March 28, 2012 The Shadow of Gestas and the Light of Dismas
Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
Luke 23:40-43 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
“Gestas” and “Dismas” are actually the apocryphal names given to the thieves, first appearing in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus from 4th Century A.D. Gestas was the mocking thief and Dismas was said to be the repentant thief.
What more do we know about them? An old legend from an apocryphal Arabic infancy gospel says that when the Holy Family was running to Egypt, they were set upon by a band of thieves including Dismas and Gestas. Dismas realized there was something different about the family and offered the other thieves 40 groats – something like oatmeal – to leave the family alone. As a result, Jesus was said to have predicted Dismas’ eventual salvation and Gestas’ eventual damnation on the cross thirty years later. Interesting folklore; nothing more.
When you see artistry you will notice that Jesus’ head and feet are always looking and leaning to the right, where Dismas was said to have been, while He is facing away from Gestas to his left. The symbolism is interesting; nothing more.
We don’t know what their names were for sure, and beyond curiosity’s sake it doesn’t really matter. We don’t know which way Jesus’ body and head were shifted; it doesn’t matter. What are they both doing there? That is a good place to start. We do know that.
I. Both are equally guilty
Both are hanging and dying as “robbers.” (Matthew 27:38) The actual word is λῃσταί, and it is also used of Barabbas in John 18:40. The word is defined as a plunderer and also as an insurrectionist in the Greek-English Lexicon specifically because of the reference to Barabbas as a robber. It might be considered as robbery somehow in connection with insurrection, perhaps like when a riot is started some people take advantage of the chaos and rob people in the process.
A robber is different from a thief or a swindler, at least as I remember it from catechism. A robber takes something by force, whereas a thief tries to take it secretly and without force. We might think of the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the man was beaten up and robbed of his goods.
Both of these men were arrested for being accused of or caught taking something from someone by force, just as Barabbas was well-renowned for. Who knows? Maybe they were all a part of the same rebellion? Perhaps Dismas and Gestas had a long history of robbing people together and maybe they were both caught together for sharing the same loot. Either way, they were both convicted and dying as guilty robbers. Hanging and bloodied from the cross, the law caught up with them and they were suffering and dying for it.
The law catches up with all of us and nails all of us down sooner or later. Our beds may not be made up of wood and our hands and feet may not be stuck with nails; but nonetheless; someway and somehow the law still catches up with us all and convicts us of some crime. The law of bad eating clogs the arteries and sticks some with heart attacks and clogged arteries. The law against worrying infects others with ulcers. The law of greed locks some up in their own homes; unwilling to help others when they call; dying in their homes only consumed with the self. The law of drug abuse robs people of their finances and their families; destitute and alone. Even when you eat right and live right, the general law of sin still puts us all on the death bed; making us suffer and die. All of this happens because our ancestors stole what was not theirs to take when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So now we are all under the curse of the law; cursed as sinners to die. Exercise as you might and try to live as good as a life as you will, the law will still catch you and put you to death.
The law had caught up with Gestas and Dismas. Both were in the same situation for the same reason. They were both condemned robbers. So they both naturally responded the same at first. Matthew 27:44 says that they both heaped insults on Jesus. Think about the situation. They were in complete misery. Life couldn’t get much worse. Come to find out they had between them a Jewish guy who thought He was God!?! Your flesh would say, “This guy obviously isn’t any type of Messiah. If He really thinks He’s God, I might as well bring Him back down to earth.” So that’s what both of them did; for a time. The difference is that Gestas never let up.
II. Gestas stayed in the shadow
Luke spells out the words of Gestas. Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” Notice the religious nature of his angry insults. He knew that the Christ was supposed to come and save: that was supposed to be the nature and business of the Christ. Yet instead of asking Christ to save him, he taunted Christ to save him; even commanded it. He felt that if Jesus really was the Christ it was His duty to prove it to him and the world to save him. He also felt that the only way that Jesus could save him was if he first saved himself. In his bold way of thinking Jesus should either man up or shut up. He felt that Jesus should obey his command to save him from his suffering, otherwise he wasn’t worth his weight in salt.
