Luke 23:43 “Today you will be with me in paradise”
Paradise - it’s one of the oldest words in our language. For centuries it has maintained its basic consonantal form. The best we can tell, it is an ancient Persian form that originally referred to a walled garden. The word appears two other times in the New Testament.
Was the criminal’s desire for salvation driven only by fear? Was it a pain-crazed plea from between clenched teeth? Or was it a sincere leap of faith based on sudden contrition?
We don’t know. The sentence could easily have been the first prayer of an entirely misspent life. But the thief asked only once - and needed to ask only once. The Son of God looked over at him and gave His answer: “Today …”
A few hours later, Jesus died.
The thieves clung to life for several hours more. When the soldiers saw that they were alive, they picked up heavy mallets and broke their legs. No longer able to lift up and draw air into their lungs, the two survivors started a grotesque dance, a losing battle with suffocation. Soon, they too hung still and lifeless against the sky.
But one of them awoke in paradise.
Those criminals perfectly represent all humankind. Like them, we have all sinned. Like them, we all deserve death.
Like one of them, many people today will refuse hope, rejecting the possibility that Jesus could really be King. The love, mercy, forgiveness, eternal life, and paradise He offers - all will seem impossible, unbelievable, unreachable, unacceptable.
But some will receive all, simply by asking.
Jesus was stretched out on that cross between criminals so that we can know for ourselves the amazing reach of His love. From every wasted life, from every compromised motive, from every personal hell - it reaches all the way to paradise.
Dear Jesus,
You answered in love the thief crucified beside You. Answer me, I pray. You remembered him; remember me this day. I, too, have been a rebel from birth. In my coveting I have stolen, and in my anger I have murdered. I deserve punishment no less than that dying thief. So look on the one You love and died for. Remember me in Your mercy so that I may deeply know and faithfully express Your love - and live forever with You in paradise. Amen.
Adapted from A Violent Grace, Michael Card, 2000
In His service, and yours
Deacon
