Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise

Transcription

1 Luke 23:32, This is part two in our Lenten series of messages in which we are looking at the words that Jesus spoke from the Cross. Our guide in this series is Adam Hamilton s little book, Final Words From the Cross (well worth reading! You might want to check out the note in today s bulletin telling you how you can purchase this book at a considerable savings over Amazon through our own UM publishing house Cokesbury!) As I ve been reading this book I am reminded again that there s a reason why people like UM Bishop Will Willimon make statements like this one: ** My church has no better interpreter of the Christian faith for the present age than Adam Hamilton. I find again and again, as I read Hamilton s books and as I listen to his messages, saying to myself, How did I miss that? I ve read that passage a hundred times, I ve preached on it, who knows how often and yet, there it is something new, something fresh. I really appreciate his scholarship and his integrity in the way he uses his gifts for God. Once again I found myself this week appreciating the insight that he shares in his meditation on the second word of Jesus from the Cross. So before I pass that along to you, let s first read our Scripture passage now Luke 23:32, ** Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed ** One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: Aren t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us! But the other criminal rebuked him. Don t you fear God, he said, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise. There are a number of obvious places to go in studying these words not to say that they are any less important to consider because they are obvious, not at all! So I will speak a Page 1 of 10

2 little bit today about what this promise has to do with us with regard to some really key words in this sentence: ** Today that s a wonderfully hopeful word for anyone who is facing a hopeless situation like a terminal illness, or for anyone who has lost loved ones and who may wonder where they are. We ll look at that word in a moment. ** Another important word is Paradise. Where is that? What does it mean? Again, this is a beautiful promise, invoking a beautiful image, it is a comforting and encouraging word of hope! So, we ll look at it, too. ** So, all the words are important here, but, in a rather significant way, this statement is unlike the other 6 statements that Jesus makes from the cross. Of Jesus seven last words, two are most definitely prayers: they are directed to God. (We looked at one of them last week - Father forgive them, for they don t know what they are doing. ) The other is his last word Into your hands I commit my spirit. They are prayers. Of the remaining five, two or three are statements as Jesus narrates his crucifixion and shares his heart and thoughts to anyone who was able to hear. My God, why have you forsaken me (this could also be a prayer, but I think it s more of a statement as it is a direct quote from Psalm 22)? Also, I thirst It is finished. He is telling us about what is happening to him and in him. One of his words is a caring instruction Woman, behold your son son behold your mother. (That s next week s message.) But one of the seven words stands alone because it is in a different category of communication altogether. It is a conversation. It is, in fact, obviously, Jesus last conversation. Page 2 of 10

3 And who receives this honor? Who does Jesus interact with in his moment of the most terrible agony? We often use the description of this person as simply the thief. But, we re not talking about someone who shoplifted, or burgled the empty house of a rich person. ** Let s look at Luke s word: kakourgoi. That comes from two other words kakos (evil) and ergo (work). So the kakourgoi (it is plural) means people who do bad things people who do evil, or, workers of evil. Sounds more serious than just a thief. Mark and Matthew use a different word for the same two people lestai which really isn t any better. This is the same word that is used earlier in the Gospels to describe the armed robbers who attacked that traveler on the Jericho road in Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan. They were lestai. So, the lestai were criminals who didn t hesitate to use violence to take what they wanted from someone. They had no problem with severely beating a man and callously leaving him alongside of a desert road to die. People who do evil. ** And whatever these two men did, they were being crucified for it. And by the admission of one of them, deservedly so! ( we are getting what our deeds deserve. ) What Hamilton points out, which again, to me, was a kind of an oh yeah! moment is how fitting it was that these kinds of people were the participants in Jesus last conversation how ironic it is that Jesus this great Rabbi and teacher, the King of the Jews that his last moment of life was spent between two of the dregs of society, something that was meant to insult him, and demean him but in fact, put Jesus right in his element. Because these were the very people that he spent his life with! As Hamilton puts it As in life so in death. ** Just a few chapters earlier, Luke wrote: (Luke 15: 1 2) Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. Page 3 of 10