If Jesus wouldn’t save him from his suffering and death, I would imagine that Gestas thought that Jesus was the most pathetic lie there could be. Jesus was, in his mind and the minds of many who were insulting Jesus, worse than a fraud, for His fraud was giving people false hope. At least Gestas was dying because he knew what he did and who he was. He was a robber and he knew it, as well as everyone else. He beat people up and took their stuff. He was dying for it, and he knew it. He didn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t. So be it. At least he wasn’t dying under self-delusion.
Is there anything to admire in such a man? Some might think, “At least he didn’t put on a face of tears and give a speech about how he was sorry for what he did, hoping that the people whom he robbed would feel sorry for him.” There is a gritty nature to some unbelief that loves to take pride in its unbelief. People under this pride say, “Yeah, I’ve done some rotten things in my life, but I’m not going to beg your god for mercy or anyone else. I lived my life the way I wanted to. I had fun at it. If you want me to feel guilty about it and go out in a whimper, I’m not. I had fun. I lived my life. So be it.” As Frank Sinatra sang, “I did it my way.”
You see this anger reflected in those who’ve witnessed others die. They may have also cried out to Jesus and demanded Him to help; but Jesus didn’t relieve their pain either. So they’ve become blatant in their denial of our God and His hell. They’ve also become angry at us for believing in Him and crying out to Him, because He personally let them down. They’ve got some personal pain in the game; and they try to talk us out of our faith for believing in someone they believe isn’t real. They conscientiously decide that if God is real they’d rather go down swinging than whimpering; in a blaze of their own self-proclaimed glory.
This is the darkness of the cross; the shadow of it. Many people turn to the darkness in the suffering of death; self-righteously and angrily taunting God even while dying on the cross. When the rubber hits the road and this all-powerful God doesn’t mercifully give them relief from suffering or dying; then they decide that He just couldn’t be love or He couldn’t be God; so they will be their own god. These are the modern day Gestas of the world who choose to stay in the darkness; even from the suffering and death of the cross with Christ right in their face.
III. Dismas was brought into the light
Dismas wasn’t any different, not at first. It is amazing to think that Dismas changed his tune so close to death; after being defiant even at the beginning of his death. In hindsight of mentioning the apocryphal account of Dismas, which is obviously not Biblical; it makes the account of Dismas seem like his good act for the holy family years earlier resulted in good at the cross. Everyone wants to find some reason WHY Dismas came around and Gestas didn’t.
We always try to find some reason WHY; as if God looked back on this good deed and said, “I’ll bring you to faith on the cross because of this.” That is not what the Scriptures say. A good deed from youth and in unbelief doesn’t somehow change God’s mind about us. We’re all unworthy sinners who God still wants to graciously save, in spite of who we are. There is never anything in us that makes us more worthy to have God convert us rather than someone else. It is always and only because of God’s grace.
The point is that none of us knows how or when God will work in even the most hardened of people. Instead of looking to some imaginary story about Dismas earlier life, this instead shows us that even in the seeming most hardened of criminals, there is still hope; even until the day they die.
Look at the change of heart Dismas had. Luke 23:40-43 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
You could see three parts to his confession. One is about himself and the other two are about Jesus. Here we see the heart of confession and faith; when God brings us to a realization of our self and His self. First of all, he realized that God was just, and that he’d better stop shaking his fist at God. Instead of being proud and unapologetic of his life, Dismas said, “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.” Dismas didn’t ask Jesus to take him down from the cross or to reduce his sentence, because he realized that he was getting what he deserved. He didn’t look at his suffering as some sort of injustice on the part of God. He didn’t expect Jesus to change His sentence. He deserved the death he was receiving.
This is the sign of a truly repentant attitude. When you suffer for any reason or for no apparent reason who can ultimately say to God, “Why are you allowing this?” Who has the right to really shake their fist at God and accuse Him of injustice for allowing us to suffer in this world? Why should we; even as Christians; expect God to withhold the law of suffering and death on behalf of us?
