TITLE: I DON’T KNOW
SCRIPTURE: ST. LUKE 23:39-43 / II CORINTHIANS 5:21
This particular text is ordinarily reserved for Holy Week or Good Friday Service. However, it is a text that we should examine as often as we can. We are somewhat familiar with the text, and I challenge you this morning to stay with me as I believe there is a message here for each of us. Two evildoers — criminals – were facing their just deserts. They did the crime and now had to ‘face the punishment.’
• MATTHEW and MARK tell us they were robbers
• They preyed on the innocent
• They cared nothing for their neighbor’s wellbeing
We might regard death by crucifixion as too severe a penalty for robbery, but it would be good if robbers were as afraid of severe justice as innocent citizens are of being robbed. Those lawless thugs were only getting what they deserved. The Bible doesn’t question the justice of their penalty. Crucifixion was not an execution method for common criminals - it was reserved for enemies of the state. Crucifixion was saved for people the Roman Empire wanted to make examples of - people who had committed crimes like insurrection - civil disobedience - treason. It’s why Jesus was crucified. The message sent to the commoners by a body left to rot on a cross was simple --
• Don’t oppose the State (the government) or the systems of the state
• Don’t mess with the ones who are making a profit from those systems
• Because if you do, you will end up hanging on a tree at the edge of the city
Today, we live in a time --
• When sin is de?ned as disease
• When violence and adultery are no longer sins but elements in a dysfunctional relationship
• When cheating on a spouse is now viewed simply as ‘an entanglement’
• When repentance is out of style
• When the Gospel of self-grati?cation - self-esteem - and just plain sel?shness has silenced the judgment of God’s law as taught in the Ten Commandments
Had you gone to Jerusalem that day so long ago, and had you gone just outside the wall to the north, out through the Damascus Gate, there you would have seen a rocky outcropping. And there, you would have seen three crosses, with three men on those crosses. During Jesus’ six agonizing hours on the cross,
• Jesus made seven statements, and none was more shocking than His offer of mercy to the Dying Thief
It’s 9 a.m. on Friday morning, and Jesus is being led to Golgotha, the site of His execution. You would have seen on that one cross a thief to the left. And a thief to the right as well. On that middle cross would have been the very Son of God.
• Someone has observed that Jesus did not die in a cathedral between two candles
• He died on a cross between two nameless criminals
• We don’t know the names of either one of these men
• It is the only time we read about them in the Bible
• Three men died that day on a cross
o One was a Savior
o One was a Sinner
o One was a Saint
• Each of the three dying men has something to say to us
Jesus is surrounded by scoffers. The priests ridiculed Jesus as did many in the crowds of Jerusalem during that holiday weekend so many years ago.
• God, the Father, selected some sorry company for Jesus’ last hours
• Jesus was a sheep surrounded by wolves
With convicts on both sides of Him, Jesus hung there for hours, hearing every single syllable of ridicule. Nobody knows who arranged that Jesus died between these two thieves. No, we don’t know how it exactly happened, except it is a fulfillment of scripture because the Prophet Isaiah predicted the Messiah would be crucified with what he called “the wicked”
If we listen, we hear whispered cries from friends and loved ones - hushed conversations and condolences to the family - “I’m so sorry…”"he was so young..." and only the sound of the wind fills the silence between the tears. But among the witnesses, there are also mockers. Those who, for whatever reason, thought it amusing to poke fun at the condemned Jesus. Maybe they were desensitized; maybe they were trying to alleviate some of the horror of it all.
• Making jokes in painful situation tends to ease our discomfort
• We even have a name for it
• We call it “comic relief”
• Humor distances us from intimacy - from the atrocity that we are allowing to happen before our eyes, or even participating
• If we can make a joke, we can push down the nauseous feeling that rises within us
• We can distract us from the repulsiveness of human suffering
But what’s different is that in this scene, one of the suffering; the thief on the left found a place among the mockers. Although, I don’t think he was a mocker at first. I’m not going to spend much time on this man because he’s really not worth spending much time on. Listen to his demand according to ST. LUKE 23:39 “ONE OF THE CRIMINALS WHO WERE HANGED RAILED AT HIM, SAYING, ‘ARE YOU NOT THE CHRIST? SAVE YOURSELF AND US!’” RAILING AT HIM -- The words “RAILED AT HIM” is the phrase that gives us the word “blasphemy.”
