Jesus Saves. How Do We Respond?

Music begins to run through my head as I think about today’s  Gospel: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.  Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” It brings up memories of communal prayer with candles in the dark. It fills my heart with peace. God is here. God is with us. We are wanted. We are cared for. We are loved. 

And yet, it wasn’t like that. The thief on the cross who first uttered those words was not wanted and he was not cared for. He was in pain. His lungs were collapsing from the weight of his body. The midday sun baked his naked skin. He was dying of suffocation and exposure. He knew his guilt. But by some grace of God that swelled  up within him, he turned to an unknown radical also hanging there  and pleaded, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

In that moment, all of Jesus’ invitations come together: “Come to me, all you who are heavy laden.” 

“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep.” 

“I come that they might have life and have it abundantly.” God’s rescue mission to save the world was not yet finished. There was one more, still hanging there, reaching out in hope to the King of kings. The thief too was wanted. Jesus did not reject him. From below, the Savior was deluged by sneers and jeers: “If you  are a king, save yourself!” He did not. He saved the thief. He saved you. He saved me.

Here at the conclusion of God’s redemption story, you and I are so wanted. So cared for. So loved. It all comes together in the cross: The cross, our hope. 

The man on the cross, our king. 

The king, our future home. 

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

Consider/Discuss 

• In the gloom of the cross, God showed the repentant thief a flicker of light.  But it depended upon him what happened then. He could have rejected that  offer. But he didn’t. He reached out to Jesus to save him. God’s grace wells  up in strange moments: periods of pain, times of anguish, seasons of joy.  How can we look carefully at ourselves to recognize whether we too are  accepting those offers of eternal light in the midst of our darkness? Or do  we sometimes let them pass us by? 
• It has been a pleasure to walk with you through these past three years of writing Living the Word reflections, my friends. I hope that you continue  to say “yes” to the working of God, for this world needs saints whose  undivided loyalty is to the Lord. On this final Sunday of the church year,  how is Jesus your King right now? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Jesus, in your majesty, we bow before you as our King. You know  our hearts. You know where our loyalties are divided. You know  that we want to put you first in our lives. Yet we try and fail, move  forward and then regress. Give us the strength, no matter what, to  pick up and follow you wholeheartedly once again. We want to give  you glory. We want to lift you high. We want to be with you forever  in Paradise. Praise and glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ!