March 30, 2024 Words From the Cross: Today You Will be With Me in Paradise | Luke 23:39-43; Romans 8:1-4, 33-39

Today we will reflect on Luke 23:39-43; Romans 8:1-4; 33-39, Today You Will be With Me in Paradise. The thief on the cross asks Jesus to remember him. There is no fear quite like the fear of being forgotten. The beauty of Jesus is that he doesn’t forget us and because he doesn’t forget us, we have salvation, a place with Jesus, even after death. The Bible gives us different images of what Paradise is like, the one thing that connects them all is that this is where we find Jesus and that even after death we will be with Jesus. As Paul writes, “nothing can separate us from the love of Christ,” not even death !

Transcript

Today, You Will Be With Me in Paradise

Luke 23:39-43; Romans 8:1-4; 33-39

Over Lent we’re staying with Jesus at the cross, listening in to Jesus’ last words and the circumstances around each spoken event. Last week we reflected on Jesus offering forgiveness to those who had been part of Jesus’ journey to the cross, including each one of us, while he was hanging from the cross. This morning we’re reflecting on Jesus’ brief conversation and words of reassurance he offers to one of the two criminals hanging on crosses next to his. It’s amazing that even when we may be in the same kind of trouble and suffering, how some people can still find the energy to mock others and make their suffering even worse. One of the criminals being executed beside Jesus actually mocks Jesus, joining with the soldiers in insulting Jesus, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

The second criminal speaks up and rebukes the first criminal, “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” This man confesses that he’s done wrong, that he deserves what he’s getting, but he recognizes Jesus is more than he appears. Jesus’ demeanor and words reveal a person who’s closely connected to God. How else could Jesus ask his Father to forgive those who have placed him on the cross? What kind of a man would even consider asking for forgiveness for such evil while suffering so deeply? He chooses Jesus over his fellow criminal and all the others mocking Jesus who have unjustly placed Jesus on a cross instead of a throne. 

Now the second criminal turns to Jesus and shows he believes Jesus is anointed by God, asking Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” The criminal could see the sign Pilate placed over Jesus’ head, “This is the King of the Jews.” The man is hoping to hear more grace, to be given hope in a hopeless situation. The criminal hopes to enter Jesus’ kingdom, likely having heard Jesus having talked and taught the people about the kingdom of heaven during the past 3 years. He’s not disappointed, Jesus responds with grace, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” I love the image here of paradise over kingdom that echoes back to Old Testament images, we’ll look at this is a few moments. 

The criminal’s main request is to be remembered and not forgotten. There’s something terrifying about being forgotten, of not being important enough to be remembered, no longer part of someone’s thoughts or memories any more. This is why we build so many memorials, why we name buildings and streets after someone important or whom we cherish and don’t want to forget so that people generations down the road will still remember them or us. the criminal offers this really short prayer, “Remember me.” 

There’s nothing more important than to be remembered by Jesus, this is the heart of salvation, for Jesus knows who are his and he will not lose them. The criminal wants to be one of Jesus’ people. The criminal fears God and wants to be ready to meet God when he dies and he recognizes that Jesus is the way to God. This criminal is likely a Jew and his fear of being forgotten comes from the belief that God writes down all the names of whom he chooses in his Book of Life. If your name is in the book, you are remembered and welcomed into heaven at your death. 

We can almost hear him thinking of Psalm 69:27–29, “Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation. May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. But as for me, afflicted and in pain—may your salvation, God, protect me.” He fears his crimes may cause the Lord to blot out his name from the Book of Life. We hear Jesus saying something similar in Luke 10:17–20 when the seventy-two return from spreading the gospel news of Jesus, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.  However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” There’s nothing worse for a Jew than being forgotten because your name’s not in God’s Book of Life!

In Isaiah 49:13-17, the Lord gives us a powerful image of God remembering his people, “Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your children hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.” It may feel as if God forgets us, but here the Lord is saying he doesn’t forget! 

The Lord goes so far as to engrave our names on the palms of his hands. Engraving in our flesh draws blood, reminding us of how Jesus’ hands were pierced for our sins, so that every time Jesus looks at his hands, the scars remind him of those he went to the cross for; for the criminal on the cross, for those who put him on the cross, and as we heard in the invitation to the Lord’s Supper, for each of us who have chosen to love him and trust in him alone for your salvation, and are truly sorry for your sins, sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, and desire to live in obedience to him as Lord. 

Paul reminds us that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Paul goes on to reassure us that we are in good hands because of God’s commitment to us, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us…. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These are some of the most reassuring words found in Scripture, reminding us of Jesus’ motive for going to the cross and why he was able to offer the criminal such powerful comfort and grace.

The criminal joins Jesus in paradise that very day! We hear paradise and think heaven. Jesus uses a Persian word here that likely entered into the Jewish vocabulary while they were in exile in Babylon. Paradise refers to a garden with a wall, or a king’s orchard, park, or forest. Jesus is using an image that echoes back to the Garden of Eden and ahead to John’s vision of Jerusalem representing heaven coming down at his return, a city that has a river of life flowing from the throne of God in the middle of the city, lined by trees of life that gives twelve kinds of fruit. In Jesus’ teaching and preaching, he gives us glimpses of heaven. Jesus is telling us that in paradise we will be with him; not even death can separate us from his love. 

Heaven is first of all the place where God lives, and all those who serve him. Jesus gives us some beautiful images of heaven, and it’s not angels on clouds playing harps, though John does give us a picture of the throne room of heaven where angels and God’s people continually praise him. A number of times Jesus describes heaven as a banquet or a wedding feast, a place where people gather to celebrate and enjoy the blessings of plenty and fellowship; a place where we’re invited because we’re valued and wanted. Jesus uses images like vineyards and fields, natural creation kinds of images of natural beauty and plenty and growth, all echoing back to Garden of Eden to give us a picture of what heaven is like. Jesus even gives us a picture of the beggar Lazarus in the arms of Abraham, where heaven is shown to be a place of safety and belonging.  

These images of heaven and paradise fill us with comfort, knowing that when we die, Jesus is there to take us home and it will be a place of plenty, a place where we can gather around the table with others, a place where our God is. I’m looking forward to it, my prayer is that this gives you peace too.