Sermon on Luke 23:32-33, 39-43, Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise

“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.’” (Luke 23:32-33, 39-43)

Two men, two patterns of response to Jesus Christ. The one does not believe in anyone but himself, and at the end of his life all that is left is his stubborn refusal to change. The other has taken stock of his life and found himself lacking any desire to stay the same. The arrogance of the first one comes in the form of an insult: a mocking question and a mocking demand which really doesn’t expect an answer – “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” The new humility of the second man comes in the form of a rebuke to the first man’s stupidity, a rebuke of his own stupidity, as well: “Don’t you fear God, 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 turns to Jesus with a request: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus only answers the second man; he only responds to the second pattern. He does not dignify the first man’s insult with a response. There is no response which would satisfy him. That man cannot see any hope beyond himself, and he has run out of rope to cling to. Though undoubtedly desperately afraid, he has no recourse but to mock. What a fool! But the second man has done an inventory of his life and found it wanting, and he has seen something in Jesus that he doesn’t have. He decides to put all his eggs in one basket, Jesus, and entrusts the welfare of his soul to the only one who can give him any hope of life. “Jesus,” he says, “remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This is at once an amazing recognition of Jesus’ kingly status, a recognition of the man’s own lack of status, and of a belief that the Savior desires to offer him grace and mercy.

Jesus’ answer: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Today, the moment of your death and departure from this life, you will be with me in paradise. Today you, and you alone, because of your faith, will be with me in paradise. Today you will be with me in paradise, for I am going there, too, and I am what makes paradise even more of a paradise. Today you will be with me in paradise, that place conceived of as being in the earth, the place where the spirits of the redeemed are transported at death by angels to be comforted, Abraham’s bosom. Yes, someday, the kingdom, but today paradise with me.

What is your pattern of response to Jesus? Does it seem foolish to you to rest your hopes in one man, who claims to be the Son of God? When troubles stalk you are you angry with the one who claims to be the King? Or do you really see yourself for who you are and what you’ve done with your life? Are you willing to acknowledge that without Him you can do nothing right and appeal only for grace and mercy? Then to you is the promise from Jesus, that on the day of your departure from this life, you will be with Him in paradise, which now rests in heaven where He is. And all those you love, who have come to Him for life, will be there, too.