4 This was a constant criticism for Jesus. Look at these people that Jesus is hanging out with! If he really was a man of God, he would know the kind of person he is/ she is. If he were a prophet, he would not allow her to touch him! He wouldn t go in there! He wouldn t eat with them! He heard this constantly. We see this kind of association throughout his ministry. In Jesus day, nonreligious people in general did not like associating with religious people. They likely felt they had to watch their language and pretend to be something they weren t because they did not want to feel the judgment and scorn of the religious people. It is still that way for many nonreligious and nominally religious people today. They might think about going to church, but then they think about what it feels like when they walk into church and it doesn t feel good. The preacher seems to talk down to people like them making them feel small. But when Jesus was around nonreligious people, they didn t feel small. They didn t feel like nobodies. They didn t feel like sinners. They just felt like people who came to hear the good news of God in a way that made sense to them, and they found that they wanted to know more about this God that Jesus talked about. 1 **(blank) Hamilton, in his video for this chapter, uses himself as an example of what frequently happened in Jesus life; so allow me to use the same idea but with my own self, and let me ask you this: What would happen if some church people were driving up Route 130, and looked into the parking lot of The Erotic Café (Pennsauken?) and saw my 11- year-old Ford Focus there? Clearly the Pastor s car, as it had a Victory Motorcycle sticker on one side of the hatchback, and a Radical Hospitality magnet on the other! That s Pastor Steve s car! What s he doing in there? What would people say? (I know what they d say! I was criticized once because apparently, I walk around town too much!) Well, there would be some who would think, Wow, Pastor Steve is ministering to someone in that place a dancer, a patron, who knows? I m going to stop right here and pray for him. Some might! But let s be honest, there would be others (maybe most?) who would jump to the worst conclusion, and the word would quickly get around that Pastor Steve is not who we thought he was. Am I right? 1 Final Words From the Cross, Adam Hamilton, p Page 4 of 10

5 I don t want to know what any of you would think, but I do want you to think about that and put yourselves back in the place of the people in Jesus day. Because they saw him hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors with people like Zaccheaus (who was even worse to them than the prostitutes, as he was considered a national traitor, as well as a thief who took money out of their pockets!). So they were upset because of who Jesus hung out with. He s not who we thought he was! ** Zaccheaus would have been one of the most hated people in all of Israel. And in the sight of everyone, Jesus singles him out (up in that tree) and says, I m going to come home with you tonight for dinner. Now, we ve talked about this before, in the Middle East (to this day), sharing a meal with someone is a binding symbol of reconciliation and acceptance. By going to his house, Jesus was intentionally making an amazing statement and I know that afterward, Zaccheaus comes out of his house and says all the things that he was planning to do to demonstrate his new life giving away his wealth, vowing to no longer steal (all good, obviously) - but let s not miss the timing of the story! Jesus first says, Take me home for dinner, Zach! Salvation has come to your house tonight. Everything else that Zaccheaus did came after that. Hamilton points out that it was there, at Zaccheaus house where Jesus gave what Hamilton refers to as his personal mission statement. When everyone is complaining, and tsk tsking, and shaking their heads over Jesus going into that place for a meal with that man Jesus tells them plainly. Don t you get it? This is exactly why I ve come ** The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. Everything he ever said, everything he ever did was all about this I ve come to seek and save the lost. That s why I m here. ** So now, here we are, back at the Cross. And we see that Jesus is still doing the same thing. Even while dying, there is something about him that this hardened sinner this evildoer finds mesmerizing and inviting. It draws him to God. There is something in him that is attractive in the sense that people want to know more, they want to believe, they see Jesus and they want God. Page 5 of 10

