![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/44\/2011\/04\/Stations-11-remember-7.jpg\" "\\"Stations-11-remember-7\\"")
<\/a>Luke 23:39-43<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, \u201cAre you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!\u201d\u00a0 But the other rebuked him, saying, \u201cDo you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?\u00a0 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.\u201d\u00a0 Then he said, \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.\u201d\u00a0 He replied, \u201cTruly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n Three men being crucified, suffering excruciating pain, literally. (The word \u201cexcruciate\u201d comes from the Latin cruciare<\/em>, \u201cto crucify.\u201d) One man begins taunting Jesus, sarcastically calling out for salvation he knows Jesus can\u2019t deliver. The other, sensing something that he has never felt before, defends Jesus as an innocent victim. Then, in desperate hope, he cries out: \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.\u201d In response Jesus says a most astounding thing, a most encouraging thing, a most curious thing: \u201cTruly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to imagine the jeers of the crowds at this point as they made fun of Jesus\u2019 silly wishful thinking. After all, he\u2019d only been on the cross for an hour or two. Most crucifixions lasted several days before the victim finally died from exhaustion, exposure, loss of blood, and suffocation. Today in Paradise? What a joke! All Jesus and the stooge beside him will experience today is ultimate pain and ultimate disgrace. If they are lucky, perhaps tomorrow they might die. And even then, Paradise? Hardly!<\/p>\n The word \u201cParadise\u201d comes from a Persian word meaning \u201cgarden.\u201d It was used to describe a place of beauty, peace, and joy. In Jewish thought, Paradise represented the Garden of Eden, and could stand for the joys of heaven. Paradise was just about as far as one could get from crucifixion. Yet, in spite of the apparent absurdity of it, and in spite of the spiteful laughter of the crowd, Jesus promises that the thief will join him in Paradise even this very day.<\/p>\n Luke 23:39-43 has often perplexed Christians who believe that salvation comes only by explicitly confessing Jesus as Savior and Lord. \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom\u201d hardly fits the bill here. Whatever the desperate thief believed about Jesus, it\u2019s unlikely that he prayed the sinner\u2019s prayer while on his cross. And we have no reason to believe that Jesus straightened out the thief\u2019s theology before offering the promise of Paradise. No, what we have in the text of Luke is a cry of minimal faith and maximal desperation. And what we have from the mouth of Jesus is a response of monumental mercy.<\/p>\n It would be unwise to build a whole theology of salvation on the basis of this single passage from Luke. And it would be unwise to build a theology of salvation without taking seriously this passage. Whatever else, it reminds us that God is \u201crich in mercy\u201d (Ephesians 2:4). God saves us, not because we earn it, not because we deserve it, not because we say the right words and pray the right pryers, and not even because we get our theology right, but because God is full of mercy, mercy revealed and poured out through Jesus Christ, mercy that says to a thief: \u201cToday you will be with me in Paradise.\u201d<\/p>\n If this crucified criminal could have hope, then perhaps you and I can as well. We hope, not in our goodness, not in our good intentions, but in the matchless mercy of God. As I reflect on Jesus\u2019 response to the thief, I\u2019m reminded of a marvelous hymn by Frederick William Faber, \u201cThere\u2019s a Wideness in God\u2019s Mercy.\u201d It turns out that this hymn is actually an excerpt from a longer piece written by Faber, called \u201cSouls of Men! Why Will Ye Scatter.\u201d<\/a> I\u2019ll close today with all of Faber\u2019s verses:<\/p>\n Souls of men, why will ye scatter Was there ever kindest shepherd There\u2019s a wideness in God\u2019s mercy, There is no place where earth\u2019s sorrows There is welcome for the sinner, There is plentiful redemption For the love of God is broader But we make his love too narrow Pining souls, come nearer Jesus, If our love were but more simple, Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n Dear Lord, how I thank and praise you for your mercy. You give us, not what we deserve, but infinitely better. Thank you for hearing my cries to you, and for responding to me much as you did to the thief who sought your help. Thank you for remembering even me, and for the promise I have of Paradise beyond this life. There\u2019s much I don\u2019t understand about the afterlife, but what I know is that I will be with you, seeing you face to face. And in your presence there will be fullness of joy. That\u2019s more than enough for me! Amen.<\/p>\n P.S. from Mark You my be interested in a blog series I have written called: Why Did Jesus Have to Die? Roman, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives. <\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
\nlike a crowd of frightened sheep?
\nFoolish hearts, why will ye wander
\nfrom a love so true and deep?<\/p>\n
\nhalf so gentle, half so sweet,
\nas the Savior who would have us
\ncome and gather round his feet?<\/p>\n
\nlike the wideness of the sea;
\nthere\u2019s a kindness in his justice,
\nwhich is more than liberty.<\/p>\n
\nare more felt than up in heaven;
\nthere is no place where earth\u2019s failings
\nhave such kindly judgment given.<\/p>\n
\nand more graces for the good;
\nthere is mercy with the Savior;
\nthere is healing in his blood.<\/p>\n
\nin the blood that has been shed;
\nthere is joy for all the members
\nin the sorrows of the Head.<\/p>\n
\nthan the measure of man\u2019s mind.
\nand the heart of the Eternal
\nis most wonderfully kind.<\/p>\n
\nby false limits of our own;
\nand we magnify its strictness
\nwith a zeal he will not own.<\/p>\n
\nand O come not doubting thus,
\nbut with faith that trusts more bravely
\nhis great tenderness for us.<\/p>\n
\nwe should take him at his word:
\nand our lives would be all sunshine
\nin the sweetness of our Lord. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n