Sunday, March 17, 2019 ~ Lent II

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

 Sermon Series on the Seven Last “Words” of Christ

“Today You Will Be with Me in Paradise” ~ Luke 23:43

© 2019, Dr. Tamilio

Vladimir and Estragon are the two main Laurel and Hardy-esque characters in Samuel Beckett’s mid-twentieth century absurdist drama, Waiting for Godot.  This tragicomedy, which unfolds in two almost identical acts, finds our protagonists waiting for someone named Godot who never arrives.  One of the theological interpretations of this play claims that the name Godot (G-O-D-O-T) is a play on the name God (G-O-D).  In any event, very early in the first act, Vladimir and Estragon get into a discussion about the two criminals who were crucified next to Jesus.  Vladimir wants to know if one of the criminals was saved.  He says, “how is it that of the four Evangelists only one speaks of a thief being saved?”  Vladimir is an observant student of the Gospels.

Matthew writes, “Two rebels were crucified with him [Jesus], one on his right and one on his left.”  In the King James Version, they are referred to as thieves, which is probably why Beckett uses the term.  The New Revised Standard Version calls them bandits.  In The Message, Eugene Peterson calls them criminals.  The point is simply that Matthew says nothing more.  Two others were crucified with Jesus (Matthew 27:38).  That’s it.

Mark writes, “Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him” (15:32).  This augments Matthew’s account a bit.

John writes, “they crucified him, and with him two others — one on each side and Jesus in the middle” (19:18).  John’s account is in-line with Matthew’s.

Luke, however, tells the story differently.  This is one of those “apparent” contradictions in the Bible.  Unlike Mark, who says that both criminals taunted Jesus, Luke says that only one of them did.  The other one came to his defense: “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 asks Jesus, “remember me when you come into your kingdom,” to which Jesus responds, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  This is our Gospel lesson for today.

So, we can see why Vladimir is unsure.  Did the second criminal also mock Jesus or did he ask to be saved?  I like Luke’s account, frankly.

Legend has it that the criminal who taunts Jesus is named Gestas and the one who comes to his defense is Dismas.  The story of these two as recorded in Luke has stuck with me for decades, because I often wonder who I would have been in this scenario.  I’d like to think I would be Dismas, coming to the defense of my crucified Savior and being promised a seat in Heaven, but my fear is that I would be Gestas.  In Luke’s account, Gestas doesn’t really mock Jesus.  Actually, he challenges him, saying, “Aren’t you the Messiah?  Save yourself and us!”  Luke tells us that the some of the onlookers and Roman soldiers asked the same question.  The difference, I believe, is that when they (the onlookers and soldiers) asked such questions (in verses 35 and 36 respectively), they did so in a derisive way.  I think Gestas, if that is his actual name, was desperate.  Who wouldn’t be!

Crucifixion was a heinous way to die.  It could take days.  It was extremely painful causing the condemned man to eventually asphyxiate as he fought against gravity to hold up his weight.  I think it is safe to say that if any one of us were nailed to a cross, and we were next to Jesus, we would plead to be spared.  The faith of the other criminal (Dismas) is extraordinary.  Equally amazing is what he is promised.  This, in our series, is Jesus’ second “word” from the cross: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

To some extent, we are Dismas.  Life can sometimes be unbearable.  Even for those who have a relatively easy life, there are all sorts of obligations we have that can be burdensome.  And there are times, regardless of your economic status, that you may face a job loss, or the loss of the person you love most, or a frightening medical diagnosis.  You want a release, a reprieve.

And then, as we get older, we begin thinking about our mortality.  Once I hit fifty, it is something that has come to the forefront of my mind more than ever before.  How many years do I have left?  Thirty?  Thirty-five?  Forty, if I am lucky?  I’m well past the halfway point.  One of these days is going to be my last.  I don’t say this to be morbid.  I am thinking about what is to come when I shuffle off this mortal coil.

The atheist claims that this is it.  Lights out when you die.  No consciousness.  No nothing.  The Christian has hope — hope in the life eternal, in life everlasting.  When we get ready to breathe our last, we want to hear Jesus whisper into our ears, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  Salvation is the hope we hold onto.

But it isn’t just hope.  It’s a promise.  The New Testament is filled with the formula for getting it.

John 5:24

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

Acts 4:12

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves [or “not of your own doing”], it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.”

There are many others.  These are just four of them.

I have long held-on to the belief that salvation was universal, because I could not reconcile a loving God with a judge who would condemn certain people just because they did not practice the right faith.  But the New Testament challenges this belief at every turn.  It is harder to reconcile than the belief in universal salvation.

Thankfully, this isn’t up to me.  God is the judge of Creation.  I don’t want that job.  But as a Christian, I have to hold fast to the Word of God and the promises held within it, otherwise, can I really call myself a Christian?  For all of the criticisms levied against Evangelicals, one thing is true: their message is clear, and it is powerful.  If you profess Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you will be saved.

We can hold on to that message and share it with others without worrying about what other faith traditions believe or proclaim.  We know what Christ said.  John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Gregory A. Boyd and Paul R. Eddy write, “God loves humanity and desires to save sinners.”[1]  All we have to do is respond — to accept the amazing grace that God offers to us through Jesus Christ: the One who was, the One who is, the One who will always be.  He is our rock.  He is our light.  He is our salvation.  Thanks be to God for such hope!  Amen.

[1] Gregory A. Boyd and Paul R. Eddy, Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009), 198.