Luke 23:33-34. “When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’”
There are many historical places in the world of great interest to us. Places of great battles like Gettysburg and Appomattox, or the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Or places of struggle as a new nation was born at Valley Forge and spread across the land—places like the Santa Fe and Oregon trails. We like to visit these places. Our souls are stirred as we contemplate what took place there.
Other places have deep spiritual significance—where we were saved, baptized, special prayer places, etc. [Saved and baptized at FBC, Salida] Places of joy and of sorrow. Places we don’t forget because of the deep meaning to us.
One place that should be special in every Christian’s heart and mind is the place of forgiveness where our sins were once and for all forgiven. Where is that place? At the “place called the Skull.”
Luke 23:33. “When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.”
The place called the Skull—our English word cranium comes from the Greek word for skull. Many believe the place was called the skull because of a rock formation or a skull shaped mound.
We don’t know the exact location—just that it was outside the city walls. In Hebrew the place was called Golgotha, and in Latin it was called Calvary. This place is more meaningful than any other. From it flows life, liberty, and love for a sin-cursed world.
It was there the issue of eternity found its climax. It is good we don’t know the exact location. Because of our human nature it would have become worshipped. We are to worship Him Who accomplished the most significant event in history—the means of our eternal salvation.
It is a sacred place—a place where sinner and Savior meet. A place that causes us to search our hearts because this is where Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the cross.
It is the place where the way of salvation for all humanity is revealed. It is the place where our only hope is in the One who was lifted up on the cross for you and me. It is the place of forgiveness.
As wonderful and meaningful as that place is to every Christian, the bread and juice of the Lord’s Supper reminds us that it was a place of pain.
We can’t even begin to imagine the physical pain experienced by Jesus as His beaten and tortured naked body was brutally stretched out on the rough wood of the cross and His outstretched arms then His legs were nailed to it.
As the cross was raised into the air and then roughly dropped into a supporting hole in the ground, there was a howling, hissing, ridiculing mob mocking Him the entire time (He saved others… Come down from there..)
There was no one to ease a pang of pain, nor still a nerve, or quiet His quickening pulse. He suffered and bled and died at the place called the skull—his wounds visible for all to see.
Yet the physical pains were simply a prelude to the dark soul of suffering He endured as He entered the deepest pit of our human depravity, and suffered as no man ever has or ever will.
The bread of the Lord’s Supper is for His broken body. The juice represents His shed blood. Together they represent the One who bore in His body the agonies of our sinful humanity.
They help us remember that Jesus carried on His shoulders the sin burdens of the entire world. He is the One who truly tasted death for every person in the world. The place of forgiveness was, first of all, a place of pain. But also …
The place called the Skull was also the birthplace of our pardon. Remember His words to the thief seeking forgiveness? Jesus said to Him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43).
“You will suffer the consequences of your choices in this life. You will be executed for your criminal activities. But because of your faith in me, today you will be with Me in paradise.”
Even while He hung on the cross in the bitter agony of dying and death, He showed His willingness and His readiness to pardon sinful men and women.
As the soldiers raised the cross with Him on it, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). His words are absolutely astounding.
You and I would have cried for the Father to strike them all—to get you down off that cross—to leave human kind to its sad and sorry fate.
But His forgiveness was offered even to His murderers—Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, Pilate, the cruel soldiers. His forgiveness was even for those who screamed, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” It extends to you and to me. It extends to us even when by our sins we crucify Him again and again—He is ready to pardon us.
His words are also astounding because His pardon is free, immediate, complete, and continuous. The thief on the cross was completely forgiven. The other thief would also have been pardoned if he too would have accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
Jesus delights in pardoning. It is there at the place called the Skull, as no where else, that we see the pardoning heart of the loving Savior.
God has never wronged us nor oppressed us. But time and time again we have wronged Him. At the place of forgiveness the sinner and Savior meet. He invites us to accept His pardon, to surrender our very selves to His Lordship.
When we do that, the Lord’s Supper reminds us of His promise to receive us and to save us forevermore. Listen to His promise from John 12:32. “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” And in John 3:14-15, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
The painful place of the Skull is the birthplace of pardon and promise. Jesus has made a sacred promise that He would meet us in eternity. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. He has promised to support us and comfort us and to walk with us. These are all the promises of the place of forgiveness.
What was accomplished 2000 years ago was forgiveness for all who would willingly accept it. The place of forgiveness is a place of pain, pardon, and promise, willingly given for us by our Savior. Amen!