Religion
Cross purposes
Martin Sullivan'
We do not know by whose arrangement it was that Christ was crucified between two thieves, but if there was malice in it, there Wks also a singular appropriateness about it. This was, In a sense, His rightful position. He had been the friend of the outcast all through His ministry. Their cause was His, and He had wrapped up His fate with them. He had lived among them and it Was fitting that He should die among them. Both His companions on Good Friday turned on Him at first and reviled Him. He represented, paradoxically, the righteousness which had brought them to their doom, and like trapped animals they snarled at Him. But according to Luke, before long one of them softened and his approach to Christ Provides one of the important moments surrounding the Crucifixion.
Having quietened his companion who was continuing to upbraid Jesus, he then said, " Lord, remember me, when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom." It is scarcely likely that this man recognised in Christ the Son of God, or even that he knew He was the Messiah. The best manuscripts testify that the title 'Lord' as we translate it was not used, but simply the word 'Jesus'. He looked upon his dying companion as a rabbi, a good and righteous man. There was a commonly accepted view among the Jews, at the time, that when a righteous man died the gates of Paradise were flung open to admit him and to receive also those Whom he brought with him. We may conjecture that the thief had heard this story, and believed it. This rabbi might escort him into Paradise. What the bandit made ot the placard above Christ's 'head which said 'This is the King of the Jews,' we cannot tell. We do not know even if he could read, but it seems sure that where Christ was going he wished to go also. The current belief was that at death the good went to Paradise and the bad to Sheol until the day of judgement, when the transfer was made to Heaven from Paradise and to Gehenna from Sheol. 'Paradise' is a word of Persian origin meaning a park and is used in various ways in Scripture. At the park gates sits Abraham as janitor; 'Abraham's bosom' is the scriptural description. Jesus did nothing to correct or to confirm these notions, either on this occasion, or elsewhere. To the dying thief's request. He says simply "To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise," aAcl He used the same language and symbolism to drive home His teaching in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus.
As He sweats it out on Calvary He speaks the language of His companion and promises him more than he asked. Felicity will not be postponed until Christ's Kingdom is inaugurated, whenever or wherever that may be. "To-day I will let you into the Park where the souls of the righteous rest, until the time comes for them to enter the Palace." It was a promise to make the poor wretch die happy, and to ease his physical torments. In a few hours he would know the joy of the shady garden and he would still be in the company of the good Rabbi. An old writer adds a touching comment, "To-day, what speed. In Paradise, what rest. With Me, what company."
If these comments are acceptable they make us think again, of the effect Christ had on people, in His life and in the hour of His death. Beside Him was this broken bandit before whom there was now nothing but death, after a career of ruin, shame and defeat.A Suddenly he had a vision of life and victory, and glory. We cannot think that his change of attitude left Christ Himself untouched. Luther has this remarkable comment: "This was for Christ a comfort like that supplied by the angel in the garden. God could not allow His Son to be destitute of subjects, and now His church survived in this one Man."
Sermons are often preached on the well-worn subject of death-bed repentance, using this episode as a peg on which to hang them. St. Augustine has beaten to the post all preachers who address themselves to this thenle: "Of the two thieves on Good Friday, one was saved that none might despair; one was lost that none might presume." Nowhere does the humanity of Jesus shine more clearly than On the Cross — forgiveness to all who hate Him, care for His mother, the cry of dereliction wrenched from His very soul, His thirst, His complete trust. and here, His characteristically loving concern for one of the last, the least and the lost.
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