A woman stepped out of her home and saw three old men sitting quietly in her front yard. She did not recognize them, but she saw that they looked tired and hungry. She offered them food, but they refused to enter until her husband was home. When her husband returned, he invited them inside, but the men explained they do not enter into houses all together. They identified themselves as Wealth, Success, and Love. The couple debated which one to invite in. While the husband wanted Wealth, the wife preferred Success, but their daughter suggested inviting Love. Following her advice, the woman invited Love into the home. As Love walked inside, Wealth and Success immediately followed. When asked why, they explained that where there is Love, Wealth and Success will always follow.
At the hill of Calvary we have Jesus on the cross. On one side there is a thief who remained worldly minded along with the majority of the mob. On the other side was a thief who in his final moments recognized the deity of Jesus and who discarded the way of the world.
Jesus described how important this choice is, when in Matthew 7:13-14 He said: ”Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. “
Few of us will ever have that choice put before us quite that same way. With time running and death only minutes away, this man made a life-saving choice which changed everything. Perhaps it was God’s plan for this man to spend his final moments in the presence of the only one who could save him…forever. Each of us face that same choice, but it may not occur to us that time is of the essence or that the results are eternal.
As the potential object of our faith, Jesus remains in the middle, with belief on one side and disbelief on the other. In importance, no other choice comes close.
So, this man who had lived outside of the law and in rebellion against God, became an advocate for Christ. Luke 23 records his confession this way:
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “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.”And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Without hesitation, Jesus responded saying: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The word “paradise” and this is a Greek word derived from Persian, and it refers to a fenced garden, pleasure park, or enclosed paradise. I thought that it was interesting that it comes from the Greek meaning “fenced garden”, it’s almost like a return to what was intended by God in the beginning before the fall in the Garden of Eden.
James the brother of Jesus encouraged this same kind of humility in James 4:6-8, “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”
We can take comfort from Jesus’ response. He want to forgive us and bless us so that we too may join him in paradise, even if that does not happen right away.
Some may think of paradise as a hammock strung between palm trees, on a white tropical beach with turquoise water. But for that to happen, you have to wait to get your passports, wait in traffic to get to the airport. Wait in the different lines at the airport, wait to get on the plane, wait get off the plane, wait to get your luggage, wait for hotel shuttle, wait in traffic again. And then maybe, if there’s space, you could have this brief moment of worldly paradise.
But for those who pass away in Christ they receive the instant blessing of being in the presence of Christ and God the father in the heavenly realm. Think of what Jesus said – in John 14:1-4, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
I came upon a video a little while ago titled “The best two minutes of preaching I’ve ever seen”, so I felt compelled to click on it. It was a Scottish preacher and he repeated a simple statement that stuck with me and I’ll repeat it later and I hope that it sticks with you as well. It was basically a great explanation for everyone’s attitude when asked what right they have to come into paradise or heaven.
Jesus died and gave up his spirit first before the thieves were killed. I just want stop for a moment and emphasize the point that they were killed but in a very real sense, Jesus was not. He gave up his spirit. Those are two very different things. No one could kill Jesus unless he consented to die. On many occasions, his enemies had tried. They attempted to stone him, but he just passed from their midst…as we read in John 8:59, ‘So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. “And also in John 10:31, “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him, and verse 39, “Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.“
Jesus explained it this way, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” John 10:17,18
Imagine if Jesus had not come to earth 2000 years ago but he came to earth now and in the United States of America. Suppose that the government didn’t like what he was saying and decided to kill him. They have massive capability – spread across air, sea and land forces. Special ops in each branch and a full compliment of advanced weapons. But, no matter what, they would not succeed without His divine cooperation.
Created beings are no match for their maker. Jesus was there in the beginning and before…as we read in John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
And when Jesus returns, created things will be wiped out, as we read in 2 Peter 3:10-12, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”
But back to the scene at the cross. Jesus gave up his spirit so he would be there to receive the criminal who had defended him. If you were that man, what would you be thinking as the Roman soldiers approach to break your legs? Perhaps a fear of pain but also a sense of relief and anticipation of joy to come, having made the right choice. He had come into the light while surrounded by darkness and felt the earth shake when Jesus died. He had every reason to put his faith in Jesus who had only just departed without leaving him alone.
Beyond the Biblical record we have other reasons to believe which corroborate this story. Scientists studying sediment layers at the Dead Sea identified evidence of a powerful earthquake between AD 26 and 36, matching the date of the crucifixion.
The secular historian Thallus, one of the earliest non-Christian writers to mention Jesus in about 50 AD, Thallus, wrote a history of the eastern Mediterranean, and that is quoted by the third-century Christian historian Julius Africanus. Africanus notes, “Thallus, in the third book of his histories, explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun.” Though this was impossible because a solar eclipse cannot happen during Passover (which occurs during a full moon), as the moon is on the wrong side of the earth.
Also Phlegonof Tralles (c. 137 AD): was a Greek historian who recorded an earthquake and “the greatest eclipse of the sun” during the reign of Tiberius Caesar, which coincided with the time of the crucifixion. He noted that at noon, the sky was so dark that stars appeared, which obviously does not happen during a normal solar eclipse.
But back to the cross, that former thief had the honour of being the first adopted son of the New Covenant. But then, we are all adopted sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ.
As we read in Romans 8:14-16, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[f] of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” And Galatians 4:4,5, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
When Jesus said today you will be with me in Paradise he was also saying today I am your father and you are my adopted son and I have already prepared a place for you. And when he arrives in Paradise, perhaps we can imagine Moses and Elijah are there, as they were at the transfiguration of Jesus. And they might ask the former thief, “By what right are you here?” And the former thief will point to Jesus and say “The man on the middle cross said I could come.”
The man on the middle cross said I could come.
What a journey for this redeemed thief. Imagine him on the day before: hopeless in a jail cell. Hungry perhaps… because prisons did not provide food for the prisoners who relied on friends or family. Perhaps beaten before he arriving at the cross, like Jesus. Then stripped and nailed to the cross, naked for all to see and ashamed. When a third man is raised up in between them and we do not know the knowledge that this thief has of Jesus but he recognizes him and in his hopeless state he recognizes Jesus power, he realizes that Jesus will be King in the age to come. That he will have dominion in the afterlife.
It’s important to note, that when the thief said, “Remember when you come into your kingdom,” he realized that he will be dead by the end of the day so he does not mean an earthly kingdom like many others did at the time. He was one of the few that recognized that Jesus would be King of Heaven and Earth. He recognized that the power of Christ was not limited to an earthly ministry. He understood Jesus identity better than the majority. He had a ‘great faith’. And while he did not choose the cross to hold onto his faith, he came to faith on the cross when he chose his Lord.
Jesus said this about the necessity of the cross: in Matthew 16:24-25, “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
That is still true. No matter how many decades you have been a Christian, or if you have served as a deacon, an elder or minister, when the time comes to enter paradise, it will only happen because “the man on the middle cross said you could come.”
Barrie, ON