We don’t know how much time elapsed between Jesus’ FIRST word from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (which we looked at last week), and his SECOND, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Neither do we know the names of either of the two criminals crucified with Jesus, the one at his right and the other at his left; they are never identified in any of the gospels. According to one of the many legends, Dismas was the name of the good thief and Gestas, the bad one. Luke uses the Greek word “kakougos” to describe them meaning criminal or evil-doer, one who commits gross misdeeds and serious crimes, while some of the other gospel writers use the term “lestes” meaning robber, highwayman, bandit. They were probably common thieves who would attack small groups of travelers on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. They would strip them of their possessions and sometimes leave them for dead such as the victim in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Regardless, the Bible paints a portrait of two very bad men. 

After a period of time, one of the criminals begins to taunt Jesus. Joining the chorus of mockers, he says, “Are you not the Christ? Then save yourself and us!” If Jesus is INDEED a king, then he should exercise whatever royal authority he has by summoning his army to come and rescue him from that cross and the two of them WITH him. That’s when an unexpected protest comes from the OTHER thief, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed JUSTLY; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done NOTHING wrong.” 

We can assume that neither criminal had any idea of who Jesus was, that they had never heard him preach or watched him teach or witnessed any of his miracles prior to that morning. Their only knowledge of him came from either the shouts of the crowd or the sign over his head which declared him to be “King of the Jews.” Observing Christ himself, they had heard him ask his Heavenly Father to pardon his executioners and then observed the compassion and nobility with which he faced death. Yet that was all it took to convince the one that there was something MORE to this man for he certainly didn’t sound or act like any criminal HE had ever known. Thus, where both men had mocked him earlier in this scene, now one of the thieves has a change of heart and mind and defends Christ from the accusations of the OTHER. 

In what was probably the first and LAST prayer the man had ever made, he turns to Jesus and says, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Without the slightest understanding as to what kind of king Jesus was or even what kind of kingdom he came to represent, all he asks is that when he enters it--wherever or WHATEVER it might be--to please REMEMBER him. It is a request that is as humble as it gets. While nailed to his OWN cross, a condemned man looks to the one dying beside him and simply asks that he take pity upon him by just being REMEMBERED- that was all! 

Jesus replies, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Now “paradise” was a Persian word which came to mean a private park enclosed by some kind of a wall, and then, specifically, where the king relaxed with his close friends. It was often associated with the Garden of Eden- a symbol of the hope that God would ultimately establish his kingdom upon this earth. Here, paradise is the place where the souls of the redeemed would enjoy fellowship with the Messiah until the final consummation at the Second Coming. 

Jesus was promising him salvation and that even dying scandalously on a cross would not prevent him from entering into NEW life with him that very day. Where the WORLD might view him as nothing more than a BAD MAN, a CONDEMNED CRIMINAL who got what he DESERVED, in the eyes of GOD, he would forever be his BELOVED CHILD- one destined for an inheritance NO ONE could take away. Here we see that according to divine logic, it was far better for the man to die a condemned criminal and yet be REMEMBERED by his Heavenly Father than to be a great and powerful potentate who couldn’t care less whether he was remembered or NOT. Thus, in the Last Day--the Day of Judgment--this criminal would have a more PROMINENT place in Christ’s kingdom than any of those religious or political leaders who had acted earlier as our LORD’S judge.

There are three point about this scene I want to underscore. The FIRST is that here, amidst this scene of tragedy and death, Jesus welcomes a criminal into his kingdom, and not just a COMMON thief but one of the WORST kind. Some commentators are convinced that the two may have been “terrorists” bent on the overthrow of Caesar’s rule and the destruction of the House of Herod. Regardless, they could have been serial killers or even CHILD MOLESTERS for that matter- the WORST OF THE WORST. Still, it points out that no one and I mean NO ONE is EVER beyond the pale of Christ’s love and forgiveness. Our God is the God of second chances and even if we’ve squandered THAT opportunity, there remains a third and a fourth and even a FIFTH chance at redemption. 

