A Criminal in Paradise

There’s a great bit of preaching by the Scottish pastor Alistair Begg about the criminal on the cross next to Jesus. You’ve probably seen it. If you haven’t you should google it. It’s so good. He has a comical take on that criminal’s arrival into heaven and the questioning by heaven’s gate keepers as they investigate the legitimacy of the criminal’s arrival. It’s a major theological point made with clever humor. 

It’s caused me to reflect on that criminal.

I went back to read the passages about the criminals on the cross. In the specific passage in Luke 23 the one criminal is hurling abuse at Jesus. Mocking him in the same way as Caiaphas, the priest’s guard, the Roman soldiers, and the crowd at the cross. It’s a barrage of If/Then statements. “If you’re the Christ, then…”

The mockers want to see a miracle. A specific miracle. They want messiah their way. They want a conquering hero the likes of which the world has already seen. They want Jesus to prove Himself by calling down thousands of angels. They want Him to magically levitate off of the cross with glowing eyes and lightning in His fingers. They’ve ignored all of the previous miracles, signs and wonders done during Jesus’ ministry. They want proofs by their own criteria.

Christ will not oblige them. His Kingdom is a very different domain. Though some of the construction and attributes may look similar, It is substantively different. Jesus knows that performing such miracles will not ignite a genuine faith. It won’t be able to bring about repentance in their hearts and minds. How do I know this? Because that’s not how any of His followers have come to faith. While some have an instantaneous encounter with faith in Christ, others have a longer journey from a dawning of belief to the full day of faith. But none of them were coerced by an angelic army or an audacious miracle delivered on demand. 

Those who have believed have seen something else. They noticed something that has stirred them so deeply that they are willing to forsake their synagogue life and be put out into the margins of society. There’s a hope in this Jesus of something very different than the pecking orders of the Pharisees and Sadducees, or Herod and Rome. They long for a different country. They recognize somehow, in some way that Jesus’ Kingdom and the Kingdom of this world are quite different. They want to be affiliated with an entirely unique kind of regime, even if they can’t quite place their finger on what that is precisely. 

The criminal on the cross is no different. 

While the first criminal is heaping curses on to Jesus, the other rebukes him. It’s quite extraordinary what he says. He starts by acknowledging his own guilt. He then defend Christ’s innocence. But the most fascinating thing he says, the most remarkable and profound of the criminal’s statements is this, “remember me when you come into your kingdom.” What faith! What incredible, unmistakable, undeniable faith! 

It’s incredible because there is no credibility for a such an idea. What kingdom can the criminal see with his eyes? Jesus is sentenced to death next to him. He hangs on a cross because He claims to be a king. A capital offense in the Roman world. There is no king but Caesar. All other claims to a throne must be in submission to Rome and with their consent. Herod was only a king because Rome said so. If you made a claim without Rome’s approval you were crucified. Your kingdom was removed from you and placed under their rule. What kingdom did this criminal see?

It’s unmistakable because the criminal has actually placed his faith in the right king. Without any material evidence whatsoever, the criminal makes the correct assessment: Jesus is indeed the King of a kingdom. Jesus will inherit what was promised to Him by His Father. Jesus will inherit the nations, not take them by force. The kingdom is handed over to Him. 

It’s undeniable because the response of our beaten, exhausted and dying Lord to the criminal’s prayer is this, “…today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Jesus grants the criminal’s appeal. He will be joined with Christ in His Kingdom. 

I think Dr. Begg has certainly laid hold of something important about the criminal. His theology had not been worked out. Nor is it necessary that the criminal’s theology be precise. But I think the criminal has more of it than we may expect of him or give him credit for.  Hanging on a cross, he understands his own guilt. As death is overtaking him he sees that Jesus is innocent. Despite all evidence to the contrary and in the midst of his own searing pain, he sees Christ as a king. He believes that this king will receive His kingdom. He entreats the King with a sincere and faith filled prayer, “…remember me…”

Application

In our day, how much of God’s Kingdom do we see? Where is the evidence of it? When will the King return? How do we engage in that Kingdom now? Do we have faith enough like that criminal to see, “His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth…”?