In Jesus Holy Name March 5, 2023
Lent II Luke 23:43 Redeemer
“Words from the Cross” “Today you will be with me in paradise”
Friday afternoon. It’s another hot day in Jerusalem. Things are worse now. More blood. More screams. The insects swarm around the three naked bodies. There are shouts, restless words from the crowd. Several hundred people have gathered at Golgotha to watch the end. Three men will die.
It hasn’t been an ordinary day. Not that you could ever call crucifixion ordinary. But the Romans did it all the time. It was their favored method for dealing with criminals and troublemakers. There were plenty of easier ways to kill people—and the Romans knew all about those ways, too—but crucifixion had its advantage. The primary one being that crucifixion was such a gruesome spectacle that it caught the public attention.
They were crucifying three men on the eve of the Jewish Passover. That meant the city would be clogged with religious pilgrims. The message would come through loud and clear—Don’t mess with us.
Things had started well enough. The three men were crucified at 9 A.M.—the normal starting time. The crowd was larger than usual, mostly because of the man in the middle, one Jesus of Nazareth. The hard part was nailing the men to the cross. At best it was a bloody ordeal. If the victims struggled (and most of them did),. But the man in the middle had not struggled at all. He looked half-dead before they laid him on the cross. The scourging must have taken a lot out of him.
Suddenly, at noon, everything went dark. The sun disappeared—just like that—and thick darkness settled over the land. It was the darkness of a cave in the middle of the night, thick, ugly darkness that made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. (notes from May 2014, Ray Pritchard Sermon: Last Minute Salvation)
It lasted for three hours.
Jesus of Nazareth hangs in the middle of three crosses. Two men were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
Who were they? Thieves, robbers,.” “members of the criminal class, professional criminals. Maybe they were companions of Barabbas, political revolutionaries bent on overthrowing the yoke of Roman rule.
We do not know their names or their hometowns. Both had been severely beaten before they were crucified, both were covered with blood and dirt. Both men were dying and both would soon be dead. No one could look at them and tell any difference.
But in reality, no two men could be more different. These two men who were crucified on the outer crosses differed on one main point: they saw the man in the middle differently and therefore asked him for different things.
One man wanted escape, not forgiveness. If you are the Messiah…save yourself and us. The other man wanted forgiveness, not escape. One makes a final plea to the Judge of the Universe. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus is hanging next to him, Every movement is agony, every breath torture.
Beneath him the mob shout insults. They jeer, they hiss, they curse, the spit,. It is brutal and inhuman. Yet it is here—at the cross in the midst of death—that this one thief comes to faith in the man in the middle, whose name is Jesus.
Somehow this thief being saw Jesus being crucified as was he and still he believed in him, as the promised Messiah. He is a crucified sinner trusting in a crucified Savior. this man saw him as he really was, the Son of God.
As far as we can tell, he never heard Jesus teaching by the seashore, he never saw Jesus heal the sick or raise the dead, he knew nothing of Jesus’ great parables and never saw any of his miracles.
He evidently knew nothing of the virgin birth, the Old Testament prophecies, the conversation with Nicodemus or the raising of Lazarus just one week earlier. The coming miracle of the resurrection was unknown to him. All the things we take for granted, he knew nothing about.
Yet there on the cross, he came to understand the heart of the gospel. In the crucified Jesus, beaten, mocked, forsaken this thief saw a king and another crown rather than the crown of thorns. One crucified man saw another crucified man and believed in him.
That made the difference between heaven and hell.
What about the prayer of the thief? It is a bit unusual. But it reminds us that God judges the sincerity of our hearts and not the accuracy of our words.
Likewise this dying thief didn’t know all the right words. This thief on the cross was dying for his sins—a guilty man justly punished. He cried out to Jesus and at the very last second he was saved.
The apostle Paul writes: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” Simple. That’s all that is required to be with Jesus in Heaven. Heaven is wherever Jesus is, we will be home for all eternity.
Jesus turned to the dying thief and said: “I tell you the truth, Today you will be with me in paradise.” “Paradise” is the crucial word. This same word was used in the Greek Old Testament to refer to the Garden of Eden; in Revelation 2:7 it refers to heaven. It is a place of beauty, oneness with God our Creator and Savior. A place of and inexpressible joy.
What a day for this criminal. In the morning he’s in prison, at noon he’s hanging on a cross, by sundown he’s in paradise. Out of a life of sin and shame, he passed immediately into eternal life in the presence of Jesus, the Son of God. This is why Jesus came. He came to offer His life on the cross so that God could view the sinner as one forgiven, with out blemish, free from God’s judgment by faith in Jesus.
It’s never too late to turn to Jesus. As long as there is life and breath, as long as the heart still beats, the invitation to receive God’s grace and forgiveness still stands. J. C. Ryle (10 May 1816 – 10 June 1900) was an English evangelical Anglican bishop. In his (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels) he writes:
“Do we want proof that salvation is of grace and not of works? We have it in the case before us. The dying thief was nailed hand and foot to the cross.” He was not baptized. He certainly did not do any good works for the Savior. “He could do literally nothing for his own soul. Yet even he through Christ’s infinite grace was saved. No one ever received such a strong assurance of his own forgiveness as this man.”
Over two hundred years ago William Cowper wrote a famous hymn called There is a Fountain that includes a verse about the dying thief. To my knowledge, this is the only hymn that mentions this man:
“There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see, That fountain in his day.
And there may I though vile as he, Wash all my sins away.”
All that God wants from us . . . and all that he will accept . . . is simple faith in his son, Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in the Lord Jesus, in that very moment we are saved.
The moment our hearts stops beating, the moment our brain waves cease our eyes will open at heaven’s gate. In that moment the risen Jesus will repeat to us the words spoken on the cross. “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Well done thou good and faithful servant. Come enjoy the presence of eternity.
Max Lucado tries to explain how heaven is our home with this comparison. “Take a fish and place him on the beach.2 Watch his gills gasp and scales dry. Is he happy? No! How do you make him happy? Do you cover him with a mountain of cash? Do you get him a beach chair and sunglasses? Do you bring him a Playfish magazine and martini? Do you wardrobe him in double-breasted fins and people-skinned shoes?
Of course not. Then how do you make him happy? You put him back in his element. You put him back in the water. He will never be happy on the beach simply because he was not made for the beach.”
On Earth we know joy and happiness. We know joy when we hold a new born child. We know joy and happiness with our bride on our arm. But our joyous moments and happiest times will be interrupted by the stress of living, the illnesses that come into our bodies.
“…. you will never be completely happy on earth simply because you were not made for earth. Oh, you will have your moments of joy. You will catch glimpses of light. You will know moments or even days of peace. But they simply do not compare with the happiness that lies ahead.
Heaven is beyond our imagination. We cannot envision it. At our most creative moment, at our deepest thought, at our highest level, we still cannot fathom eternity.” Yet, heaven is there waiting for us. Jesus said: “In my Father’s house are many rooms and I will prepare a place for you so that you may be where I am.” When Jesus returns we will be given a glorified resurrected eternal body, just as He has, and all life will return to the “Garden of Eden”, peace, harmony and joy beyond all measure will be there.
There are no better words in all creation but the words from the cross…”Today you will be with me in paradise.”
