Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).
The Word of Assurance
Lord Jesus, those you loved wished to crush all hope from you leaving you hanging between despair and desolation. And yet it is hope that you offered to the one crucified beside you. "Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom" - your kingdom of peace, amid the storms of life beyond all deaths. Remember me Jesus and give me a resurrection hope, a hope beyond all hope so that I may share it with those who are filled with despair.
Scripture
Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you have me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. (Matthew 25:34-36)
Reflection
On the other side of Jesus, on crosses lifted to the sky, hung two thieves. These two were guilty men. The two malefactors hung there for a while in silence, but they were unable to turn away their eyes from the man who was weltering by their side. At length, one of the thieves began to speak. He joined in the blasphemous speeches that were rising from the crowd below, and said to the man in the crown of thorns, "If thou be the Christ, save thyself and us."
The second thief acknowledged that Jesus had "done nothing amiss," and that they indeed deserved their punishment, "for we receive the due reward for our deeds." And then the second thief humbly and devoutly said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus says not only will I remember you but I will take you to a land where you will never suffer again, and where all your troubles and tears will be gone forever! I will take you to Paradise. The dying thief receives words of assurance.
It never says in the Gospel that the two people on either side of Jesus are thieves, only that they are wrongdoers. But the tradition is wise to call him the "good thief." It is a good description. He knows how to get hold of what is not his. He pulls off the most amazing coup in history. He gets Paradise without paying for it. As do we all. We just have to learn how to accept gifts.
