Prisoner’s Paradise
I am afraid to write this chapter. I do not want to miss a single word in describing this powerful scene of condemnation and of salvation. This is an account of three men as well as all of mankind. Who am I to write a chapter on the death of our Lord? Yet, write it I must for He compels me. Please, look past my humble attempts of explaining this passage. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fully bring an impact on the death of the Lamb.
I have never been able to handle blood and gore. I refuse to watch action films because I cannot bear the violence. But the scene I do anything to avoid is seeing the crucifixion scene of Christ. I will close eyes, often even cover my ears. It is just too much for me to handle. I cry at the thought of it, seeing the death scene had made me weep to the point of shaking and feeling physically sick. I have almost fainted. That was just the few minute depictions of this historical event, held near the end of movies documenting the life of Jesus. But when I heard the movie The Passion had been released, I did everything I could to avoid seeing commercials of the film. Yet, I knew God was calling me to view this motion picture. I admit to you, I resisted. Almost everyone I knew had already seen it. A group of friends finally convinced me to go, even though most of them had already viewed the movie. I watched a majority of it. When I did close my eyes, I did not close my ears. But my heart hurt the whole time. The one thought that continued through my mind was, “Jesus, You love me this much?” It was a question, for I still struggle with believing the love God has for one such as me.
Do some of you question His love? His mercy? His grace? Do you feel like you need to do more for His acceptance, to earn His favor? Do you question your salvation? Would God even save me? Then, come with me to a place where death reigned, where questions went unanswered, where confusion was rampant, where hope was lost. That is until Jesus spoke.
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him along with the criminals –one on His right, the other on His left…One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “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.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:32-33, 39-43)
What do you want to be remembered for? What will be your legacy? These nameless men, only known for crimes, were only mentioned for Who they died with.
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed.
Three men are forced to go up the hill. Three men knew what awaited them. Three men carrying their crosses. Three men facing capital punishment. Three men scorned by Roman soldiers and despised by Jewish countrymen. Three men finally came to the place of death.
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him along with the criminals –one on His right, the other on His left…
Three men were put on the crosses that day. This form of torture perfected by the Romans is the most painful form of slow death that has ever existed. Crucifixions took place on major roads leading into cities. This was a gruesome reminder of what would happen to anyone who disobeyed the reigning tyrants. Jesus was in the center. The two nameless convicts were at His sides. Crowds stood at their feet. Some were screaming up at Jesus, mocking Him.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” (Luke 23:35)
The Jews were not the only group having fun at the expense of the dying Jesus. The Romans, also, joined the cruel act.
The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine and vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” (Luke 23:36-37)
Then the strangest mockery of all occurred. A fellow convict, one of the three men dying, someone suffering the same fate of Jesus, joined the scorning session.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
Facing death, suffering excruciating pain, hardly able to gasp in air, why would you waste breath on insulting someone suffering your same fate? On deathbeds, you hear of speaking words of love to family and friends, sometimes of confessions of wrongdoings committed during the lifetime, of a desire to pray. But making fun of another person? It seems outlandish.
In truth, this convict represents many people. All of us are under the sentence of death. We may not know when, where, or how our capital punishment will take place, but we all know it is coming. No one will escape it. We all will face it. Yet, there are some who choose to shake their fist at God during their entire lifetime, even to the point of death. Their insults take different forms: He does not exist; He is just a Good Force; He is part of many ways; He is removed and unconcerned; He is just a dream. Mockery, scorning, refusing to accept the Truth. Determined to live out our opinions and often joining in on the crowd’s viewpoints, no matter how wrong they may be.
But not everyone joins the crowd. Some see their death sentence and realize they deserve it. They do not insult God for they know He did not put them there. No, it was their own choices. But now they realize they are wrong. And the Lord alone is right. When you realize this, you cannot be silent.
But the other criminal rebuked him. “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.”
Two men, both criminals, under the same sentence draw such drastically different conclusions. One views the crowd and joins them. The other views the Christ and joins Him. I believe this convict watched how Jesus reacted. He heard His words of love earlier when
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34a)
This criminal looked at the facts of his life and summed it up with
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.
He studied Jesus and realized
But this man has done nothing wrong.
I do not know how much this convict knew about Christ. Had he heard about Him before he was in prison? Had he observed the Lord before being nailed to a cross beside Him? We do not know. All we do know is that He knew the Name above every name and called out to Him.
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
This criminal was saying, “I know You are the Messiah. You have a kingdom in heaven and You reign over it. I realize I am a sinner. I do not belong there. Look at me. You know what I am. But please just remember me. That is more mercy than I even deserve.
