This morning, we take a detour from our chronological trip through the stories of the Bible. We do so because the Christian calendar demands it. This Sunday launches us into Holy Week. This is Passion Sunday, or Palm Sunday. This is an amazing story about the repentance of one of the criminals who was crucified beside Jesus. It is only told in Luke, but it is vital to our story of Jesus. It needs to be told.

 

Crucifixion was the worst kind of death (so cruel, that no Roman citizen could be crucified). It was intended to be a deterrent, a warning to all who saw the body hanging on a cross. It was intended to be full of shame and humiliation. It was a slow, agonizing death. The victims usually died of asphyxiation, or exposure, or thirst.

 

Luke tells us that Jesus was crucified between two criminals (the Greek word means “doers of evil things”). Matthew and Mark tell us they were thieves, but Luke just says “criminals.” If we look at all four gospels, we get the idea that at first, both criminals reviled Jesus. But then, one of them experienced regret and cried out for mercy. Thus, they were contrasting pictures of defiant unbelief versus repentance and faith. Once King Frederick II of Prussia was touring the prison in Berlin. He was welcomed the cries of prisoners protesting their innocence and their unjust incarceration. While the king took all this in, he noticed a prisoner off by himself in the corner, not taking part in the begging. Frederick went over to the man and asked, “Why are you here?” The man replied, “Armed robbery.” “Were you guilty? Asked the king. “Oh, yes, indeed, Your Majesty, I deserve my punishment.” At that King Frederick II shouted, “Release this guilty man at once. I won’t have him kept with all these fine innocent people. He’ll corrupt them!”

 

Many questions bubble up as we explore this story in Luke 23. Why did the one criminal repent and ask for mercy? Did he have a prior relationship with Jesus? Had he witnessed Jesus’ courage and love? After all, Jesus had just prayed for his murderers. Or maybe, like some of us, the criminal had a change of heart because suffering and impending death has a way of clarifying and focusing our lives. Have you ever had a near-death experience give you more clarity about the things in life that really matter?

 

Of course, there is another way of looking at the two criminals hanging on either side of Jesus. Instead of a one-to-one correlation (“I am like the criminal on the left; you are like the one on the right”), perhaps it’s more realistic to say, “Some days I am the criminal on one side—surly, defiant, unbelieving, rejecting Jesus’ offers of help and some days I am like the other one, open, seeking and trusting. A part of me is one criminal and a part of me is the other.” I don’t know about you, but I am a walking contradiction. And as walking contradictions, we don’t so much need those contradictions to be clarified as we do to have them crucified. I believe that’s what the Apostle Paul was getting at a few years later when he wrote about being crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). The part of me that is unwilling to open up to God, the part that is criminal and rebellious needs crucifying.

 

Perhaps this is a good time to remember what Augustine wrote about this: “Two criminals were crucified with Christ. One was saved. Do not despair. One was not. Do not presume.” A little humility at the foot of the cross is a good thing!

 

But note with me the grace of God breaking through when the one criminal acknowledged his sin and need. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom (v. 42). Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (v. 43). A parenthetical note: Even in his hour of death, Jesus took time to evangelize. Even in the midst of horrendous suffering, he took time to reach out to someone who needed God’s love. I don’t know why we think that evangelism is beneath us, that we have somehow spiritually evolved beyond such things. Or why we think we are too busy or in too much pain to share. There are lives near us, lives like the criminal near Jesus, lives that are hurting and are seeking God. Take note. Jesus was evangelizing, announcing God’s good news offer, even in his hour of humiliation, suffering and death.

 

Will Moynahan recently wrote The Upper Room devotional booklet that he was serving a military deployment on an aircraft carrier near the International Dateline in the middle of the Pacific. Traveling across the line, they moved their clocks one hour and stepped back one day. In effect they got to live that day over again! As they moved back and forth, some on board got frustrated with it, but Moynahan chose to be positive about it: “It’s Tuesday again…I get another shot at it and can avoid the mistakes I made the first Tuesday yesterday!”

 

That criminal up on the cross with Jesus could not get down from the cross and fix things he had done wrong. Neither can we. We can’t live Tuesday over again. He couldn’t get down from the cross and try to keep the Ten Commandments, or get baptized, or earn his salvation. All he could do was cry out for mercy and believe on Jesus.

 

Tony Dungy was one of the most successful NFL coaches in recent history. Tony coached the Indianapolis Colts to a Super Bowl in 2007, then after one more season, walked away from it to pursue prison ministry. He recently preached to 1700 inmates in Columbia, SC. Dungy, despite all his success as a coach, said that was a bigger thrill than winning the Super Bowl. Among the things Dungy told the inmates: “It doesn’t really matter about your past. It’s about your future. [Jefferson City Missouri News Tribune, March 17, 2010, p. C8] The same message Jesus gave the criminal on the Cross!

 

Because our church has a website, we sometimes hear from people all over the world. Do you know the most frequently asked question asked in our section, “web question to be submitted”? It’s about forgiveness. Can Jesus really forgive all my sin? Or just some? And I reply, yes, ALL! Past, present and future sins, according to Hebrews 10:10, “once for all.” Think about it. If he forgives only our past sins, then he would have to come back and die all over again the next time we sinned! Jesus is eternal, so doesn’t see the parade, one float at a time, but he sees the whole parade, all in one instant, up in his perch of eternity. In fact, what Jesus did on earth for the criminal in Luke 23 is a picture of what he is doing in eternity for all of us, since Hebrews 7:25 declares that he is the great high priest who “ever lives to make intercessions for us.” That’s why we can sing that song with Fanny Crosby, “Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine,” (“oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!”). That’s not arrogance on our part, bragging on ourselves. We’re bragging on Jesus. It’s what he has done for us.

 

And so, that day, on his own cross, the penitent criminal got a new perspective on God, on Jesus, on himself and his own sin. But he also got a new perspective on death. Death was no longer the end, but a doorway. “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” And I want you to know that Jesus was hanging there on the Cross for you, too. No matter who you are or what you’ve done or not done. You can’t change the past. But you can do something about the right now that you have, and the future can be different, because Jesus is hanging there on the Cross for you.