Luke 23:39-43 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If you be Christ, save yourself and us.… "Nothing amiss" — what does that mean, as used here? Literally, it means "nothing out of place" — unsuitable, unbecoming, improper. Does it mean, then, "He has not been guilty of crimes like ours — of robbery, violence, insurrection, murder"? With nothing of that sort was He ever charged; and none in the city, good or bad, could be a stranger to the one charge brought against Him; for the whole country, as well as the crowded streets of the metropolis, was full of it. He was dying under the charge of high treason against heaven — of blasphemy — of not only laying claim to royal honours, but malting Himself equal with God. I take it, therefore, that in saying, "This Man has done nothing amiss," his words must mean, "He has made no false claim: He said, 'I am the Christ,' but in that He did nothing amiss; 'I am the King of Israel,' but in that He did nothing amiss; He called Himself the Son of God, the Light of the world, the Rest of the weary, the Physician of the sick at heart, but in this He did nothing amiss." Not that I for a moment suppose that this penitent criminal had knowledge enough to say all this as I have said it; but I feel confident that he had gleams of it, and that I have not gone beyond the spirit of his testimony to the innocence of our Lord. Amidst the buzzings about this new kind of criminal — innocent, by universal consent, of all the ordinary crimes, yet charged with a crime never before laid to the charge of any — some account of the marvellous works ascribed to Him, and of the words of heavenly grace He was said to have uttered, might easily reach this man's ear; and just as the wind bloweth where it listeth, so that grace which is the Spirit's breath upon the soul might send what he heard like arrows into a softened breast — as not seldom it does even still. (D. Brown, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. |
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