Not all heroes die a noble death. Jacques de Lalaing, the flower of knighthood, who
was considered the pattern of chivalry for all of Europe, and who was called the last hero
of romance, died an early death in 1453. It was not of a lover’s broken heart, or in a
tournament with his flag flying. He walked into a cannon ball fired by a shopkeeper in
the little town of Ghent. That was not a very noble way for a hero to die, and the fact is
many of the heroes of history die very ignoble deaths.
There is nothing very glamorous about being fed to lions, or about being burned at
the stake, or even dying in a wreck, or by a disease. When you come right down to it,
there are not very many ways to die that are noble and glorious. It ought not to bother
us as to how we die, however, for this passage we are looking at reveals to us that the very
first saint to enter paradise died in the most horrible and ignoble way. He died on the
cross a victim of capital punishment in the worst possible way. Nevertheless, he is one of
the heroes of Christian history. It was not because of the way he died, but because of the
faith he expressed before he died. Because of his faith Good Friday was good for him
long before it was dreamed to be good for anybody else. He was not only first in
paradise, but he was the first man to experience the goodness of Good Friday. He died
on that day, but it was also the day he began to live forever. It was already Easter for
him. When I was just a small boy in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the lights went dim one
night and we all knew why. The only man ever to be electrocuted in the State
Penitentiary, just up the hill from where I lived, had just come to his inglorious end.
Years later I learned that George Sitts had put his faith in Christ months before he was
strapped in that electric chair. He studied his Bible and wrote his testimony that was
published for millions to read. He left this world by a horrible and disgraceful method,
but like the thief on the cross he died in faith.
Faith or the lack of faith is the difference between heaven and hell. There is no way
to over-emphasize the necessity and value of faith. Charles Wesley wrote, “Faith, mighty
faith the promise sees, and rests on that alone; Laughs at impossibilities, and says it shall
be done.” Only faith has the audacity to believe in the impossible and be hopeful in a
hopeless situation. What could be more hopeless than to be dying on a cross as a thief,
who is being rejected by society? Such is the setting we see on Calvary, and yet, faith
brings a dazzling glory into that dismal gloom. This dying thief, after rebuking his
criminal companion for his lack of faith, and after revealing his awareness of his own sin
and guilt, turned to the center cross and said, “Lord remember me when you come into
your kingdom.
If ever a man had reason to be pessimistic about the future it was this dying thief,
whom tradition has called Dumas. He had no future whatever according to the eye of
flesh, but Dumas saw the future through the eye of faith, and he had hope. He did not say
to Jesus that he wanted to be remembered if he came into his kingdom. He said he
wanted to be remembered when he came into his kingdom. He had complete confidence
that Jesus would be a victorious and conquering King who one day would rule over a
kingdom. That conviction was based on faith, for the evidence for it was conspicuous by
its absence. Jesus was dying just like he was. It looked as if his future was to be short
and filled with nothing but pain. He did not have the evidence of the resurrection like we
do. He did not have a long history of the power of Christ to change lives. All he had to
build his faith on was the presence of the suffering Savior.
Tholuck rightly asks, “Did ever the new birth take place in so strange a cradle?”
Calvary was a most unlikely context for a conversion. There was no beautiful church, no
glorious music, no flowers or choir. The environment was all wrong, for it was a setting
of horror and hate. The one positive factor that gave birth to faith, however, was the
eloquent love of Christ in the midst of that hate. “Father forgive them for they know not
what they do.” It was this attitude of Christ’s love for His enemies that convinced Dumas
that Jesus was more than a man. He was convinced that Jesus had a future even though
He was dying. He believed that Jesus would conquer death and come again and establish
His kingdom. Dumas wanted in on that kingdom and so in faith he said to his new- found
King, “Remember me.”
Faith enabled him to be optimistic about the future even in his situation. Someone
said, “Faith is the daring of the soul to go further than it can see.” Those who live
according to what they can see only do not live in faith. The present facts are often
negative, but faith recognizes that the play of life must be judged by the ending, and not
the difficult scenes along the way. Faith believes that God is an author and director who
will bring his production to a happy ending. Francis Quarles wrote,
My soul, sit thou a patient looker-on,
Judge not the play before the play is done.
Her plot hath many changes, everyday;
Speaks a new scene, the last act crowns the play.
Had Dumas lacked faith he, like all those around him, would have looked at Calvary
as the final scene. It was a dismal conclusion, and his companion shouted out to Jesus,
“Save your self and us.” In other words, non-faith says its now or never. If you don’t
save us now there is no salvation. Faith, however, says that even this tragic scene in
which we die is not the end if there is a king who can conquer death and establish a
kingdom after death. Dumas could read the sign above the cross of Jesus, which said,
“Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.” He could observe the reaction of Jesus to the
hatred of those around him, and also His love for His mother. This convinced him that
Jesus was the Messiah. He became one of the world’s great non-conformists at this
point, and he went against the crowds, the community leadership, and his own companion
in crime to put his trust in this dying King.
Dumas saw none of the miracles of Jesus, but only His misery. No lepers were cured;
no blind were made to see. There was no mass feeding, no storm stilled, and no walking
on water. All the evidence to the eye was negative, and yet he had faith in Christ. If ever
a man had faith in the unseen, it was him. John Calvin wrote, “How clear was the vision
of the eyes which could see in death life, in ruin majesty, in shame glory, in defeat victory,
in slavery royalty. I question if ever since the world began there has been so bright an
example of faith.” What an example of salvation by faith alone. He was not baptized and
never partook of communion. He never joined a church and never gave a dime, and he
never did a good deed, but that day he entered paradise with nothing but faith in the one
who could save him.
As profound as his faith was, it is also a great example of the simplicity of faith. This
thief did not know the answer to dozens of questions about the future. He did not know
how Jesus could conquer death, rise again and establish a kingdom. He had no answer to
the complexities of end time theology. All he knew was that he trusted Jesus to
remember him. If Jesus let him down he was sunk. Christian faith is simply trust in a
person and not a conviction that your creed is foolproof and covers the mystery of
theology accurately. Faith is trust in Christ and a confidence that the future is bright
because He will remember you and receive you into His kingdom. Faith is always
optimistic about the future because it is a trust in the power of Christ to bring any life to
a happy ending. Someone wrote,
If I stoop into a dark, tremendous sea of cloud,
It is but for a time; I press God’s lamp
Close to my breast, its splendor, soon or late,
Will pierce the gloom; I shall emerge one day.
Jesus confirmed the faith of Dumas on the spot. He promised him that that very day
he would be with Him in paradise. If ever there was a man who needed a purgatory
before paradise it was him, but Jesus says that He would immediately be with Him. From
hell on earth to paradise in the same day-no one can afford such a trip, for the cost is
infinite, but Jesus offers it freely to all who will, like this dying thief, turn to Him in faith.