6 Let me quote again from Hamilton here If this is what mattered most to Jesus reaching people who were lost what does that mean for us as his followers? If Jesus wasn t afraid to associate with criminals, prostitutes, and people who were considered unclean, what is the application for us? ** Let s make it even more personal. Do people who do not know Jesus Christ feel comfortable around you? Do they feel small or valued and accepted after they have had a conversation with you? Are you willing to associate with people others might consider riffraff, and would you show them kindness and compassion because that s what it means to be a follower of Jesus? Do they feel comfortable in your church? 2 Last week, we considered the first word from the Cross, which was Father forgive them We asked who are the them s that Jesus was referring to, and pointed out that we are among the them s! That Jesus was praying for our forgiveness even as he offered himself as the Lamb of God. And we read Paul s word from Romans 5:8 ** While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I pointed out that Jesus didn t wait until we got ourselves together, he didn t put conditions on grace, he didn t mention anything about a probationary period where we see if we re worthy of being forgiven just Father, forgive them. Well, in a similar way, when this thief this worker of evil looks at Jesus and says, Remember me when you come into your Kingdom (a truly amazing statement, a Holy- Spirit-driven insight into the truth about Jesus) and Jesus responds to him with grace, the same as in praying for the forgiveness of all the thems out there, we re reminded that one of the thems was this very man. Hamilton notes: We would do well to notice that Jesus didn t say, Before I can offer you salvation, I need to make sure you fully understand some things: Do you believe in the Trinity? Do you believe that I am fully God and fully human? Do you believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible Word of God? Have you been baptized? Have you accepted me into your heart? NO! Jesus saw that this man was reaching toward him, and he offering him paradise. 2 Hamilton, p. 39 Page 6 of 10

7 I m not suggesting that understanding Christian doctrine and being baptized are not important; but what we see here is that Jesus looked at a man who had just turned to him in that moment, and that was enough. This man did not know Christian doctrine. But he had faith the size of a mustard seed, and that was enough for Jesus to say, Today you will be with me in Paradise. We Christians are good at making decisions for God about all the people we think aren t going to be in heaven. But how many of those people have as much faith and Christian doctrine as the thief on the cross did? 3 Jesus was still reaching out even as he was dying, he was inviting in anyone who turned to him. As much as he could at that moment in time, this thief was calling on Jesus. And it was enough. Look at the words of Jesus promise the first is ** Today I was happy to see that Hamilton wrote here the same basic thing that I ve been teaching in all my years of ministry. Paul says, Absent from the body is present with the Lord. Jesus spoke with Abraham and Moses on the Mt. of Transfiguration and taught us that God is the God of the living. I ve always believed that when we get confused with the timing of the last things the return of Jesus, the Bodily resurrection that Paul talks about (when the dead in Christ rise at the sound of the last trumpet), and all that, it s because we re trying to reconcile finite time of this earth with eternity which has no beginning or end. I think it s as simple as when we close our eyes in death on this earth we will open them to the new heaven and new earth of Revelation it will all be over and everything will be new. No gaps. I ve always liked simplicity! ** So Jesus says, Today you will be with me in Paradise. I love Hamilton s explanation of how the word Paradise came into our vocabulary. If you read it, you know that it was a Persian word that went directly into Greek almost unchanged. 3 Hamilton, p. 47 Page 7 of 10

