"Jesus, remember me"

Luke 23:33–43

Pastor Tom Johnson, November 24, 2013

We don’t know exactly when he first met Jesus. Maybe he was baptized by John the Baptist. Maybe he was baptized by Jesus or one of his disciples. Or maybe he met Jesus earlier that day when Jesus stood before Pilate. He may have witnessed how Barabbas—a murderer—was set free by the angry mob. He may have witnessed how Jesus was condemned to die—even though Pilate himself believed he had not done anything worthy of death. He was also nailed to a wooden cross—with Jesus and another criminal. And so he heard people mocking Jesus…how they made fun of Jesus’ kingdom—how they put a sign above Jesus’ head which said, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”

Despite the agony of the crucifixion, he pushed the pain out of his mind and remembered what Jesus said: “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.” He remembers his guilt that put him on the cross. Perhaps they are memories of his murdering someone—just as insurrectionists were known for knifing Roman citizens in the public square which was a common crime of terror of the day. He remembers his sin and finds no peace or solace there. He says, “We have been condemned justly. We are receiving the just rewards for our deeds.” He hears the other criminal joining in the mockery of Jesus. “Jesus, if you are the Messiah, get off that cross and save us all!” Perhaps he heard and remembered Jesus’ words earlier to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over …but my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36). When he remembers the words and actions of Jesus…when he remembers the nature and reality of the Kingdom of Jesus…when he fills his mind with the truth of who Jesus is, God strengthens his faith. The Holy Spirit gives him faith and courage to pray these bold and powerful words:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

 

“Jesus, you remembered those who mocked you. You remembered even those who condemned you and crucified you. You prayed to the Father ‘Forgive them.’ Jesus, remember me—extend that same forgiveness to me. They did not deserve forgiveness. I do not deserve it. But I know you to be a King who forgives the unworthy—who extends his Kingdom of love to sinners. “esus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. I don’t believe that hanging on the cross is the end. I don’t believe that death will have the final word. I believe that you will conquer death just as you conquer sin. I believe that when you hang your head in death next to me on that cross, you will raise your head in triumph as you enter into your heavenly Kingdom. I believe that when your ears close to the mocking crowds on Calvary, your ears will open to the cheering of angels, archangels and all the company of heaven. Your eyes will close to the wagging of heads and be opened to the waving of banners and palm branches.”

When this one criminal remembers—and we remember—we remember who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he will do for us. We remember that Jesus is King and Savior. But when a king remembers, it results in action. When a king remembers he bestows favor, he gives gifts, and he honors. When Jesus enters his kingdom, the criminal hopes that he will remember him—perhaps prepare a place for him…that his story will also not end on the cross. And so he prays, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This courageous, bold, and faith-filled request is answered by and even more courageous, bold, and radical answer: Jesus says,

 

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

“No, my friend hanging on the cross next to me, I will not just remember you when I enter into my Kingdom. I will give you the assurance of forgiveness and eternal life.” You will not fear as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Today, today you will be with me in paradise.” It’s remarkable that Jesus is not too busy or preoccupied with his own suffering to remember a broken, sinful, and condemned person next to him on the cross. Jesus’ love and good news here is direct and personal.

We can only conclude that Jesus is not too busy or too preoccupied to hear our prayers. The sin and mess in our lives does not make us invisible or irrelevant. He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He knows the number of our days. He is just as direct and personal with us as he was with that man on the cross next to him ages ago. By referring to heaven as Paradise, Jesus is remembering the whole human story—from Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit and being cast out of the Garden until our present day…and beyond. He uses the exact same word used to describe the Garden of Eden in Genesis: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” He remembers how it all began in innocence, beauty, and perfection. And the King will make sure that is how it ends.