A hardened convict, humbled. His heart was finally broken not when he received his punishment for the crime, but when he saw an innocent man face death with Life. It was more than he could hope for when that Life was extended to him.
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.”
Life for the dying. Hope for the hopeless. Future for the end. Today will not be ended with excruciating pain. Even though you are suffering now, this day will end with you in paradise. You are with Me now in death but you will be with Me again in life. This is the truth I am telling to you and to anyone else who will listen. Paradise is waiting for those who will receive it!
For you. For me. The choice is ours. Two men were equidistant from the cross of Christ. Both deserved to be there. They were guilty. But one decided in his last moments on earth to reach out for eternity. Another held on to the temporal even in his dying moments. Jesus listened to them both. One hurled insults. The Lord never responded. He knew the convict would be judged. The other one cried out for mercy. Jesus immediately answered with the promise of paradise. Neither deserved grace. But the one who asked for it received it.
The same is true today. We just receive paradise by believing in the One who rules over it. We realize that we do not deserve it, far from it. We have seen the consequences of our poor choices. We feel the weight of our death penalty. But we can choose to ask for mercy. Jesus will give it. You do not have to earn it. Realize the convict was never able to do anything good for God. He was on a cross when He confessed Jesus as Lord. The criminal died not too long after that. He never preached a sermon, helped the homeless, gave money to the church, said a kind word to family or friends. Yet, he would be in paradise. Do you regret your life? Do you look at your past and realize that there is nothing good? Do you think that you do not deserve to go to heaven? You are right. If it was based on our own merits, none of us have a chance. But it has nothing to do with you.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
No one can boast. Not a pastor. Not a missionary. Not a giver. Not a criminal hanging on a cross. Each of us is saved by grace, not merit. It is a gift, not a wage. Nothing we deserve, yet everything God wants to lavish on us. Stop striving. Accept his gift. Jesus loves to pardon the prisoners and release them into paradise. That is the wonderful truth!
One by One
One by one these one on one encounters mean nothing if one more change does not transpire. Are you different? Do you love the Lord all the more because of what you have learned from the letter of Luke? Have you drawn closer to Him? Are you in awe of His grace? Has His mercy floored you? If not, than this is just been a book you can check off your list. Please feel free to throw away for my words are worthless. Who cares what this crazy person thinks? But I hope that the verses from Luke have inspired you to discover more of the Word yourself. Let the Spirit guide you into gleaning new insights from the passages.
Some of you have heard the same Bible stories over and over again. You try not to yawn when the minister is preaching. You go ahead and prepare your own three-point sermon: lunch, nap, and then golf. But you are missing out. Read the words for yourself. Hear what God is speaking to you. He may take you in a wholly (or should I say holy) different direction than the minister is preaching and teach you something new, amazing, refreshing. Take time to listen.
There are others of you who have never known that you could read the Bible daily for yourself. It was not until I was in college that I understood what a Bible study was. I believed only preachers were called to read the Word of God on a daily basis. I thought the rest of us only had to take it in on Sundays when a preacher would spoon-feed us. Not true! The enemy loves this lie. He knows that the most powerful force at your fingertips is the Word of God. For the Word keeps us on the path of God, the one thing the enemy hates. Through the Word we can discern the will of God, which is the last thing the enemy wants us to know. Speaking the Word can defeat the enemy; he hates to lose a battle since he has already lost the war. (You can shout Amen to that!)
Begin today. Open the Bible. Pray. Ask God to teach you something. Read a chapter. Listen to the Spirit speak. Write down what He tells you. Ask for help to be more like Christ. Obey whatever He shares with you. The Bible was given just for you. This present has eternal power! But you must open this letter in order to receive it. You can learn your own life lessons from the Word.
Time with God needs to interrupt your day every day. Just like the encounters we studied in Luke, you have the opportunity to approach Jesus with your cares, concerns, needs, joys, sins, and triumphs. Speak to Him and allow the Lord to speak to you. You are not going to inconvenience Him. He is waiting for you.
From the stories in Luke, we have witnessed how each person was eternally changed by meeting with the Savior. Maybe a new chapter will be written in heaven. It is about another one-on-one encounter. But this time, it is about Jesus meeting with you. What an exciting story that will be! Give Him glory. Go ahead, right now, shout “Glory. Praise the Lord. Halleluiah…..” You keep going. He deserves it. This is the beginning of your one-on-one. Enjoy His Presence!