Today in Paradise

“Two other men, both criminals, were led out with Jesus to be executed,” so reads the gospel of Luke. “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified Jesus there, along with the criminals—one on the right and the other on the left.”

This is the way the gospel describes what happened that fateful Friday afternoon. The death of Jesus, and I take this as my preaching theme today. The death of Jesus. What happened that day? What does it mean? How does it impact your life?

This theme is appropriate today, as today is the first Sunday of Lent.

Lent is a season of spiritual discipline best described as a journey to the cross. The cross is the central image or icon of the Christian faith. A polished, wooden cross hangs on the wall behind me, and an “old rugged cross” sits here beside me. Some of you are wearing a piece of jewelry fashioned in the shape of a cross. What was once despised as a vehicle of judgment and death has become, perhaps, the most recognizable symbol in the world. To see a cross is to think, Jesus. To carry a cross is to reenact the drama of the crucifixion. To treasure “that old rugged cross” is to feel the attachment to Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one, which sits at the center of Christian faith and practice.

I

I take the death of Jesus as my subject today, following sermons on the birth of Jesus and the life of Jesus. Next week, my theme is the resurrection of Jesus. These four sermons are part of a series I call “The Last Thing on My Mind.” I am trying to clarify for myself and for you what I truly believe and confess, after 55 years of reading, thinking, praying, and preaching. I ask myself this question, If I had only one sermon to preach about the death of Jesus, what would I say?  I ask you that question: if you had time to talk to a friend, a daughter, a neighbor only once about what you believe to be true and urgent about the death of Jesus, what would you say?

You could follow the lead of Paul the Apostle, who wrote, “Christ died for our Sins.” In my parent’s home hung a framed copper sheet with words embossed in the copper, “Christ Died for Our Sins.” I now own it and hope to reframe it for another generation or two. That is a sentence Paul the Apostle wrote some years after Jesus died on the cross.

Or you might turn to the leader of the apostles, Simon Peter. In his second letter, he put it this way: “God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps” (2:21).  Jesus as our example, even unto death, is a powerful way to see the death of Jesus. As a teenager, I read the famous book, In His Steps. That title is taken from this quote. That book popularized the question, “What would Jesus do?”

We can turn to Steven for yet another approach to the death of Jesus. Just before he was stoned to death as the first Christian martyr, he was allowed to speak to the mob. The Acts of the Apostles records much of that speech as it was remembered years later. Jesus is described as “the messiah whom you betrayed and murdered” (7:52). Jesus was the victim of wicked and lawless people of power. They conspired to kill Jesus. The death of Jesus is the evidence of the wickedness, not of Jesus, but of those who exercised political and religious power.

Yes, Jesus was the victim of wicked deeds by powerful people. Yes, Jesus suffered as an example for us today. Yes, Jesus died in our place and for our sins.  All of these are true about the death of Jesus on the cross. And I could preach on any of these three. Or I could turn to the gospel narratives. I could take as my theme their description of his death.

There are eight chapters, two in each gospel, that describe the death of Jesus. According to Luke, Jesus prays with his disciples. Jesus is betrayed by Judas. Jesus is arrested by the soldiers. Peter denies knowing Jesus. Pilate and Herod, both public officials, put Jesus on trial. Barabbas is released instead of Jesus. Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry the cross of Jesus.

Simon, Jesus, the soldiers, and a crowd of people create the procession that leads to the place of the skull. There, the soldiers crucify Jesus and the two other condemned men. The prophet of Nazareth, the miracle worker of Galilee, the rabbi of Capernaum is nailed to the cross.

II

While hanging on the cross, the gospels record seven things Jesus said, and I want to focus on one of them today as my message. To himself, Jesus said this, “It is finished.” He must have had a sense of accomplishment as he prepared to die. Years later his disciple Paul would write: “I have fought the fight. I have run the race. I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 2:6-8). Like many people since, Jesus finished his assignment in life. “It is finished,” he said.

While he was hanging there on the cross, he said three things to God. “Why have you forsaken me?” When he began, Jesus thought Israel would repent and turn to God. He thought that in and through his ministry the kingdom of the world would pass away, and the kingdom of God was come in power and glory. But here he was, hanging on the cross, killed by the kingdoms of this world. “Why have you forsaken me,” he asked his heavenly father.

