Today we are looking at Jesus’ second word from the cross. To the dying brigand crucified along with him Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23.43) In the preceding word Jesus asks the Father to forgive those who were crucifying him. They were unrepentant, but Jesus was relinquishing his desire for vengeance and retribution, trusting instead in the Father’s justice. But here we see a different side of the crucifixion.

Crucified with him were two brigands. Only Luke tells us that the responses of the two brigands to Jesus’ crucifixion were different. One ranted at him just like those who were crucifying him. But the other recognized that Jesus was innocent. His words to the first brigand are telling. He says, “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.” (Luke 23.40-41)

What is it that this second brigand was trying to say to the first? They and Jesus were suffering the same sentence. All three of them had been crucified. But crucifixion was exactly the punishment that the two brigands deserved. But Jesus was innocent. Yet he too had been placed under the same sentence.

If crucifixion was something that Jesus was facing though he was innocent, the question arose, “What kind of punishment would God mete out to those who were guilty?” If Jesus, though innocent, had been crucified and if God did nothing about it, then what horrors awaited those who had actually been criminals?

The second brigand recognizes that Jesus’ crucifixion raised two possibilities. Either there was no God of justice, which is why an innocent man like Jesus was bearing the same punishment as two guilty men. In this case, there was no justice one could hope for. On the other hand, there was a God of justice. In this case, the crucifixion of Jesus was a huge miscarriage of justice that this just God could not overlook.

What he believed about Jesus is something we will know only when Jesus returns! But he makes a last ditch effort after recognizing the incongruity of Jesus’ crucifixion. If there was a God who was concerned about justice then this God would not allow the injustice meted out to Jesus to stand. He would act to remedy this injustice. And the brigand threw himself on that understanding of God’s justice. In desperation, he pleads, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23.42)

I think of another occasion in the bible where someone in dire straits asks another to remember him. When Joseph had interpreted Pharaoh’s cupbearer’s dream indicating that Pharaoh was going to restore the cupbearer, he told the cupbearer, “But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.” (Genesis 40.14) The cupbearer, of course, forgot and Joseph had to rot in the prison for some years after that.

But Jesus’ words are telling. “Today you will be with me in paradise.” To the brigand’s ‘when’ Jesus answers ‘today’. Unlike the cupbearer who forgot Joseph, Jesus would not forget the brigand. And unlike Joseph who had to wait years before he was elevated, the brigand would find himself in paradise that very day.

But we dare not forget what Jesus was responding to. When the brigand had asked about ‘when’ Jesus would come into his kingdom, Jesus had responded that it would be ‘today’. That was the very day when Jesus was going to receive his kingdom! Too many of us think that Jesus is going to return to receive his kingdom. However, the Gospels are clear that this has already happened. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus declares that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. In other words, he had already received his kingdom! The crucifixion was, in a very real sense, his enthronement. The word to the brigand builds on the first word. While the first word was a plea for justice, the second is an assurance based on the knowledge that the plea had been granted.

Prayer:

Almighty, forgiving Father, we pray that, as we continue to meditate on the life and death of Jesus, we would constantly be reminded that you are the God of justice and mercy. You are the only one who is able to be just and merciful at the same time. Just as Jesus assured the brigand of his place in his kingdom, so also enable us to remember that we are forgiven through the life and death of Jesus and that, because of this forgiveness, we will also participate in his kingdom in heaven and on earth. We pray that you would grant us the grace of being people who work in the world from a deep assurance of your justice and mercy. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.