"One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, Arent you the Christ? Save yourself and us! But the other rebuked him, saying, Dont you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise".

Funny old conversation isn't it? Only Luke bothers to mention it. What did the second criminal see in the broken, pain-wracked figure of Jesus that the other missed?

It's fairly clear that they both knew a fair bit about Him, but one chooses one route and the other chooses the opposite. After all, they were both criminals - hung on a cross. All chance of redemption seemed gone. There was no chance of saying, "Tomorrow, I'll make a fresh start" - for these guys, tomorrow would never come. And yet, one criminal seems to recognise that there was hope. He saw in Jesus a man who still had a future; not somebody for whom life no longer had meaning. He saw life where he expected to see death. He saw salvation in this wretched, bloodied and broken-bodied man. He saw the final straw and grasped it. Took that one last throw of the dice. And he won! Jesus said, "Don't worry. You're coming with Me" So you see, it doesn't matter when you ask Jesus to take you with Him. If it's with your first breath or your last - you only have to ask.
Conx Copyright Conway Billington "The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible." George Burns

• Topic: Sermons

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