• He was doing more than insulting Jesus
• He was using every profane, vile word in the book
• His language was X-rated
• Why he was taking out his punishment on Jesus is an entirely different conversation
This second thief hanging on the cross who was wonderfully saved was not so sympathetic to Jesus at first. In fact, Matthew records that at first, he too, was singing in the choir of the critics as they mocked and ridiculed the Lord Jesus ST. MATTHEW 27:44 records “AND THE ROBBERS WHO WERE CRUCIFIED WITH HIM ALSO REVILED HIM IN THE SAME WAY” – notice that is ‘plural.’
In the beginning, this second thief ridicules Jesus. He mocked Jesus just as the others did. But somewhere amidst the pain and the agony, a transformation took place. his ridicule turned into reverence. We are not told precisely what precipitated the change in the dying thief.
• Was it the silence of Jesus who refused to answer His critics?
• Was it the words of forgiveness - “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO”
• No matter what caused it, a radical change happened in a matter of minutes
• If we would only learn this from our Pulpits today
• We don’t need to respond to everything
• We don’t need to defend ourselves from critics
• If we could just learn to love unconditionally and let that shine from our pulpits, we would see many more transformed lives today
Why did the one believe while the other did not? We don’t know. We know that our Lord preached a powerful Gospel sermon to both of the robbers as he suffered between the two of them. “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY DO!”
• The innocent prays for the guilty!
• The victim prays for those who murdered him
• Jesus is our Priest
• While offering himself on the altar of the cross as he bore the sin of the world, he prays for those who mocked and slandered Him
• He intercedes for the guilty
• This is what the robbers heard
That’s what Jesus was doing by remaining on the cross. That was why he was there. He was not going to come off of that cross until he had done what he came to do -- save the whole world from the hell it so richly deserved.
• The dying thief was facing eternity
• Dying next to him was the only way to an eternity in fellowship with God
• Dying next to him was his Savior
The thief on the right realizes that Jesus has been sentenced to death for standing up against the systems of corruption in the world - both Governmental and Religious. The very same systems he had been a participant. He sees that Jesus’ way, although it led him to death, is the only way to peace - to making the world whole - to righteousness.
• Jesus hangs on the cross with no guilt
• Jesus hangs on the cross with no shame about the things he has done
• Jesus hangs on the cross with no remorse about corrupt actions
• He is transforming the world and dying for it
The dying thief never asked Jesus to get him off the cross. Unlike the first thief, he didn’t come to Jesus to negotiate - “I’ll follow you if you agree with my terms.”
• The first thief is more concerned with saving his skin than his soul
• While the second thief is more concerned with saving his soul than his skin
• He Came Around
• He Admitted His Sin
• He Asked for Forgiveness
The dying thief realized his sin nailed him to the cross. But he also realized that his sin nailed Jesus to the cross. ST. LUKE 23:41 “AND WE INDEED JUSTLY, FOR WE ARE RECEIVING THE DUE REWARD OF OUR DEEDS; BUT THIS MAN HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG.” I don’t know where the dying thief would have gathered this from. Maybe He spoke to Jesus sometime earlier in their lives. Maybe He heard Jesus Preach – Teach - Heal.
• I really don’t know because the Bible doesn’t tell us
• I don’t know where he got it - but he did get it
• Jesus had never sinned
The Bible describes Jesus on the cross this way – II CORINTHIANS 5:21 “FOR OUR SAKE HE MADE HIM TO BE SIN WHO KNEW NO SIN, SO THAT IN HIM WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.” Jesus never did one thing wrong.
