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."
If you're familiar with the story of the crucifixion, I'm sure you're familiar with this part. Throughout my life I've heard it time and time again in sermons about Heaven, about Christ's power to forgive anything at any time, and a few other topics, but pretty much all of them focus on verse 43, Jesus' reply to the second criminal.
I don't remember how or why, but a couple of weeks ago this story got good and stuck in my head, like a bit of popcorn kernel stuck at the back of my mouth, except with less similarity to my cat trying to get rid of hairballs.
What has stuck with me the most is the dialogue between the two criminals. I think it paints a rather marvelous picture of two very distinct, very real, and very common responses to Christ - responses that we can still see all around us even now, even within those searching after the Kingdom of God.
These two men were not minor criminals. Crucifixion was not the punishment for unpaid parking tickets. They had done something pretty awful. From what I understand of crucifixion, I'd be willing to go so far as to say that it was probably a violent crime, maybe even murder.
The first criminal says, "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" This shows us a lot about his character, as well as his understanding - or rather, misunderstanding - of the role of Jesus. Interestingly enough, it also shows that he was at least entertaining the notion of believing Jesus to be who and what He said He is. Maybe it was simply a last-ditch effort, but he still had enough curiosity to admit that it was at least POSSIBLE that Jesus actually did have the power to save his life, which is really all the first criminal was worried about.
The second criminal, however, understood more about the true role of Jesus, and shows it through his admission of his position in relation to Jesus. His acceptance of the punishment he deserves shows his acknowledgment of his sin, but even more than that, he realizes that Jesus is facing a death that He does not deserve at all. That's when the really profound part happens. That's when the second criminal looks over to Jesus and says, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
So we see how the two responses were distinct from each other. The first criminal believed Jesus was maybe somebody powerful, but could only see the value of that power in how it could directly affect his life at the moment in saving him from the pain and trouble he was in. The second criminal saw Jesus for who He really was, and humbled himself - correctly - in the sight of that power, accepting the consequences for his actions, ignoring the desires of the material world, and asking nothing except that Jesus "remember" him.
And really, the first criminal is not completely in error. There's definitely nobody better for him to ask to save him from the tough spot he's in.
But that leads us to how the two responses are still common in today's world.
It is not wrong to ask God to remove your pain. It is not wrong to ask God to save your life. It is not even wrong, I don't think, to ask God to remove the burden of certain consequences for your actions from your life. Sometimes God does just that. Sometimes He moves things for us that show us that His grace not only reaches us eternally, but also has an impact in this life, as well.
But what IS wrong is to set up your relationship with God and Christ on the conditional terms of being removed from your troublesome spot. It's wrong to test God, to say to Him, "Well, if You're God, if You're so powerful, if You're in charge of the whole universe and somehow still love me... Save me! Give me what I want! Make this easy! THEN I'll follow you. THEN I'll listen. Once you give me what I want, I'll consider what You've got to say."
The first criminal was not in a mindset that would allow him to fully see the Glory of Christ. He was focused too much on his own pain, his own life, his own desires, his own suffering, his own world. What if Jesus HAD saved him? What if the ten thousand angels had come and set Jesus free, as well as the two criminals? Would the first criminal have fallen to his knees, like Thomas, and proclaimed, "My Lord and my God!"? Maybe. And I can't say that God won't, or doesn't, use pretty big life-changing events in the lives of people to show them His power, whether they fully believe in Him or not. But what we do know for sure is that the first criminal chose to stay focused on himself instead of on Jesus. He could only see Jesus as a way to get what he wanted for himself in the moment. His relationship to Jesus was conditional.
But the second criminal got it right. The second criminal knew that his life was ending the way it was because of the choices he'd made. He accepted the consequences for his sins. And yet, even in the midst of a very painful death, he looked at Jesus and saw The One who had done no wrong, had done nothing to deserve this shared death, had no sins for which there could be any consequences. He saw Jesus not as the solution for his personal problems, but as the King who deserved his humble praise. There are no conditions in his relationship to Christ. He sees Jesus as the King whether he is saved or not. He sees Jesus as the King even as he is dying. He knows that Jesus is capable of something great and terrible, but asks only to be remembered.
The first criminal says, "If You're REALLY God, You can prove it to me by giving me what I want!" The second criminal, however, says, "I know that You are God, and I recognize everything that means, and I ask only that You take care of me in Your way."
So which one are you? What's your relationship to Jesus like when you're in pain? What's it like when you're experiencing the consequences for your actions? Do you ask Jesus to save you from the troubles?
Do you ask Him to give you what you want? Or do you ask Him to put you where you belong in His Kingdom?
Do you ask Jesus to make your plans work, or do you ask Jesus to make you work for His plans?
Are you focused on your life? Or are you focused on His Kingdom?
No comments:
Post a Comment