, he ends up destroying himself. He is one of those people who deserves his cross. But he is also the only one who turns his head toward Jesus and asks, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).
That man is the man who Jesus chooses to save. Jesus does not save himself. Jesus does not save someone who is morally deserving. Rather, Jesus saves someone who simply and profoundly asks to be saved.
"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).
Jesus, our king, did not build for himself a worldly kingdom with a palace and throne, gilded with gold. Jesus did not create for himself a wealthy life. Jesus did not save himself.
But Jesus does save others.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Jesus promises us. “For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10).
All those who ask, find that they are welcome in Jesus’ kingdom.
That was true way back on the day that Jesus joined a thief on some crosses, and it is still true today.
All those who ask, find that they are welcome in Jesus’ kingdom.
Come to the cross with your burdens, you need not bear them alone.
Come to the cross with your sins, Jesus offers to feast with you and make you clean.
Come to the cross with your pain, Jesus desires to heal you.
Come to the cross and worship your king. He is a king who understands pain. He is a king who understands sin. He is a king whose throne is a cross of shame. He is a king who helps those who are unable to help themselves.
Come to the foot of Jesus’ throne.
Come to the cross and ask Jesus to remember you.
Come and be given the kingdom of God.
Jesus remember me,
when
you come into your kingdom.
Jesus remember me,
When
you come into your kingdom.
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