Second, Jesus said to God, “Father, forgive them, these people, these soldiers, these rulers. Forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” Jesus taught us to forgive our enemies, and Jesus practiced what he prayed. He forgave them, and begged God to forgive them. “Do not hold this sin, this crime against them.”

Before the afternoon was over, he said one more thing to God. “Into your hands, I commit my spirit.” Jesus lived in hope, and he died in hope. He died trusting God for his salvation, for his vindication, for his justification. He put his future in the hands of God. In this way, he demonstrated for us how to live in hope and how to die in hope.

There are seven sayings from the cross.  These sayings help us understanding how Jesus understood his own death, how he interpreted his death. One sentence he spoke to himself, three sentences he spoke to God, and the last three things he said to those around him, to those gathered to watch and grieve or ridicule.

First, he said, “I am thirsty.” Of course, he was thirsty. He was exhausted, and weak, and dry. He said to anybody and everybody, “Get me something to drink,” which they did.

Then he spoke to his disciples and his mother. He spoke to his mother. Isn’t that tender? Doesn’t that reveal the heart of Jesus. He was dying. She was watching and waiting. He said to her, perhaps nodding in the direction of his disciple John, “Mom, here is your son.” He was saying, “Go with him. He will take care of you.”  Then he turned his eyes to John, the beloved disciple, “John, here is your mother.” The gospel says this, “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (John 19:27).

Finally, as the last of the seven sayings from the cross, he turned to the two men hanging next to him. One on the right and one on the left. They had been talking about Jesus. One had been teasing Jesus, “Get us down from here.” The other rebuked him, “Be quiet. You and I deserve to be here. Not him.”  Then this nameless man, about to die a lonely and forgotten death, turned to Jesus. He called him by name and said, “Jesus, when you come into your kingdom, remember me.”

Who knows what mixture of desperation and repentance is mixed up in that request. Who knows what roll of the existential dice finds voice in that last minute plea for mercy. Who knows what seeds of faith and hope came to fruition in that plaintive cry, O Lord remember me. O Lord, remember me. O Lord, remember me. But it was not the prayer from the soul of that crucified man that so impresses me today, but the promise from the lips of Jesus.

III.

Today, you will be with me in paradise.

Today, you will be with me in paradise.

These are perhaps the most hopeful words in all the gospels. They cut through centuries of speculation and volumes of theology. They offer no explanation of the crucifixion, and they depend not one whit on what followed the crucifixion. They express the hope of Jesus and the promise of the life to come.

I don’t know what “today” means, as the Bible says, “One day in the sight of God is as a thousand years.”  I don’t know what “paradise” means.  I do know John Prine wrote a song called Paradise, about a small town in western Kentucky, on the banks of the Green River. It is the place his parents grew up, a place they visited every summer, until the coal company bought it up, tore it down, and mined all the coal. “When I die let my ashes float down the Green River, let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam. I’ll be halfway to heaven with paradise waiting, five miles away from wherever I am.” Somebody long ago read this story of Jesus, listened to his promise about paradise, and named their little community Paradise, Kentucky.

In another song, “When I get to heaven” John Prine reveals his father was a skeptic about heaven. He quotes his father as saying, “When you die, you are a dead pecker head.”  We all know people like that. We understand the skepticism. Many of us harbor suspicions that the afterlife is a dream, a fantasy, an illusion, a diversion. When death comes, everything is over.

“Dust we are and to dust we return.” That is the liturgical phrase for Ash Wednesday, when the minister makes the sign of the cross on your forehead.

Who knows what that crucified criminal thought about death? Who knows what that crucified criminal believed about eternity when he called out to Jesus, “Remember me!” Who knows what was in his mind when he said to Jesus, “When you come into your kingdom”? Who knows what hope or anticipation he nurtured in the last hours of his life.

“Today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

That is what Jesus said, and it sounds hopeful to me, doesn’t it to you? “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” That is what Jesus replied, and somebody remembered it that day. Today, you will be with me in Paradise.

In his song, John Prine sings about the unbelief of his father, “I hope to prove him wrong. When I get to heaven, that is!”

“Today, you will be with me in paradise.”

That was the last thing on his mind that Friday afternoon. And that is good enough for me!