Rev. Debbie Cato
Luke 23:33-43
Fairfield Community
Church
November 20, 2022
Savior God, guide us into and through your Word,
that we might be shaped by your Spirit’s message to us today and transformed
for service in your world. Amen.
Together in Paradise
“Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (verse 43). For a dying man, a convicted and confessed thief,
these words uttered by the crucified Christ must have caused sheer, unspeakable
joy.[1]
I imagine he was filthy, his hair matted with sweat clinging to his forward and neck, this thief. His beard unsightly from bodily fluids. Dried blood clinging to his arms and legs; his muscles tense and strained trying to hold himself up against the cross he was nailed to. His face strained from the pain of the crucifixion. He knew he was guilty. He was a thief. He had been for a long time and now he was paying the price.
But this man hanging next to him seemed different. Honorable. They say he is the Christ. Jesus from Nazareth. He had heard of him – heard of his teaching and ministry. He had heard the stories, heard about the miracles, heard about his kindness and love. Now he was hanging next to him. Dare he speak? “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Was that too bold?
But then Jesus replied, “Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” His whole body tingled. No one had ever talked to him like that before. Surely, he was the Messiah; the Christ.
Jesus’ last words to another human being before his death and resurrection were words of forgiveness consistent with the ministry of his three short years. Jesus had spent his life teaching about the kingdom of God, preaching liberation to the captives, and healing those who were sick and lame. Jesus’ miracles and teaching baffled the status quo of the elders, priests, and politicians so much that he was considered a threat to their religion and their way of life. Jesus challenged the unjust treatment of women, preached the need for patience with children, and accused the Pharisees and Sadducees of lacking good faith. His ministry had been controversial, powerful, and world altering, to the point that those whom he threatened had condemned him to death by crucifixion.[2]
Who among us is really worthy of grace? I’d like to think I am. But honestly, I’m not. I screw up each and every day. I know better. But every day I fall short and yet every day, I am gifted with God’s grace. Are you worthy? Are you? If we are honest with ourselves, we are more like the thieves who hung next to Jesus than we are like Jesus.
We do not know what happened to the thief who hung on the other side of Jesus’ cross – the one who, rather than asking for mercy, spoke scalding words, challenging Jesus to show his might and power by saving himself and the criminals who surrounded him. Yet the grace of God as revealed in Jesus is a word of forgiveness and deep, abiding love. In spite of the pain he was in, Jesus’ character never changed. It’s hard for us to believe in the gracious God, in the forgiving God, in the God who would love us even when we disappoint and sin.[3]
Jesus’ stories of forgiveness are legendary. He spent much of his ministry describing the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven as having different rules and different expectations from the rules and laws and penalties of humanity. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like the love freely given when a foolish son asks his father for his inheritance before his father dies. He takes it, goes to a foreign land, and squanders it. He loses every penny. Then, when the son comes to his senses and returns home, hoping his father will forgive him and take him in as one of his servants, he is met with celebration, rejoicing, and jubilation because of the father’s great love and ability to forgive.
Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is like a shepherd who cares so deeply for each one of his sheep that when one of them is lost, the shepherd goes out in search of the one lost sheep and does not give up until he finds the sheep.
And Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a rich man who gives a huge party and when all his rich friends are too busy to come to his party, the rich man opens up the invitation and invites the poor, the blind, and the lame to the feast.
Jesus spent more time talking about the Kingdom of God than any other topic. Jesus’ act of forgiveness while dying on the cross is exactly what he taught during his ministry – that forgiveness is given to everyone who repents and believes, even condemned thieves during their own executions.[4]
Many of us are more comfortable not knowing what happened to the thief who scoffed at Jesus than knowing that an undeserving thief was let into paradise. We would rather have had Jesus say that God loves the people we like and the people we say we are like, and that God does not love the people we do not like and the people we say are not like us. We would prefer if God did not love the crackheads and addicts, the adulterers, the thieves, the prostitutes, the rebellious teenagers, the disgruntled employees, the murderers. We would prefer it if paradise were exclusively for the nice people, the clean people, the polite people, the well-behaved people, the “right” people.[5]
We have a way of seeing our sins as less grievous than the sins of others, yet God sees it all the same. A hard pill to swallow. It’s easier for us to point our finger at others than it is to look at ourselves, but when we point our finger at others there are 3 fingers pointing back at us.
We pray a prayer of confession every time we worship together because we need it and because the grace of God is sufficient for all of us. There is grace for us and for the people we do not like. God will hear and forgive our sins and their sins too. Our salvation is not dependent upon the preacher, the bishop, or each other, but on the loving, grace-giving God we worship. We confess because God’s saving grace will heal, restore, redeem, and forgive those whom God has created and whom God loves fiercely. All have sinned and fallen short; all have angered, frustrated, and disappointed God. God so loved the entire world that whosoever believes shall get all the grace that God has to give. Thank God that God gives grace and that we do not.[6]
Jesus spent his entire ministry teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God. One of Jesus’ last forgiving acts on earth was to proclaim that a repentant sinner hanging on a cross would be with him that day in paradise. That sinner hanging on the cross could just as well be me. Or you. Praise Be to God! Amen.
[1] Feasting on
the Word. Year C, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2. Luke 23:33-43. Pastoral Perspective. Nancy Lynne Westfield. P. 332.
[2]
Feasting
on the Word. Year C, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2. Luke 23:33-43. Pastoral Perspective. Nancy Lynne Westfield. P. 332
[3] Feasting on
the Word. Year C, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2. Luke 23:33-43. Pastoral Perspective. Nancy Lynne Westfield. P. 334
[4]
Feasting on the Word. Year C, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2. Luke 23:33-43. Pastoral Perspective. Nancy Lynne Westfield. P. 334
[5]
Feasting on the Word. Year C, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2. Luke 23:33-43. Pastoral Perspective. Nancy Lynne Westfield. P. 334 & 336.
[6]
Feasting on the Word. Year C, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2. Luke 23:33-43. Pastoral Perspective. Nancy Lynne Westfield. P. 336.
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