“God of the Living”

Luke 20:27-38



Pastor Tom Johnson, November 10, 2013

A group of religious people come to Jesus to challenge the idea of life after death. They are the Sadducees. They deny that there’ll be a resurrection on the last day. They don’t believe in life after death. If you ever forget, one of my professors said the Sadducees believe you die and that’s it—that’s why they’re sad, you see? And so when they come to Jesus they aren’t really asking a question. They are making a mockery of the resurrection. They tell an absurd story:

A man and a woman get married. They do not have any children. The husband dies. And by Jewish custom, she marries his brother. He dies. And so, she marries another brother and he dies. And so on and so forth until she marries all seven brothers. And then she dies and they all end up together in heaven. Of course, this is all tongue in cheek because the Sadducees don’t believe in eternal life or any such place as heaven. Nevertheless, they ask Jesus, “When they all get to heaven, which of the seven brothers is the true husband?” “Whose wife will she be?” “When she enters through those pearly gates, Jesus, and she looks at the seven men before her, which of the seven men will she lock eyes with and say, ‘Hi honey, I’m home’? Of course, they are just poking fun at the whole idea of heaven. We could take the absurdity of this question in a number of directions. How are we going to settle our differences in heaven, White Sox fans…Cubs fans? Which party will it be in heaven—Republicans or Democrats? Or on a more serious note, how will Israelis and Arabs get along in heaven? How will French and Syrian politicians settle their differences?

When we lived in Dallas, I worked with troubled youth. I mentored two young men who were both high risk for gang activity. We would meet once a week and my primary responsibility was to be a friend to them. One of them was a good basketball player. At halftime of one of his games, I left the auditorium and entered the hallway. On my right was a long line of angry young men all dressed in blue. And on my left was another long line of angry young men all dressed in red. They were wagging their fingers in each other’s faces and mocking each other. And the anger was escalating as I was walking right in the middle of it. It was too late to turn around and I found myself right in the middle of a war zone. The schools set up metal detectors to weed out knives and guns so that the school could be a more safe and a gang free environment. But, as you might have guessed, it did not solve the problem. The violence continued without weapons. And so the schools began to keep students out of the schools who wore gang colors. But students found ways of showing their gang affiliation without colors—through hand signs, the way their shoes were tied, etc., etc. The Sadducees concept of heaven is like high school students passing through the front doors of their school…or like all of us who enter the workplace, our schools, airport terminals, and our homes only to bring all our problems with us.

Of course, the Sadducees have it all wrong. Jesus says we will be like angels in heaven. In other words, the life we live here in these mortal bodies and the life we live in heaven will not be the same. We’ll be transformed. We’ll have a new life and new bodies like angels in heaven. Heaven is not just a continuation of our earthly lives. If it were, the Sadducees would be right—heaven would just be greater chaos and confusion. When we enter into heaven proverbial gates, we won’t just check our guns, gang colors. We will check in everything that causes sin, sorrow, and division. Our hearts and our bodies will be made new and glorified. We will be perfect and sinless in body, heart, and mind. There will be no gang allegiances. There will be no jealously between husbands and wives because we will be transformed.

Jesus takes the Sadducees way back to Moses and the burning bush—a story that the Sadducees would have considered important and authoritative. He reminds them of what God said through that bush: “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” And then he asks, “Don’t you know that God is called by the name of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? He is the God not of the dead but of the living.” The name of God and nature of God himself ensures eternal life. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob live on in God’s economy. They may no longer dwell here on earth with us. But they are alive and kicking for joy in the Kingdom of God.

God is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. He is not the God of husband and wife conflict; he is the God of peace between sisters and brothers. God is not the God of one rival gang or another like the Bloods and Cripps; he is the God of those who have been purchased and renewed by the Blood and Body of Christ. God is not the God of Latinos, Asians, Blacks or Whites; he is the God of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. God is not the God of Republicans or Democrats; he is the God of justice and truth. God is not the God of confusion; he is the God of peace. God is not the God who was overcome by death by crucifixion; he is the God who conquered death through the cross. God is not the God who remained lifeless in a tomb; he is the God who on the third day rose victorious over death. God is not the God of those who live with guilt; he is the God of those who live with forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. God is not the God of those who, when they die, remain lifeless in the grave; he is the God of those, who though absent from the body, are present with the Lord. God is not the God of mortals whose future is dark and void; he is the God of those who fill eternity with Christ’s light. God is not the God of the dead; he is the God of the living.

“Sinners and Saints”

Luke 6:20-31



Pastor Tom Johnson, November 3, 2013

 In his book called Do No Harm, Stephen Ray says that “even the best-intentioned sin-talk can participate in needless and, in many cases, malicious harm to marginalized persons and their communities” (p. xi). Calling a person “sinner” or a group of people “sinners” is not a winsome way to share the good news of Jesus. It is not wise. It is not even biblical. Highlighting certain behaviors over others as sin has the same detrimental effect. I may as well go on the record right now to say that I don’t like the words “sin” or “sinner.” The biblical meaning is often lost to a narrower one in English. I think a lot people think of sin as merely a damnable act and sinner as a person who is the object of God’s disapproval, anger, and wrath. It has a much more universal meaning.