And if there’s no limit to the NUMBER OF TIMES God forgives us, neither is there any limit to the HEIGHTS or DEPTHS of the sins for which we may be forgiven. God’s grace is such that EVERYONE, REGARDLESS of how heinous, is a candidate for grace and thus a recipient of new life. This is why Jesus was constantly reaching out to those whom society had deemed as criminal or useless and expendable, whether they were lepers or prostitutes, tax collectors, the demon possessed, or a thief being crucified beside him. This is why St. Paul, the GREATEST APOSTLE of the early church, never stopped calling himself the CHIEF of sinners- because he had persecuted the church by imprisoning Christians and even stoning many of them to death. With all the blood on his hands, he never stopped thanking and praising God for such undeserved mercy and love.

Within a few miles of my church in Indiana, there is a place called “The Shrine of Christ’s Passion” where Christians of all stripe--Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or non-denominational--come to make a pilgrimage. It’s set on thirty acres and there you can see forty life-size bronze figures placed among landscaped gardens that recreate the Stations of the Cross. You can sit with Jesus at the Last Supper, journey with Him along the path to His crucifixion, enter the empty tomb, and finally witness His glorious Ascension into Heaven. You can’t help visit it without coming away with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the love of God. I’ve taken a number of groups over the years where I’ve even held Communion services with Jesus sitting at table right beside me. 

Towards the end of your visit, you climb a hill called Golgotha where you come to the three crosses with Christ nailed to the middle one and the two thieves crucified on each side of him. However, the thief to Jesus’ right looks conspicuously different from any of the other figures one sees at the shrine. This is because it bears the face of the sculptor HIMSELF. He used HIMSELF for the model of one of the thieves because he understood himself to be no LESS a sinner than the THIEF did. In this way, he was saying that the thief on the cross represents every one of us, that NO ONE is any better than either of the criminals who were crucified beside our Lord. 

Martin Luther once wrote:

My dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say: “Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou has taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine. Thou has taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.”

And then he says this:

Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. FOR CHRIST DWELLS ONLY IN SINNERS…

Do you hear that- Christ dwells ONLY in sinners. He came just for sinners and died only for sinners and dwells only in sinners and if you can’t recognize YOURSELF as a sinner, then you don’t NEED Christ nor REQUIRE any of his grace. Jesus HIMSELF said that he had come, NOT for the healthy but for those in need of a DOCTOR, and if you CAN’T see yourself this morning as sick or ailing or diseased--AS ONE OF THE CRIMINALS ON THAT CROSS--then you’ll never be able to understand or appreciate the love and mercy and grace that our Lord is constantly extending our way.

The SECOND point I want to leave you is this: that the thief on the cross was certainly in no position to do anything about his situation; he could not atone for his sins or make amends to any of his victims- he was well BEYOND any of that! All he COULD do was turn his face in the direction of Jesus and without even understanding what kind of a king he was or where his kingdom was located, simply utter the words, “Jesus, REMEMBER ME.” That was all- just “PLEASE Jesus, whatever you do, do NOT forget me.”

Those words recall a well-known incident in the Old Testament. Way back in Genesis, Joseph was in prison where he made a SIMILAR request of his cellmate--Pharaoh’s chief butler--who was then about to be released. He asked of him, “When all goes well with you REMEMBER me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.(Genesis 40:14) However, the chapter ends with those chilling words, “He (Pharaoh) restored the chief butler to his butlership…Yet the chief butler did NOT remember Joseph, but FORGOT him.”(Gen. 40:21-23) The good news for that thief is also good news for US this morning, and that is that Jesus Christ promises he will NEVER forget us, he will NEVER ignore us, NEVER disregard us, or NEVER neglect our request- EVER! Rather, he hears our humble appeal and in response, offers US the SAME promise he made to that thief, “This day, you shall be with me in Paradise!”