One of the criminals crucified with Jesus cried out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? 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 have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
One of the criminals crucified with Jesus cried out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responded, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” When we cry out to Jesus, he hears us and responds with matchless grace. We don’t have to have perfect theology or live a perfect life in order to be remembered by Jesus. He is with us, not only in the future but also right now.
The word “paradise,” from the Greek word paradeisos, which meant “garden,” was used in the Greek Old Testament for the Garden of Eden. In the Greek-speaking Judaism of the time of Jesus, paradeisos was associated with heaven and also with the future when God would restore all things to the perfection of the Garden. Paradise was sometimes thought to be the place where righteous people went after death as they awaited resurrection in the age to come. This seems to be the way Jesus used “paradise” in today’s passage.
We have before us one of the most astounding and encouraging verses in all of Scripture. . . and also one of the most perplexing. Jesus promised that the criminal would be with him in Paradise. Yet Luke gives us no reason to believe this man had been a follower of Jesus or even a believer in him in any well-developed sense. The man might have felt sorry for his sins, but he did not obviously repent. Rather, the criminal’s cry to be remembered seems more like a desperate, last-gasp effort. If indeed Jesus was some sort of king, the man figured, then he might as well ask to be included in Jesus’s kingdom. This was indeed mustard seed faith, a tiny bit at most. Yet Jesus assured this baby believer that he would join Jesus in Paradise that very day.
Though we should make every effort to have the right theology, and though we should live our lives each day as active disciples of Jesus, in the end, our relationship with him comes down to simple trust, naked dependence on his grace. “Jesus, remember me,” we cry, just like the criminal in our story. And Jesus, embodying the mercy of God, says to us, “You will be with me in Paradise.” We are welcome to that place of eternal glory not because we have decent theology, and not because we are living decently, but because God is “rich in mercy” and wants to show us “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4,7).
Indeed, Jesus will remember you when he comes into his kingdom. But you don’t have to wait to be remembered by Jesus. In a matter of speaking, he “remembers” you right now. Through the Spirit, he is present in your life. When you serve others in his name, you are serving Jesus. You don’t even have to wait for Paradise in order to know that Jesus is with you. When you face the uncertainties and fears of this life, when you endure suffering and loss, when you wonder if God is there for you, know that Jesus has not forgotten you. He is with you. He remembers you . . . even right now!
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