Echoes of Easter part 2

Sorry this is late. I have t had a chance to write in a while. 

Luke 23:32

And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

In this post I'm gonna talk about the thief on the cross. Or more accurately the thieves. 

These two thieves are spoken of in all the gospels. In Matthew 27:44 it says: 

The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. 

Meaning they mocked and derided him as the rest did. Mark tell us in his gospel that 

"And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left." Mark 15:27 

And John says the same. But in this post I want to focus on the Luke account of these two thieves, or malefactors as Luke calls them. Now in Matthew it says they both mocked him, but somewhere in the course of the time that they were up there something happened to the heart of one of the thieves. Read on and I'll explain what I mean. 

Luke 23:39

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

Now I want to spend some time talking about this thief. Imagine what this man must be going through, he was being crucified just as Jesus was and yet he took the time to mock Jesus. This man thought of himself, he didn't realize who he was talking to. If he truly believed in the messiah, or Christ, then he would've know that the Christ had to die. All the crowds around him were mocking Jesus as well, and this man instead of drawing his own conclusions just follows the crowd. And yet are we not the same way? Do we think only of ourselves at the expense of the God-given missions of others? Do we blindly follow alongside others without coming to our own conclusions? We live in an age where we are so affected by the thoughts of the crowd. Peer pressure abounds almost everywhere, and I admit that often I succumb to it as well. We are too preoccupied with the thoughts of others we neglect to think of the thoughts of our lord and savior. 

Hear the echoes of the first thief and remember to think only of what Christ would have you do and not of what other would have you do.

Luke 23:40-41

But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

Now to the thief that I believe we all need to emulate. This thief started out mocking Jesus, but what changed his heart? Let's put ourselves in his shoes for a second. A lot of people in that time had heard Jesus, or at least heard of him and that he was a great teacher. I believe that this thief did in fact have at least some knowledge of who Jesus was. And so imagine you're hanging here in agony, so much agony that it hurts to even breathe waiting for death to come to end your pain, crying out in agony screaming in pain. And here next to you is a man who is called the king of the Jews. And so naturally like a good Jew you mock this man for putting himself in a place higher than he should be. But then you realize something, this man is silent, he does not scream for the pain to stop, he doesn't cry out for them to end it. He takes his punishment, or really our punishment, in silence. He doesn't even try to stop the mocking, he just sits there taking the pain and the ridicule as if he deserved it. And then you realize, he doesn't. This man is a righteous man, a man of strength and power who has bowed himself willingly low for our sakes. This man who moments before had cried out "father forgive them for they know not what they do" how much strength does that take how much love that this man, who supposedly was being killed for being unrighteous, was filled with so much righteousness. Then your thought turns to your life. You see the choices you made to get here, the mistakes both accidental and purposeful, the sin, the unrighteousness. Then you realize that you deserve to be here. You deserve to be here on this cross dying this death, but this man next to you does not deserve to die and yet he let himself be crucified. That's when you realize his clams of lordship was true, and that this man truest is the Christ. So in a last effort of hope and faith you say unto him,

 Luke 23:42

Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

And this man, though pain racks his body as he does so, turns to you looks deep into your eyes, you see the love written there, the grace yet the deep understanding that passes you own. The eyes of a man who knows everything you've done yet loves you more than you can possibly imagine. The eyes of a man who will compel you to be more than you possibly could. The eyes of a perfect man. Then he says to you, though it pains him to do so, 

Luke 23:43

Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. 

Hear the echoes of the penitent thief, remember who you are and who Jesus is, and how much he loves you. But also who he calls you to be.