The Saviour crucified between two thieves. One thief mocked Jesus, the other recognised GOD.
It’s interesting to note that the first person who Jesus welcomed to heaven as He was dying was a thief. Not a religious person, not a relative or even a disciple. Just a man who was dying and knew he desperately wanted THE SAVIOUR.
The religious were so legalistically religious that they did not recognise the Messiah they were looking for, rejected Him when He was with them and then went overboard and crucified Him.
The world He came to save didn’t stand by Him. But a sinner did. He humbled himself, repented of his sins and asked Jesus to remember him.
The thief on the other side had hatred spewing out of him. Sometimes what’s on the inside always shows. Unless the internal is clean, the external will be messed up. In his case, it showed.
But the good thief knew HE needed Jesus. No one had to push him to seek the Lord. He did it.
Humbly, in his own broken way.
The thief crucified with Jesus would have had no idea that the request he made to Him would be set to music and sung by His faithful followers 2,000 years later and his story re-told a million times over.
He was strapped so tight to the cross that he could not even pray to the Son of God with folded hands.
The criminal asks Jesus to remember him in Luke 23:42, which says: “Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom'”. Jesus responds: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise”.
Nothing emphasises God’s mercy and salvation as much as this scene, known as the repentance of the thief on the cross.
Not a perfect prayer and not a man worthy in the eyes of the world.
But he asked for mercy and he got it. Simply because he recognised the need for Jesus and sought Him.
We can too.
ASK HIM. Receive – mercy, pardon and grace.
#JesusIsWaiting #GodsOwn