 “But,” someone might say, “how can you preach and teach God’s truth without talking about sin?” That is a fair and good question. My answer is: Just as Jesus and the Scriptures do—by talking about the human condition. We find that sin describes not only the things we do, but a more insidious power that can deceive us and hold us captive. And we find that we all share in this struggle against the powers of evil, the world, and even ourselves. In that sense, I preach a lot about sin. But we should be careful to talk about sin and sinners in a universal way. In response to someone who complained that a pastor (Jack Miller) did not use the word “sin” enough, he said, “Cheer up, it’s worse than you think.” “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him” (Isa 53:6). We are all sinners.

 You’ll remember that the Apostle Paul calls himself “The Chief of Sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). St. Patrick introduces himself in his Confession as “Patick, the sinner.” St. Augustine, in his Confessions painstakingly and transparently recounts his struggle with his own captivity to sin. And both Patrick and Augustine do this 1,500 years ago. Even Pope Francis recently called himself a sinner and criticized the church for overemphasizing ‘disjointed’ moral doctrines. It’s why I find Jesus’ words in our Gospel reading so intriguing:

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”

On so many levels, I find Jesus’ warning immensely helpful. First, beware of people that give you empty praise. They may only be speaking well of you because they only know part of the story of who you are. They may be trying to butter you up and then eat you for breakfast. The psalm writer in Psalm 141 (v. 5) says, “Let the righteous strike me; let the faithful correct me. Never let the oil of the wicked anoint my head.” Proverbs 27:5,6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Well-meant are the wounds of a friend, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” “Woe to you when all speak well of you,” Jesus says, “for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.” Don’t be flattered by a chorus of people who sing your praises, because only phonies are believed to be perfect. Only fakes are so well-spoken of.

 Today we sing of about saints—those believers that preceded us and now are glorified and radiate Christ’s perfection in heaven. But we should remember that even they once tread this earth and got their sandals muddy and dusty. We are both sinners and saints. We are as the reformers put it “both sinners and saints simultaneously” simul iustus et peccator. It just sounds so unarguably true in Latin! It simply means that we are still in the struggle with evil, the world, and ourselves but we also enjoy the assurance of God’s love, acceptance, forgiveness, and adoption.

This is one of the reasons I find the Bible so believable. From Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit we call our first parents, to their son Cain who murdered his brother Abel who nevertheless was promised divine protection…to Noah who drank way too much but faithfully built the ark, to Abraham who lied to cover his own skin but was the Father of a multitude of nations under God…to Isaac who valued one son over another and whose name reminds us of the God who gets the last laugh, to Jacob who was a deceiver and a thief but who prevailed over God in a prayerful wrestling match…to Joseph who was a braggart but became governor of Egypt, and Joseph's 10 brothers who left him for dead but were delivered by the kindness of their reconciled brother, to Moses who was a murderer but led God’s people out of slavery and to the promised land…to Rahab who was a prostitute but preserved the lives of Israelite spies, to David who was an adulterer but upon whose throne would come the Messiah, to Peter who denied Jesus three times but then publicly preached him on Pentecost and brought in 3,000. The heroes of the Bible are not those who overcame weakness, obstacles, and sinfulness by their own strength. They are those who knew God’s unconditional love despite their weakness, obstacles, and sinfulness. They were sinners but God made them saints.

 And so today, we remember these sinners and saints. Better yet, we celebrate God who transforms us from sinners into saints. We give thanks for the lives of those we love but who are no longer with us. There were indeed sinners and saints. But now the perishable has put on the imperishable and the mortal has put on immortality (1 Cor 15:53). As Scripture says, now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face (1 Cor 13:12). “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor 5:17). That is our journey: from death to life, from captivity to freedom, from orphans to adoption, from brokenness to wholeness, from sin to holiness, from sinners to saints. They are now shining in glory like the midday sun. They have completed their journey. The rest of us are still in the struggle. But we are assured that in Christ we will safely arrive at our destination. I love the way St. Augustine puts it, “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.”