Grace Under Pressure: With Me in Paradise

Introduction

Kingston, Ontario sits on the north side of Lake Ontario and is a couple hours north of Syracuse. Kingston is known as the "Limestone City" because of the many old buildings in town that have been built from the nearby limestone quarry using limestone rock. Many of the buildings were built with the labor of inmates from nearby Kingston Penitentiary who would cut and transport the rock from the quarry to the building sites. On such building is a church built near the Penitentiary in 1892. The priest at that church was also the chaplain for the prison. Many members of the church were prison employees. Fittingly, the name of this church was “The Church of the Good Thief”. Above the door of the church is a stone statue of St. Dismas, in Catholicism, the patron saint of prisoners and criminals. The church finally closed its doors in 2013, but it still stands as a monument to the thief on the cross rescued by Jesus in his last hours.

The story of the thief on the cross is one of the most comforting stories in all of the Bible. It resonates with all of us. We see ourselves there and we know Jesus’ words are for us.

The Backstory

Last week we began a series of Bible talks that are looking at the final words of Jesus on the cross, the seven last sayings of Jesus as he dies a horrible death. Grace Under Pressure is a look at those final words through the lens of stress, in the most stressful event in the history of the world.

Jesus’ very first words were not for himself, but for you and for me:

Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus’s words of forgiveness are directed not just at the soldiers crucifying him, the religious leaders who have brought this about, the crowds that are scorning him, but are also words of forgiveness directed towards you and me. Even in those moments when we’re blind to our sins, Jesus has us covered. Even when we act out of stress instead of acting out of love, Jesus is speaking to the Father in our defense and giving us forgiveness again.

But the fascinating thing about this statement is one that I think we can miss. Before Jesus even says this, here’s what Dr. Luke is writing in his biography:

Luke 23:32-33 “Two others—criminals—were also led away to be executed with him. When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.”

And then Jesus says, Father forgive them. They do not know what they are doing. As you’re reading this, you’re like OK, Jesus is crucified among criminals, and then the camera pans away to the soldiers and to the crowd.. Father forgive them.

The Temptation

But more is going on here, especially in light of this forgiveness Jesus gives. First, note the criminals. Jesus is crucified with notorious criminals on death row. Picture Jesus wearing an orange jump suit on his way to the hill.

Watch what happens after Jesus says “They don’t know what they are doing”.

Luke 23:35 The leaders were scoffing: “He saved others; let him save himself if this is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One!”

Luke 23:36-37 The soldiers also mocked him. They came offering him sour wine and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!”

Luke 23:39 “Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

You see the pattern? Three times there is scoffing and mocking:

The leaders scoffed.

The soldiers mocked.

One of the criminals insulted.

And three times the scoff is the same:

Let him save himself.

Save yourself.

Save yourself and us.

You thought the temptation was over in the desert when Satan tempted Jesus? When Jesus was tempted in the garden of Gethsemane? One last time, Jesus is being tempted.. during the most stressful situation in the history of the world. Stress added on stress. Mocking. And temptation. Save yourself. Save yourself. Save yourself. You can’t imagine the stress. You can’t imagine the loud shrieks from the crowd. The noise. The pain. Save yourself.

And that noise is loudest right next door. One of the criminals being crucified. We call these guys thieves, but that’s from Matthew and Mark’s biographies. Dr. Luke is not interested in telling us the crime. He wants us to see criminal. The orange jumpsuit. The Death Row. Most likely these guys were terrorists. They are on death row because they are a threat to Rome and Rome’s interests.

So what does this terrorist do with those final hours of his life? He joins in with the soldiers and religious leaders in their mockery of Jesus. He is temptation #3. His temptation has a bit of irony. Save yourself and us. Us. Funny thing is, Jesus is about to do that very thing, by not saving himself.

A Desperate Criminal

In the noise and hubbub of what’s happening… there’s one who has been listening. Not listening to the crowd, not listening to the religious leaders. He’s been listening to Jesus. “Father, forgive them.” And he hears himself in the “them”. “Father, forgive them. That’s gotta be me!” The other criminal, the one who isn’t mocking, seems to really get what is going on, more so in this moment at the cross than anyone else after Jesus says this first word of forgiveness. We don’t even know his name. But we know what he has had heard. What he has seen. And what he believes in the simplest form about Jesus.

And he’s the one who responds to the terrorist. Not Jesus.

Luke 23:40-41 “But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.””

In the midst of the hostile crowd that could inflict even more pain and hurt upon this criminal as he hung upon the cross, he chooses instead to speak up for Jesus. He realizes that death is close at hand, the fear of his own sinfulness and the perfection of God is at the forefront of his mind. He sees Jesus and realizes that Jesus is innocent. He has done nothing wrong. But when he looks at himself, he acknowledges I am getting the wages of my sin, and the wages of my sin and you my fellow criminal is death.

