The Cross - Our Way of Life (5)

 

 

“One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other responded, and rebuking him, said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our crimes; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”” (Luke 23:39 – 43, NASB).

 

“The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words” (Matthew 27:44).

 

Consider the plea, “Jesus, remember me!”

 

Matthew tells us how this robber began, Luke tells us the rest of the story.

 

How can a person have the presence of mind, the clarity of heart and soul, in the midst of crucifixion, while spewing vitriol at Jesus, to realize that Jesus is more than a man, and yet a man – for He is being crucified? As life is ebbing and breath is ceasing and the end is near and the heart is approaching its last beat, how does this man, this robber, this person who has practiced evil, how is it possible for him to “see” Jesus the Christ and call out, “Jesus, remember me”?

 

Perhaps there was no presence of mind or clarity of heart and soul, perhaps there was only a recognition in the core of this man’s being that His Creator was dying alongside him…or at the very least, a recognition that Something or Someone other than humanity as he had known it was suffering as he, the robber was suffering. But not exactly as he, the robber was suffering, for the robber “saw” someway, somehow, that Jesus “had done nothing wrong.”

 

This man, the robber, who made the plea “Remember me!” also said to the other robber, “Do you not even fear God?”

 

God had arrived on Golgotha, God was suffering and God was convicting and God was continuing to save others even as He chose to not save Himself. Yes, and God was showing mercy, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

 

The Roman soldiers will not be with Him. The crowds will not be with Him. The religious leaders who are preparing to celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread will not be with Him; but this thief suffering a shameful and horrendous death will indeed be with Him. This thief crucified in shame will soon know the holy clothing of the white linen of the very righteousness of the Son of God.

 

Since we know that Jesus died before the two thieves died (John 19:31 – 33), we can imagine Jesus welcoming the repentant man on the other side of death, and what a welcome it must have been! There must have been quite the hug, close and tight…and not a few kisses!

 

Christ meets us in our extremities, He speaks to us in the depths of our beings, He calls us to Himself in myriad ways in infinite circumstances. We may be in the midst of our daily occupations, such as the four fishermen; we may be at our accounting ledgers, such as Matthew the tax collector; we may be immersed in a political movement, such as Simon the Zealot…or we may be, we just may be, experiencing our own and upfront and personal crucifixion…but Jesus is there and He is there for us.

 

And here we see that, as with ancient Israel, we need only look to Jesus and be saved (John 3:14 – 15; Numbers 21:6 – 9).

 

But now my friends, let us look to Jesus and His calling in our own lives, for His Resurrection message is that “Even as the Father sent Me, so I send you” (John 20:21; 17:18).

 

If we are called to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering (Phil. 3:10), then we can anticipate the glorious opportunity not only to say with Jesus, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing,” but we can also look forward to serving those opposing us, persecuting us, taking pleasure in our sufferings (Matthew 5:43 – 48), and bringing them into the Kingdom of God in Christ so that they too  may be clothed in the white linen of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

 

All of us are on one of the crosses of Golgotha, some of us know what it is to be on two of the crosses.

 

Some begin on the cross of mocking God and remain on it, dying on it. Those who are not on the cross of mocking and unrepentance are on the cross which cries, “Jesus, remember me!”

 

Do we recognize that our cry is a gift which God has given us through Jesus? Do we acknowledge that our cry is not of ourselves? Not of our intellect, our will, our imagination, but rather of God? (John 1:12 – 13). This raw cry is God’s gift of salvation, akin to the cry of the father pleading for his son, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24).

 

O dear friends, there is an eternal transaction in the gut, in the depths of the soul, an indefinable and unexplainable bursting forth of life from the tomb within us, a coming forth of the image of God in Christ, that confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” (Matt. 16:16).

 

“Lo, now You are speaking plainly” (John 16:29).

 

But here is the thing dear friends, the plain cannot be explained. We cannot explain love. We cannot explain joy. We cannot explain peace. We cannot explain this “thing” that happens within a woman, a man, a child when that person cries, “You are the Christ!” “Jesus, remember me!”

 

O dear pastors, remember this when Easter arrives – evidence may have a supporting role, but evidence without the appearance of Christ is evidence presented in a moot court.

 

Then there are those who know what it is to hang on two crosses on Golgotha. They begin on the cross of repentance, then in Christ they move to the Cross of the Intercessory Life, Life lived for Christ and others. As Paul writes, “Death works in us, but life in you.”

 

We learn to participate with Christ in His sufferings for the reconciliation of others (Col. 1:24; 2 Cor. 5:16 – 21). We learn to pray, “Father forgive them, for they don’t realize what they are doing.” We learn to say, “Today, you will be with Jesus in Paradise.”

 

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

 

As St. Augustine taught, as with the Head, so with the Body.

 

Shall we live as His Body today?