Instead of being defiant or angry with God, Dismas especially realized that he was getting what he deserved. He wasn’t just a run of the mill sinner, he was a robber. He forcefully took money from people, and now that he had hung here and suffered for a while his defenses and excuses and anger finally melted. Not only had he done that, but even on his death bed he managed to mock Jesus and make fun of Him.
When Dismas came to his sense, he didn’t look down on Gestas for what he was saying. He tried to reason with him. He wanted Gestas to realize what he did and who he was. This wasn’t injustice for him to hang there. It was justice under God, and even under a corrupted system it was justice. He felt like he was exactly where he belonged as he hung there.
This is a profound place to be found; when you suffer and as you suffer you know that you deserve it. You feel it down to your very bones. This is what you had coming to you. This is what you deserve. According to God’s Word, this sorrow and pain that we feel is just, because we are sinners and we have earned God’s judgment. Instead of shaking your fist, you shake your head up and down and say to God, “Yes, this is exactly what I deserve. Actually, I deserve worse.” No excuses. No complaints. Only justice. You want others to stop denying it and being angry about it and to simply believe what they fear is true.
In the midst of his despair, Dismas said something completely irrational and completely foolish. After a lifetime of robbery and even a death of mockery, he asked Jesus for something he had no right to ask. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” What did he want Jesus to remember? His mockery? His robbery? What exactly was Jesus supposed to remember about him? What good was there to remember about this failure of a man? What gave the robber the gall to ask such a thing of Jesus?
The only place he could have gotten such gall was in the words and actions of Jesus. In the way that Jesus was suffering and dying; in the words that people were saying about Jesus; in the plague above Jesus’ head; He didn’t portray the picture of someone who would hold grudges. He didn’t portray the picture of an angry and blood thirsty Messiah who wanted to damn people. He wanted to save people. He was gentle and kind, forgiving and caring. His whole death portrayed a powerful picture of mercy and forgiveness. The Holy Spirit worked through this whole picture of Christ and emboldened the robber to ask the impossible; that Jesus would mercifully remember the robber.
Where was Jesus supposed to remember Dismas from? When you come into your kingdom. Yes, somehow and in some way Dismas was convinced that this was not the end of Jesus’ life or the end of His kingdom; but that even through this death that Jesus was establishing His kingdom and entering it. What a profound faith! What a foolish request! It was deeper than any of the disciples who had run from Jesus and any women who were standing at the foot of the cross. He believed that Jesus was going to rule and have memory even from the grave. So in faith he asked Jesus to have mercy and he also believed Jesus would rule.
Jesus said something that would even sound more foolish to the human ear. He who was hanging on the cross and dying as a criminal confirmed His mercy within Dismas’ heart by promising him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus promised this believer who happened to also be a convicted criminal and mocker that he would be with him in paradise.
What a sweet and enlightening thing to hear! Jesus would forget all about Dismas’ past and give him a heavenly future, on the same day of Dismas’ death. God worked faith in one of the most hardened criminals who had just earlier hurled insults at Jesus! Just prior to his death he was rescued from the gates of hell, not given the eternal hell he deserved; all through faith in the Messiah hanging next to him.
Sometime in life we will all find ourselves either hanging on a cross of some sort or watch someone else hanging on for their own life. It is at that point that you will face the shadow and light of Gestas and Dismas. A part of you will want to shake your fist at God, wondering why He didn’t give you more special treatment as a Christian and keep you from such suffering. Yet you will also fear that there is a reason behind this, that you haven’t lived a life that deserves any better. The shadows will creep in you.
When you find yourself hanging by a thread; feeling the weight of justice on your head with an utter feeling of worthlessness, say a simple prayer to Jesus, “Remember me.” It is not a prayer of arrogance. It is a prayer of faith and hope; recognize that Jesus does not hate you. God doesn’t have it out for you. He loves you. He died for you. He wants you in heaven.
If Jesus’ sacrifice paid for the Dismas and his insults and gave him a clear bill even so late in his life, then why would you think His mercy and forgiveness has changed or would be any different with you? You have no reason to turn to the shadow of Gestas, when you have already been shown the light of Dismas. Remember who Jesus is when you face suffering and death and He will remember who you are; His baptized child that He has forgiven and He loves into paradise. Amen.
