Monday
Monday
His Salvation of a Criminal
Jesus answered him [the penitent thief], “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:43
All four evangelists tell us that three crosses were erected at Golgotha (“the place called the Skull” [v. 33]) that fateful morning. They make it plain that Jesus was on the middle cross, while two robbers (“criminals” according to Luke) were crucified on either side of him.
At first both thieves joined in the chorus of hate to which Jesus was now subjected (Matt. 27:44). Only one continued, however, hurling insults at Jesus and challenging him to save himself and them. But the second thief rebuked him saying, “Don’t you fear God … since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly…. But this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40–41). Then, turning to Jesus, the penitent robber said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v. 42).
This ascription of kingship to Jesus is remarkable indeed. No doubt the penitent thief had heard the priests mocking Jesus’s claim to be the king of Israel, and he had probably read the inscription over his head, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” He had also seen Jesus’s quiet, regal dignity. At all events, he had come to believe that Jesus was a king. He had also heard Jesus’s prayer for the forgiveness of his executioners, and forgiveness is what he knew he needed, since he confessed that he was being punished justly.
To his cry to be remembered Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (v. 43). There were no recriminations. He was not reproached that he repented only at the eleventh hour. No doubt was cast on the genuineness of his repentance. Jesus simply gave this penitent believer the assurance he longed for. He promised him not only entry into paradise, involving the joy of Christ’s presence, but an immediate entry that very day. And he assured him of these things with his “I tell you the truth,” the last time he used this familiar formula. I imagine that, during the long hours of pain that followed, the forgiven thief stayed his heart and mind on the sure and saving promise of Jesus.
For further reading: Luke 23:32–43