Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:40-43
Here again we approach this singular, historical moment with recognition that this encounter is the ultimate metaphor for the eternal decision of mankind.
Will you mock God? Will you turn away from the redemption he offers?
Or will you turn towards him? Will you recognize him for who he is? Will you accept his gift?
The great Charles Spurgeon wrote: "He who is mighty to save was mighty, even during His own death, to pluck others from the grasp of the Destroyer, though they were in the act of expiring."
He who is mighty to save. What an amazing thought. The point is, that the same one who is mighty to save us allowed himself to be put to death! And even more amazing is that two men, seeing the same sight, suffering the same fate, met the same man and had two very different reactions to him.
What caused this thief, known through the apocrypha as Dismas, to repent instead of curse? What did he see that his companion did not see?
I again refer to Charles Spurgeon, who in a sermon from 1886 wrote:
"When he saw the Savior surrounded by the Roman soldiers—saw the executioners bring forth the hammers and the nails and lay Him down upon His back and drive the nails into His hands and feet—this crucified criminal was startled and astonished as he heard Him say, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” He, himself, had probably met his executioners with a curse, but he heard this Man breathe a prayer to the great Father! And, as a Jew, as he probably was, he understood what was meant by such a prayer. But it did astound him to hear Jesus pray for his murderers. That was a petition, the like of which he had never heard nor even dreamed of! From whose lips could it come but from the lips of a Divine Being? Such a loving, forgiving, God-like prayer proved Him to be the Messiah!
How joyous! How much easier the pain of a crucified death must have been for him! Jesus promised him not just heaven, but Paradise on this day. Do you see the depths of that promise? That his suffering would end. That eternal life would begin. That he would receive a reward, not a punishment.
As he died a death of ultimate punishment, of horrible pain and depths of agonizing, he received the promise of life. Of forgiveness.
It's worth noting that there is no evidence that the penitent thief ever heard a sermon. No evidence that he was evangelized. No evidence that he had been witnessed to.
He simply looked at the Savior's face, marked by the cruel acts of evil men. Just looking at Jesus changed his life - and his death!
One more quote from Spurgeon's sermon:
As the robber looked, he believed. Is it not amazing—the very sight of the Master won him? The sight of the Lord in agony, shame and death! Scarcely a word. Certainly no sermon, no attending worship on the Sabbath. No reading of gracious books; no appeal from mother, or teacher, or friend. The sight of Jesus won him! I put it down as a very singular thing, a thing for you and for me to remember and dwell upon with quite as much vividness as we do upon the lateness of this robber’s conversion!
The lesson from this thief's life is really a question: What will you do when you look at Jesus? And boiled down, it becomes this: What will you do with Jesus?
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