Holy Week in Luke’s Gospel: Good Friday Sermon, 3 April 2026
Good Friday, St Andrew’s Church, Sedbergh
You can read the sermon below, or listen here:
A reading from the Gospel according to St Luke
Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Luke 23:32-49 NRSV
There is a song by the musician Paul Simon called ‘Can I Forgive Him’, which imagines two mothers questioning the limits of human forgiveness and reconciliation. The son of one mother has murdered the son of the other in an act of brutal gang violence.
The same question is then put to both women: “can I forgive him?”
Can the mother whose son has been killed forgive her son’s murderer?
And can the mother of the murderer forgive her own son for what he has done?
In the song, the first mother says this:
My religion asks me to pray for the murderer’s soul
But I think you’d have to be Jesus on the cross
To open your heart after such a loss.
Can I forgive him?
Can I forgive him?
No, I cannot
It is a painful but truthful song, because both mothers admit that, in the end, they cannot forgive the murderer.
As we have been journeying through Holy Week in Luke’s Gospel, we have seen that repentance and forgiveness are at the heart of Luke’s portrayal of Christ.
This theme is expressed most beautifully in the famous example of the Good Thief, who is venerated in the Christian tradition as St Dismas. Once again, here is a story found only in Luke’s Gospel, which renders this motif in dramatic form.
There is no way out for the Good Thief. He is hours away from death. He hears the crucified man on the other side of Jesus mocking and hurling abuse. But rather than join in, he is convicted in his spirit. He admits the wrong he has done, and that there is no way for him to make amends. He cannot earn his salvation. All he can do is cast himself upon God’s mercy: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v42)
Can I forgive him?
Jesus responds with love, forgiveness, and reassurance: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (v43).
Forgiveness is not something that is easy to give or to offer. If we have been wounded by another, it can take time to heal and repair the relationship, and sadly sometimes reconciliation never comes.
But what is difficult or sometimes even impossible for us, is possible with God. Christ brings God’s forgiveness, healing, and salvation as he fulfils God’s will, and suffers and dies for us.
And this is the reason we call this day ‘Good’. Because on this day, as we are confronted with our own sin, and our own rejection of God, we are reminded that God is a God of forgiveness. When God is asked ‘Can I forgive them?’ the answer is a resounding Yes.
And in God’s love and mercy, he not only offers us forgiveness in Christ, but even adopts us as his children, and prepares a place for us at his heavenly banqueting table.
As we gather this afternoon to commemorate the death of Christ, we turn to him in repentance, and trust that we, like the Good Thief, will one day be with him in Paradise.
Amen.