8 ** But it referred to the King s Garden. That was a beautiful place with flowers, trees, often a kind of zoo with exotic animals the most beautiful place that anyone knew of. And if someone was to be especially honored, they were invited to spend some time in the King s Garden in paradise. Over time, the Jews began to refer to the Garden of Eden, as Paradise, this place where humanity began, in complete harmony with God, with each other, and with all of creation. But that story is revealing, in that, of course, due to sin, human beings were expelled from that Garden and forbidden to ever return. Paradise was lost. One of the few things that the Bible actually tells us about heaven (because it really doesn t have that much to say) is that it is often described in the image of a Garden with trees with leaves that heal the nations, and so much beauty. And clearly, when you read the end of the Book of Revelation, we can see that what is being described is the restoration of the Garden of Eden. Paradise is restored. But the best thing of all about this place, is not the shrubbery, or the mountains, or such (as wonderful as that is). The best part of it is that God is there in the midst. This connection that was lost, will be completely restored. So we read in Revelation 21 ** Look! God s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new! There s a story in the book about a doctor who, as they once did, made house calls. He often took his dog with him, with his horse and buggy. One day, he was visiting a dying man, and left his dog out on the front step. The dying man asked the doctor, What is heaven going to be like? And just at that moment, the doctor s dog began to scratch at the door, whimpering and whining to get in. The doc stopped and said, Do you hear that? Yes, the man replied. The doctor continued, That s my dog. He has never been inside your house. Page 8 of 10

9 He doesn t know what s on the other side of this door. All he knows is that his master is in here, and if his master is in here, it must be okay. 4 Jesus hears the longing in the request of this man who lived an entirely evil life and says, Today you will walk with me in the King s garden. Everything will be Okay I want to share one more thought with you about that word Today. I think that today in the case of this thief obviously has its greatest reference to a future in heaven clearly. They both were very short for this world, as the saying goes. So I believe, because this is what the Bible teaches us that Today for us reminds us of that future time when we too, will be home with God. But I think that it also refers to it s literal, on the surface, meaning. When someone turns to God when we respond the best we can to as much as we can understand when we make any movement toward God, I believe God always responds back, and reaches out to us. Now, if the essence of Paradise is not so much the flora and fauna, but it is found in the fact that we are reunited with God, that we are reconnected with other human beings in a deeper way than ever before, that we are at peace with the universe (Creation) healed, and made whole again doesn t it stand to reason to say that at least in a filtered way a preliminary way, that if God takes up residence in us that we can experience Paradise now? On this earth? Isn t every experience of real Love a preview of eternity? Isn t true worship when we know that we are in the presence of God, and God is here isn t that a taste of Paradise? ** Every once in awhile, when we have someone in a Philadelphia hospital and I m going to cross the bridge and visit them, I try to arrange my trip there around lunchtime. And I like to go to the Reading Terminal Market for a pound or two of coffee beans from Old City Coffee company (because D and I are coffee snobs!) but also for lunch. 4 Hamilton, p. 49 Page 9 of 10

10 Now, if you ve ever been there, you know that the RT Mkt is a great place for lunch. There is everything you could ever want Sandwiches, pasta, fish, breakfast every ethnicity imaginable, and it s all really good. So, I often find myself wandering around trying to decide whether I want a pork sandwich from Dinik s or a sub from that turkey place, breakfast at the Downhome Diner, or something from the Amish counter (this is why those Philly trips take so long! I can confess that now!) One day, I was doing the lunch wandering and I went by a Creole kitchen. And the young woman behind the counter caught my eye and I said hi and she said, Would you like to try some of our jambalaya? I said, Sure. So she dished out a little cup, and gave me a tiny little spoon and I said thanks and walked away. For about 10 steps after which I turned around and took a seat on a stool. I ll have a bowl of this and a piece of that cornbread, please. That was a good sample it made me want more. In Christian terms we sometimes talk about a foretaste of Heaven. A sample of what is to come. And the thing is, one of the reasons why the Christian life is abundant is that we start to recognize those foretastes we seek them out! Our joy in serving others is a foretaste of heaven. To be able to share with someone money, time, our presence to connect with someone deeply in love that s a foretaste of paradise it s what heaven will be like. Moments of deep prayer and worship, when you don t think about the person next to you, just the fact that God is here heaven! On and on you know what I mean? I trust that one day I will be with my God in Paradise I believe that because Jesus promised it. But the reason that this belief resonates so deeply within me, the reason that it is unshakable is because Today, I am already there. Maybe not completely but those samples are awesome. The jambalaya is perfect! Page 10 of 10