38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
If you read your Bible, you know what I’m talking about. You read a section of God’s Word and one sentence, one phrase, jumps out at you and attaches itself to your heart. You’ve read it before, maybe many times, but you didn’t notice it. You didn’t think about it all that much. But this day, the Holy Spirit picked those words out for you.
Sometimes it’s a promise. Someone told me how God’s promise helped them through a crisis. Never will I leave you… Sometimes it’s a picture kind of verse. The Lord is my shepherd. Or I am your shield, your very great reward. Other times it’s something that cuts right through all the pretense in our lives. It stops us in midstride and commands our attention.
These last weeks we have been gathering around this theme. Facing the cross. What does God’s word help us to see facing the cross? Tonight a word comes to us that a man spoke facing Jesus’ cross. He spoke it while facing his own cross, his own imminent death. It’s both a probing question and a troubling accusation. He did not direct it at you or me. Yet he might as well.
Facing the Cross we hear one thief say to the other:
“Don’t you fear God?!”
We remember the scene. Jesus crucified between two criminals as if he were one himself. The cross was designed to be an ugly, humiliating instrument of torture and death. So it didn’t take long for the misery to set in on them all. One of the criminals is filled with bitterness. You know how people can be who make a mess of their lives and bring on themselves the sad consequences. In their misery, they lash out at those around them, still not taking responsibility.
Jesus became the target of this man’s bitterness. Maybe he had heard some people speak of their hope that Jesus was the Messiah. But look at this. He’s just as miserable and powerless as we. Messiah, the Christ. What a joke! So he vents his bitterness on this man. How does Luke put it? He hurled insults at him like someone might throw rotten fruit.
The other criminal watches all this. He is in the same misery. Yet he cannot remain silent. He rebukes the man. Don’t you fear God! It was like he was saying. We are about to die and face God. You mock this innocent man! Don’t you fear God! Look at yourself, you’re guilty. We both are.
What about us? You don’t have to be a felon to confess what this man did. Just take a walk through the relationships in your life. The people you have hurt or let down. The words we have let slip that pulled someone down in other people’s eyes. The times we were reluctant or just plain avoided taking care of our own. Then think of our most important relationship. That with our Lord. His commandment is: You shall have no other gods. But too often we give his rightful place in our lives to someone or something else. And too often it this unholy trinity. Me, myself and I.
Yes, there are plenty of times in our lives where the words of the thief could just as well have been said to you or me. Don’t you fear God. For what does God’s Word say? It says: it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It says: you [Lord] hate all who do wrong.
Of course, we might fool ourselves into thinking what one person said with a smile. Pastor, I’m just a misdemeanor sinner. Like I don’t do any of the serious stuff. But what does God’s Word say about that? Read it in James. Break one command, we are guilty of it all. Don’t you fear God. We ought to when we look at our lives.
We ought to when we look at Jesus on the cross. That’s what God thinks of my sin. That’s what my sin deserves. He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Don’t you fear God. We ought to when we look at our lives. We ought to when we remember Jesus suffered what I deserved.
But facing the cross, we find a different answer. In that ugly scene of hatred and misery, there is a wonderfully different answer for us. Don’t you fear God. No. No, not when we turn to our crucified Savior.
Facing the cross, Jesus might have seemed like the last person to turn to. He hangs there helpless. People come by mocking and taunting him. He calls out in anguish, forsaken and abandoned by God the Father. A weak and pitiful sight. And that’s all the one thief can see. That’s all our world can see. He looks like a loser. And you know how this world hates losers.
But the other thief looks at Jesus with a different set of eyes. Eyes that can see something so different facing the cross. A sight that only the Spirit can give. He sees the Christ, his Savior and King and so he prays to him. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
That man prayed in fear of God. No doubt he looked back at his life and feared what death would bring. But turning to Jesus, he found an answer, the only answer to that fear. For what do we know facing the cross/ Listen to Jesus’ dying words. It is finished. What’s finished? He paid the price in full that God’s justice demands for our sins. He paid the price for all which means he paid the price for me. He has won forgiveness for all, which means he has forgiveness for me.
In him. I am a child of God. In him, every promise of God is for me… Like this one. Don’t be afraid. I will help you.
And when I face the day of my death like the thief, what can I know? When my conscience says to me: Don’t you fear God, I may experience that fear. But this I can know. I have nothing to fear with Jesus, my Savior. In fact, I have everything to look forward to. For this is what my crucified Savior promises me for that day. I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. Amen.