GOOD FRIDAY                                                                    SEVEN LAST WORDS

LUTHERAN WORSHIP                                                       CENTRAL LUTHERAN

Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise

Luke 23:39-43

Recently I read a sermon on this infamous invitation by Jesus.  Throughout the homily, the preacher kept referring to the good thief and the bad thief who were crucified next to Jesus.  The bad one, of course, derided the Lord, conjoining the chorus of all who cried out to criticize and condemn this “counterfeit” Christ on the cross. 

The good thief, on the other hand, acknowledged his guilt and offered that simple, yet soul-searing supplication: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.  And, as has happened so often in the past, the Spirit began to work on my hearing of these words that are so familiar in one sense, and, in another, so new with each new encounter.

What struck me about the pastor’s comments was his choice of language.  I began to wonder: how can a person be a good or bad thief?  Isn’t the phrase “good thief” kind of oxymoronic?  I mean, can a person be a good or bad murderer, a good or bad adulterer?

In certain circles, a “good thief” would be one who steals and…well, doesn’t get caught.  Just like a good or a bad liar.  It has to do with how well a person does their “job,” not on the condition or quality of their soul.

But no, this pastor was pretty clear: that which distinguished the thieves, he believed, the good from the bad, was the one’s surprising and sensational insight into the identity of the individual with whom they were dying. 

Somehow, against all odds and empirical evidence, in the painful purview of that bloody brotherhood, this one man heard the “still, small voice” of the Spirit that gave him reason to hope, to trust, to dare believe that in this torn and tragic figure by his side…he had found the face and voice…of God. 

Now, that is the pietist’s take: that this death-bed declaration was a mystical moment of faith…mine, in other words.  My wife, with whom I was speaking about this scenario, had a different reaction…and it caused me to change horses right in the middle of the stream.  After sharing the preacher’s distinction between the good and bad thief, Carolyn looked at me and said, Well, I guess the good thief…stole his way into heaven, didn’t he?

Think about that…immediately my mind was filled with all those questionable characters that seemed to sense a soft spot in Jesus’ wholly-affirming  heart: the tax-cheat Zacchaeus; the woman at the well; the man possessed by a Legion of demons; the Roman military officer whose son was sick…and I thought: ABSOLUTELY! 

Of anyone on the face of the earth, this man who was punished justly for his crime, “gets it” about our God whose overture to us overthrows every ordinary order, whose embrace emboldens every individual, whose acceptance approves absolutely everyone as being worthy of God’s acceptance, forgiveness and love.

Jesus, remember me…let that prayer be the good news that we dare to share with everyone…so that all might hear those heavenly words: Today you will be with me in paradise.  Amen.