The Thief (2)

Life is filled with choices. If you are young, you have something wonderful to experience – all the choices that you’ll make. These choices will define you and become who you are. Choices like

· what career(s) that you will pursue

· who you will marry

· what schools you will attend

· will you have children

· where will you live

· what type of community will you live in

· how you will live each day of your life

All these questions and more stretch out in front of young people. Older people have choices to make as well.

· How will I use this season of my life?

· When is it time to retire?

· Is there something new I should try?

And, of course, many more choices…some harder than others.

But the greatest choice that each of us will ever face is “What do we do with this Jesus?” Christmas season has its own themes (like ‘love, hope, joy, and peace’) but the Easter season asks questions about death, sinfulness, and the Cross. Ultimately those questions return in the themes of love, hope, joy, peace, and Christ once again. But, at the foot of the Cross we are forced to make a choice.

At the Foot of the Cross

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John all offer scenes at the foot of the Cross, but only Luke isolates on the people involved. It seems like Luke wants us to focus on understanding the Cross from a unique perspective:

Luke 23:32–43 NIV

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “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 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.”

In this passage Luke introduces types of characters who were at the crucifixion. There were the crowds of everyday people, the rulers, the soldiers, and then the 3 on their crosses – Jesus between two criminals. Of all the people who were at the crucifixion, there is only one that I would have liked to be – the thief who saw Jesus in Paradise later that same day.

Did Luke Miss Something? Or Is He Spotlighting?

The Gospel of Luke has been criticized because it does not contain as many references to the idea that Jesus saves sinful men from death. It is strange to make that statement when we see this picture of Jesus between two criminals and learn that one refuses to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. The other criminal sees Jesus as a man who has done no wrong. He believes that Jesus is the Son of God. His reward is almost immediate – Paradise.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words…Picture this, Jesus on a Cross in the center. An unrepentant man on the left and a repentant man is on His right. The choices that they made about Jesus made all the difference.

Luke Walks Us to the Cross

In a survey of the book of Luke we realize that the Cross was always on the mind of Luke. At the birth of Jesus, we are told of the prophecy by an old man named Simeon.

Luke 2:34–35 NIV

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

It is still 30 years ahead, but on the horizon looms the Cross. Surrounded by His disciples 30 years later Jesus tells them…

Luke 9:22 NIV

And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Again, Luke points to the Cross. Within the same chapter Jesus is transfigured in glory…

Luke 9:30–31 NIV

Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

There, at His transfiguration, again we see the Cross. Over and over again as He teaches we find Him determined to go to Jerusalem, to the Cross. When warned about King Herod’s threats to kill him, He stayed his course

Luke 13:32–33 NIV

He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

The Cross was waiting. Once the time came, Jesus faced Jerusalem…

Luke 18:31–33 NIV

Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

From start to finish, Luke is about the Cross and the work of Jesus Christ on it!

A View from the Foot of the Cross

Luke takes us to the Cross and sets up a powerful contrast between two thieves. What do you do with this Jesus? It is at the foot of the Cross that we see a huge difference between all the crowd that is assembled on that hilltop and one of the two thieves.

I never knew that the thief who spoke kindly to Jesus had a name. Maybe it would be better if he had no name – he was an everyman representing you and me. But, tradition holds that his name was Dysmas. Because of his kindnesses to Jesus and his repentance, he was eventually made a saint in the Greek and Latin churches.[1]

It was only Dysmas who chose to believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be. Listen to the hate and mocking of everyone else…

Vs. 35 – the people and the rulers sneered at Him

Vs. 36 – the soldiers mocked Him

Vs. 38 – a sign teased and ridiculed Him

Vs. 39 – a criminal hurled insults at Him

But, Dysmas – feared Him, recognized Jesus as God and his own sinfulness. As a result he realized (experienced) his own salvation. The Greek word for fear offers several shades of meaning:

fearing physical danger (Matt 14:30), fearing social ramifications (Matt 1:20), being afraid of causing an uprising (Matt 14:5), feeling awe at witnessing extraordinary events (Matt 9:8; Mark 4:41), fearing the wrath of God (Luke 12:4–5), or feeling reverence and respect for God (Luke 18:2, 4; 23:40; Acts 10:2).[2]