Trying to live the perfect life with no sin, is not just hard it is impossible. Something that this criminal on the cross realizes so instead of trying to be better, instead of trying to make up, as if you ever could, he does get his messed up life in order, he does the right thing to do when faced with sin.

This criminal is desperate. This is his going for broke. He has nothing to lose. He is sorrowful and repentant. He confesses his sin; he tells the truth. “And we indeed are condemned justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds”(Luke 23:41). The thief recognizes his sin and does the only thing you can really do with his sin and confesses it. Yet he doesn’t stop with the confession of his own sin, he turns in faith in recognition in acknowledgment of the one who hangs in the middle.

And in doing so he confesses Christ: “But this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). He is pure, holy, and innocent. We are guilty, justly convicted. Did the thief understand all the implications of what he was saying? What did he actually know of Jesus? Surely he heard Jesus’ first words from the cross, the Prayer that says Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Had what he heard and seen about Jesus before today so now here at cross finally it all come together for him by the power of the Spirit.

There is much we don’t know about him, his name, his crime, what all he knew about Jesus, but we do know his own dying prayer.

Luke 23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Of all the people to address Jesus, he is the only one to use Jesus’ name without some other title like teacher, or master or Lord. He simply calls him “Jesus.” Familiar, direct, no flattery—Jesus. Death is the great leveler; it puts everyone on a first-name basis.

So what does this terrorist who has confessed his crime and accepted his punishment dare to ask of Jesus? Remember me when you come into your kingdom!

He realizes that Jesus really is a king not just of the Jews as the sign over him reads in Latin, Greek and Aramaic, Jesus is King of all. And King Jesus welcomes sinners, just like this criminal. Yet trusting in Jesus to be true to his words of life and forgiveness he makes a seemingly small request, , Jesus remember me. He doesn’t ask to be spared the agonies of death nor be rescued simply remembered.

The Promise

In the hour of this criminal’s greatest pain, moments before his death, the person he recognizes as the perfect, guiltless, King pronounces to him words of life and forgiveness and hope.

Luke 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Right then and there, the King bestowed upon the thief the gift of eternal life. Paradise is another name for the garden of Eden. We read earlier that Jesus is referring to the final garden… the garden where there is eternal life and eternal wonder. That’s so great and wonderful… the criminal who places his faith in Jesus gets to go to the garden of God and Jesus will be there too. But that’s not the wonder here. Really.

We cheapen this glorious story when we focus on paradise here. When we focus on the criminal and his faith, and isn’t it wonderful he put his trust in Jesus at the last moment. That is in fact wonderful. But don’t you see? Don’t you get it? Do you even hear the words Jesus is actually using?

YOU WILL BE WITH ME.

The wonder and the glory and the absolutely insane thing about this entire episode is The Promise. You will be with me. That’s a Promise. Again and again and again and again in the Old Testament God had Promised to be with His people. And then God becomes human and his name is Emmanuel. God with us. We talk about this at Christmas quite a bit. The baby in the manger is Emmanuel. And in the middle of all the noise and all the stress there is unbelievable grace: I am going to be Emmanuel for you. You get everything Israel ever wanted. You get everything God ever wanted with humanity. God started the whole thing desiring to be with Adam and Eve and they blew it up.

And as God dies for humanity, on God’s lips to a criminal that deserves death is this: you will be with me. You get it all. The best thing about Jesus’ statement isn’t the paradise. It’s the Promise: You will be with me.

That Promise was for the criminal. That promise is for us. That promise is for you. Whatever else is going on in the picture of our salvation and what happens for us in salvation, at the center of it all is the Promise that God makes over and over and over again in his Word: You Will Be With Me.

It’s not about the criminal’s works. It’s not even about how good he is because he had the faith and the other criminal didn’t. What this is about is Jesus responding to a desperate sinner with a Promise and then delivering on that Promise at the worst possible time in the history of the world. That same Jesus will be good on that Promise. He is good on that Promise today in His Word and in His Sacrament. And he is good on that word when you take your last breath: you will be with me.

Christmas seems so long ago. Spring break is upon us. Baseball has arrived. Already, schools are gearing up for the end of the year. Plans are being made for summer vacation. Life and business are at high throttle trying to get it all done before the summer lull. Christmas is so yesterday. But it's precisely for these moments Christmas is needed more than ever. Because of Emmanuel. God with us.

God with us is at the heart of the Good Friday story. This story. As a Promise. And what a Promise it is. A Promise we need to hear again and again. For us. For our stress. You will be with me.

Let’s Pray.

This Table is God With Us. This Table is Christ’s Promise: you will be with me. It is here that Jesus shows up and provides us paradise. Everything here is everything we look forward to at the final resurrection and the New Heavens New Earth. Jesus present with us all of the time, giving us of himself.