Do You Place Yourself In Verse 48 or Verse 49?
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(44) It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, (45) for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. (46) Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. (47) The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” (48) When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. (49) But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.’ (Luke 23:44-49)
The key to focus on in this Word-of-the-Day is verses 48 and 49; we know why Jesus was crucified and as mentioned in the monologue it was the fulfillment of over 100 prophecies in the Old Testament. But look at the reaction of the people. We know Jesus was followed during His ministry by three groups of people. First was His Apostles and Disciples, those who believed He was the Messiah and was the Son of God who was the fulfillment of those prophecies.
Second were those who had heard His message through others and wanted to hear more and earnest sought Him to learn more, and it is hoped added to the number of the first group. The third group were the ‘groupies’ who simply were following ‘the current thing’ or the ‘flavor of the week’, as Jesus was prominent as someone who was ‘trending’ and to some it was somewhat of a counter-culture movement; the message Jesus preached was not as important to them as it was being seen as part of this social trend.
We know before Jesus was crucified, some of these ‘groupies’ dropped off His bandwagon as they jumped to Barabbas’ in screaming for Barabbas’ freedom while shouting for Jesus’ execution. Some made it through to the crucifixion looking for the ‘show’ that they may have believed would happen when Jesus would free Himself from the cross and proclaim Himself King of Israel. When this did not happen, and Jesus died, their following ended; these were the ‘Verse 48’ folks as they did not get the outcome they wanted and they walked away, perhaps mourning more of their loss of their desire than the loss of Jesus’ life. Some of those who were Apostles and Disciples, obviously invested in Jesus through their lives, also walked away mourning Him, and perhaps their investment of their time not knowing or fully believing what would come next.
But there was a group, the ‘Verse 49’ folks, who stood by and watched as Jesus was pierced, then lowered from the cross and prepared for burial in the tomb. They knew, perhaps with some doubt but still having that ‘mustard seed’ of Faith, that Jesus was not yet done. They may not have known how He would return to life, but they believed that He would come back.
The question for all of us today is, are you a Verse 48 follower or are you a Verse 49 follower? Do you have the Faith to obey Jesus’ commands and are awaiting His return, or are you a groupie going through the motions to be cool? When times get rough (and they will), will you have Faith in Jesus or drop off to jump on the next bandwagon of the current thing to follow? I choose to be a ‘Miner 49’er’ as Jesus is truly the ‘Good Gold’ and everything else is ‘fool’s gold’.