It is the final definition of fear that is used in this case – ‘feeling of reverence and respect for God’. Dysmas knew that Jesus was no criminal. “Death was not the penalty of sin for Jesus.” Many years ago now, the Lord painted a picture for me in my mind of the responsibility that I had for His suffering on the Cross. I saw His hands and feet and saw the hammer in my hand. Another Bible teacher explains it this way,

Now, if I am shown Jesus suffering the penalty of sin, and if I am assured nevertheless that in him there is no sin, and if I find him offering me salvation from sin, it takes no great effort of the intellect to grasp that what nails him to the cross is the sin from which he promises to save me—my sin. Its effects have been diverted from me to him. And there, not (it is true) in so many words, but in the whole scheme of his story-telling, is Luke’s theology of the cross. It is no less definite than Peter’s—‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree’—or Paul’s—‘For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin’.[3]

The most remarkable thing that I remember from the picture Jesus painted for me were the eyes of Jesus. Even with the hammer in my hand and with my sins nailing Him to the Cross, His eyes expressed His love for me.

What Do You Do with This Man?

Jesus has been creating problems for people for a long time. C.S. Lewis frames the choice powerfully in his book Mere Christianity (a book that is needed now more than ever):

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

The thief to one side chose to believe that Jesus was a liar. He challenges the claim that Jesus was God. He wants God to perform for him as though God owes him something. Jesus doesn’t even respond to this thief. Maybe if Jesus were sarcastic, He would say, “That is exactly what I am doing”. But Jesus knows the man’s heart.

Dysmas believed that Jesus was Lord. He also recognized that each of them (with the exception of Jesus) were getting exactly what they deceived. As thieves they had always taken from others, hurt others, and deceived others.

One of them was just realizing it. It was just. But, not for Jesus. Who knows how much strength he had left but he said,

Luke 23:42 NIV

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

It is not a question. It is a statement with no specifics. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Dysmas had made a choice. He chose to believe. His statement believes that Jesus would not die, that He had a kingdom, and that He could grant a man like Dysmas admission into Paradise.

Jesus answered,

Luke 23:43 NIV

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

A Good Choice

On the top of Golgotha, Jesus divided the one who would believe from the one who wouldn’t. 3 of the Gospels tell us about Jesus being crucified between two rebels or thieves. Only Luke lets us in on the conversation.

Simeon prophesied that Jesus would be the dividing line between many people. References to “drawing a line in the sand” include Roman legionnaires and, famously, Col. Travis at the Alamo. But the better illustrations go back to Exodus 32 when Moses called out the foolishness of the golden calf.

Exodus 32:26 NIV

So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.

The two thieves set up a conflict between the decisions that each would make. Dysmas chose well while the defiant thief chose poorly. Ultimately Christ is the divider between our destinies. What will you choose? Today could be your moment!

There is a story of a young soldier who was dying from a gunshot wound:

…the soldier had been mortally wounded. A Chaplain who came by knew that in a matter of two or three minutes the boy would be dead. He bent over the broken body of that boy and cradled his dying head in his hands. He looked into the face of that boy and said, “Son, I want to pray for you”.

The soldier looked into the face of the chaplain and said, “Chaplain, am I going to live?”

The chaplain wasn't a doctor, but it was obvious that the boy was not going to live. The chaplain didn't want to tell him, however, he was going to die, so the chaplain just changed the subject. The chaplain said, “Son, are you a Christian?”

“Oh, yes sir”, he said, “I'm a Christian. “The greatest day of my life was as a boy when I walked down the aisle of my church and gave my hand to my pastor and my heart to Jesus Christ. Yes sir, I'm a Christian, Christ is my Lord and my Savior. Chaplain, am I going to live?”

The Chaplain looked into his face and said, “Yes son, you are going to live”, as he lay that dying head down on his pillow.

The young soldier had made a choice to live. Dysmas made a choice to live. Now, it is up to you!

[1]Richard A. Spencer, “Dysmas,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 360. [2]Miles Custis, “Fear,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014). [3]Michael Wilcock, The Savior of the World: The Message of Luke’s Gospel, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 203.

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