LENTEN READINGS AND REFLECTIONS

DAY 14

Reading: Luke 20:41-24:53

Only Luke tells us of the thief who repents. The other gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified together with two thieves. But only Luke tells us that one of them turns, in the end, to the Lord.

Imagine what sort of man this thief must have been. By his own account he'd lived a wicked life. In fact, even on the cross he confesses that his punishment is just. If true, and there is no reason to doubt his self assessment, then we probably would not have liked the thief very much.

He was probably a “low-life”, a liar and a cheat, living off the fruit of other people's labor. Who knows what crime led to his arrest and punishment, but it was just terrible enough to merit the most torturous form of execution reserved for the vilest criminals.

And, to make matters worse, he was not really very sorry until the end. Both Matthew and Mark tell us that both of the men crucified with Jesus hurled insults at him.

That means that our thief did not have his change of heart until the very last, when he realized death was at hand and that judgment was inevitable.

There are many accounts of death-bed conversions. I have witnessed one. A woman who'd hurt her family deeply and committed some terrible sins confessed and repented in tears in a hospital bed a week before her death and invited Jesus Christ into her life.

Was it too late?

It is never too late. Even as he was drew his final breaths the thief confessed his sins: “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve” and cried out to the Lord, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Long before all of these things, God made a promise through the prophet Joel, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Joel 2:32)

And, in accordance with that promise, Jesus heard the thief's prayer: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Does this strike you as unfair? It is true that, according to justice, strictly speaking, the thief should have been condemned.

But then again, so should I and so should you.

But God is a God of grace as well as a God of justice. At the very moment the thief cried out to Lord, the Lord's suffering was applied to and took away the thief's sin.

And the same is true for you and for me. The very moment you sincerely turned yourself over to the Lord, all of your sins—past, present, and future—were nailed to the cross and put to death with Christ.

It does not matter what you have done, where you have been, how you have behaved. The promise is true and will remain true right up to the moment you draw your final breath: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

We hear this so often, the glory of it and the sheer joy of it can fade.

But dwell on it this morning. Think about life lived eternally with Jesus and to give thanks. If you are in Christ, then you have, as sure and certain promise, an eternity of mornings ahead of you.

You're life will never end because it is intimately bound to his and when your mortal body draws its final breath, Jesus' will speak the same words to you, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Thanks be to God

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