The dying thief had eyes of faith. He asked for GRACE. He says to Jesus -
• I am Guilty - but you are Guiltless
• I am a Criminal - but you are a King
• I am Hopeless - but you are my only Hope
• I am a Sinner - and you are the Savior
If this man could believe in Jesus before His resurrection, how can you not believe after His resurrection? the penitence of the penitent thief did not make him worthy to enter Paradise.
• The blood shed for him made him worthy
• But no one can believe in Jesus except the penitent
To be penitent is to be sorry for your sins. There cannot be sorrow for sins where there is no sin. When sin is de?ned away there is no longer any sorrow for it and no faith in a Savior who suffered to take it away. Those whose hearts bleed for openly unrepentant sinners and who refuse to condemn their sins may think that their bleeding hearts will bene?t these people. But only Christ’s blood can bene?t a sinner and he must know he is a sinner before he can receive any bene?t.
Now, you may know where Jesus died - and you may know when Jesus died - and you may even know how Jesus died - but to really experience life change, you must understand why Jesus died. “AND HE SAID TO HIM, ‘TRULY, I SAY TO YOU, TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE’”
• This man just asked for a place in the back of the bus, and Jesus puts him in first-class
• I like the word “Today”
• No purgatory
• No soul-sleep
• But simply absent from the body, present with the Lord
• That man’s soul was in heaven before Kirk Funeral Home heard he was dead
The first person Jesus took to heaven with him was a murderous, cutthroat thief. What a day for the dying thief!
• In the morning, he is in prison
• At noon, he is suffering punishment
• In the evening, he is in Paradise!
The Greek word for Paradise, the word we often mistake for Heaven is PARADISIO. It refers to the Garden of Eden - a state of delight - a place where all things are just - fair - whole. Jesus knew what it would take to bring the world to Paradise - it would cost him his life.
Let me close with my spiritual imagination and tell you what I believed must have happened after this Thief and Jesus closed their eyes in death on this side. Jesus g0t the crucified Thief to Paradise, let me use my spiritual imagination to get into Paradise.
--Angel at the Reception Station sees this man standing before him to enter into the Kingdom of God
--Imagine if the dying thief had been interviewed by this angel as he arrived later that day
--The angel said, “What are you doing here?”
--And our friend, the thief says, “I don’t know”
--“What do you mean you don’t know?”
--“I don’t know!”
--“On what basis on you here?”
--“The Man on the middle cross invited me
--The Angel said, well wait right here I need to get my supervisor, the Angel in Charge
--The Supervising Angels said to this dying Thief , “I’m not sure we can let you in” -- “Can you tell me about your Conversion?”
--The Thief once again responds “I Don’t Know”
--Well, were you a member of the First Baptist Church – First Christian Church – First Church of God in Christ – First Methodist Church?
--I don’t know about any of those things – I don’t know
--Well, can you tell me about the day you were Baptized?
--I don’t know what that is either – I don’t know
--Well…how much did you tithe each year?
--Don’t know what that means either – I don’t know
--Can you tell me about the Articles of Faith or the Church Covenant?
--I don’t know
--Well, can you tell me about the Doctrine of Salvation?
--No, I don’t know any of that – I don’t know
--Can you tell me how many people you lead to Jesus
--Oh, now that name I recognize
--On a Hill called Calvary, hanging on an Od Rugged Cross, it was there I met a man by the name of Jesus
--I told him I was sorry for the way I lived my life and asked him whenever He gets to His Kingdom, just remember me
--He told me Today, I would be with Him in Paradise
--It was because of him that he saw through me and heard my heart
--I can hear the Angel respond
--I know why you are here
--Not because you were a Robber
--Not because you were a Thief
--Not because you were an Insurrectionist
--You were not a member in good standing at any local church
--You did not serve in any of the multitude of ministries found in the churches today
--But because of His Amazing Grace
--It was Grace
--I don’t know anything else but his Amazing Grace
--I don’t know much this morning
--I know I have been preaching many years, but I know this much
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
