Of all the Bible….
Of all the Bible stories, I like the one of the criminals on either side of Jesus and all three of them are being crucified at the same time. The ‘criminal’s redemption story’ I call it.
I do like it the most, don’t judge me.
If you’re addressing the meaning of God, Jesus, and us wrapped in a blanket and that relationship between all of us, this story beats the Nativity.
It outruns David doing in Goliath.
The story tromps on the Garden of Eden.
It destroys Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Eve. Stay with me here. Don’t get me wrong, I love them all. But this one is about, well, us. It’s a true love story.
For those of you just joining….
For those of you just tuning in, Jesus is getting crucified. He is hoisted up on his cross between two ‘criminals.’ I don’t think anyone knows if the criminals are Hebrew, Gentile, what their crime was, or where they were from or their names. But whatever they did, they were going to pay with their lives-miserably. One of the two, starts to mock Jesus and says something along the lines if you are the son of god, get yourself down and us too. The other guy, looks over at him and tells him to shut the hell up (New New New International Version). Then this guy, turns to Jesus and asks him to remember him when Jesus gets to Heaven. Jesus tells him ‘by the end of this day, you will be with me in paradise.’ Luke 23:42 NIV – Then he said, “Jesus, remember me – Bible Gateway
We don’t know anything about them. They died with Jesus. We have no record who went first, second, or third. We know what they said, we assume because some of those around the bottom of Jesus’ cross could hear them and told the story until it was documented. Sure, it could be fake, or a myth, or a NASA coverup, but if you think it was, I don’t think you would be looking here.
If God is God….
If God is God all things are possible. The Plan is perfect. Perfectly planned, perfectly executed, perfectly timed. All with a perfect intention. These two guys, well, they’re us. We don’t need to know each other’s names. We don’t need to know what brought them here. These guys, I don’t think, could spell J E S U S. The chances of them being anything than who they were is not bloody likely. They were criminals, could have stolen a loaf of bread like Jean Valjean in LesMisérables or murdered someone or cheated on taxes, or defiled the temple. It doesn’t matter. It is us.
And it is the perfect depiction of how we get to Heaven.
Jesus did it. All of it.
…a smidgen of faith.
We did nothing, except to dare to have a smidgen of faith. Simply believing, in that one statement of ‘remember me when you get to Heaven.’ The criminal acknowledged the guy he was talking to was worthy of Heaven, maybe the son of God and he did no wrong and died in our place. In that statement of a tiny bit of faith this rabbi guy could be who the criminal had heard he was, bought him a ticket home. In that final moment, the criminal was cleaned, one last perfect time.
“Well that’s fine Mark, but we need to do something. I need to do, well, something. for my faith, I was raised to do-these things.” So, we work on performance. We do stuff like memorizing verses because we’re supposed to. We tithe, we dress right, we throw hours of ‘volunteering’ at church, in cities, in communities, hoping not that God notices- but others. Because, well, we should.
Here’s the thing, it’s not about us. It’s about what He did for us. He washed us one last time. Past, present, and the crap you’re going to do tomorrow, maybe tonight—for the rest of your physical life. You have been bought and paid for.
‘Well that’s all well and good, but ya gotta go to church.’ The criminal didn’t.
‘Well ya gotta tithe.’ The criminal had no money or he would have bought his freedom.
‘You have to live a good and wholesome life.’ He was crucified on a cross for his life.
We try….
We try to do things, even those of us who actually get this, on our own and in our own strength. And sometimes, we are successful. We power up, girding our loins, sacrificing, and somehow someway, we get through. Our coming out the other side with bumps and bruises and in many cases, a distain for others. We think we owe God something so we try to pay Him back. The ancient Hebrews knew they had to do stuff to be clean. So, they made a list. 600+ laws they needed to follow-everyday.
Doesn’t work. As soon as we make it about ourselves, Evil has the pass code to mess with us. Think about this. God does not need us. He loves us, adores us, made us to be who we are. Nothing yesterday, today, or tomorrow gets by Him. He knows how this world, our life goes and will end. He never says ‘oops.’ I’m not saying those lists of things we do are bad. Absolutely not. But it is the motive behind it. When we believe, God of the universe actually takes up a condo dwelling in us with His Holy Spirit. It is God in us. Now, with that being in our bodies, now we act the way Dad wants us to be and do. All those things we listed, can be the same thing only with a spirit of God in us. He is calling the shots. Not us. Motive and where it comes from, is the fingerprints of God in us.
Dare to believe it’s true.
I love the criminal story because that criminal is me. I never robbed a bank or raped or killed chickens, but I didn’t need to in order to get up on that crucifixion device. And yet, He reached into my life and said ‘this one. I choose this one.’ Why? Don’t know. Don’t really care. He picked me. So, unless you’re taking your last breath nailed to some boards, you have time for that little bit of faith to kick in. Apparently, even if you were nailed to something, you can. Nothing you have can buy it. It’s yours-a gift chosen just for you. History has documented the hell out of this part of history. Dare to believe it’s true.
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