Luke 23:39-43 39And one of the criminals who was hanged blasphemed him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40But answering, the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, because you are under the same condemnation? 41And we indeed justly, for we are receiving back what our deeds deserve; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke returns focus to the two criminals on the two crosses on Jesus’ right and left. One of them adds another insult to those already given by the rulers and soldiers. If we just look at his words, they could be a cry for help, but the word blasphemed (eblasphēmei) indicates that his heart was unrepent. This word can have various nuances, but it shows a strong derision, disrespect, and detachment from honoring the person blasphemed. This is the third taunt for Jesus to save himself from the cross, the same as the Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers. Even at the point of certain death, he had no inclination to believe in Jesus. His faith, if there was any, was conditioned upon Jesus saving himself. The salvation this man was looking for was physical rescue from the cross. Although we have little to go by, every indication is that this man was spiritually empty and had hardened his heart against God. In the apocryphal Acts of Pilate 10:2, this criminal is named “Dysmas.”
The other thief saw all this, as his rebuke of the first implies. The first thief had no faith in God or fear of eternal punishment for his sins. There are several significant points about what the second thief said. First, his rebuke of the other implies that he himself feared God and what would happen upon death. Second, he felt bad for the wrong he had done. He realized that he deserved what he got. This is an important aspect of repentance. Third, he saw the innocence of Jesus, which implies that he saw something powerful and significant in Jesus. Somehow, this thief had found out information about Jesus, either at the trial (perhaps all three were condemned at the same time) or in his rounds of thieving, he had caught wind of Jesus or may have even heard him teach. Thieves tend to know what is happening in the neighborhood. Fourth, he had faith in Jesus and that he had the power to do something after death. Jesus was indeed the King of a kingdom, and this kingdom was available to those who believe in him. The second thief may not have understood all the theology involved, but he had hope in Jesus.
This short story is unique to Luke’s Gospel, but why did he include it? The two thieves serve as a positive and negative example of how to respond to Jesus. The first thief represents all those who reject Jesus, like the Jewish leaders. Instead of seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness, he hardened his heart and had no fear of God or judgment for his sins. The second thief represents those who see their sins, repent, and put their hope in Jesus. This man represents the very basic form of discipleship required to enter God’s kingdom.
The questions about this passage usually centers around Jesus’ response to the second man: when is today, and what does paradise mean? Today suggests that death was looming for all of them on that day, but also that when death did come, so would the reward for the man’s faith. He need not fear the death that was inevitable for them both. Paradise is the transliteration of the Greek word (paradeisō), which comes from a Persian word for garden and was used in the Hebrew Old Testament for the blessed place of the righteous ( Ezekiel 31:8; 36:35). In the New Testament, the word has the connotation of eternal life (Revelation 2:7). The repentant thief would, on the day of his death, experience the blessed hope of a new existence that would be the fulfillment of the longing the people of God have had of returning to the bliss of the garden of Eden.
The promise Jesus made to the thief is repeated in our ears and gives us hope to endure the trials and tribulations of life. The simple faith like that of the thief is all that is needed, though the decision of becoming a disciple will grow and encompass all of our life until the point of death.
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