You Will Be With Me In Paradise

Luke 23:42&43 The he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

For the thief on the cross to hear those words of comfort must have been a true blessing.  An indescribable feeling if you will.  And while one thief was hurling insults, the other was acknowledging that Jesus was Lord and worthy of praise and worship.  And of all the phrases captured in the bible for Jesus, verse 43 of Luke 23 seems to bring the most hope to all of us.  If we look at the situation of the thief on the cross we can find a ton of hope.  Here is a sinner, sentenced to death for his crimes.  He is a man of unknown religious background.  And he is hanging from a cross just like Jesus.  We do not know if he knows of Jesus. From some portions of the bible we know that at one point he too was hurling insults. But something changed his heart.  We are not privy to what changed, or caused the change in heart. All we know is that his heart was changed by something that he saw, or heard. Something triggered a profound change to go from insulting Jesus to acknowledging that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In each of us rests a part that wants to sin and rebel from being a Christian. At times that part may own the day and we speak out, act out, or live out the sinfulness we seek to avoid.  We are incapable of perfection. We are lost in sin. We are sinful by nature.  And in sin is death. But we hold our sole hope of salvation in Christ Jesus.  In Jesus we are saved. And without Jesus we are lost.  The promise given to the thief on the cross is that same promise we hold onto. In Christ is salvation.  This is our hope that was born on the cross when Christ died on the cross and arose again. The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 6:3-4 of our redemption through Christ.  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  We hold onto the same hope that the thief on the cross-held onto. In spite of ourselves, we have been saved. Friends of the risen savior, hold onto that promise of salvation when times are tough.

Prayer: Lord we are so truly blessed. We who are incapable of redeeming ourselves have been saved by the love of Jesus. His sacrifice on the cross-paid a price we were, and are still today, incapable of paying. The love of the Father has been shared with we who are so undeserving. For that we offer this humble prayer of thanks giving, Amen.