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Pastor Tom Johnson, November 20, 2016
The word for criminal in our Gospel reading means evildoer. Mark’s Gospel identifies them as revolutionaries—insurrectionists (Mk 15:7). They were being crucified for crimes against the state. In this case, the Roman authority. We know that insurrectionists would go into public places with concealed daggers and knife Roman citizens and officials and then run away. You might call these evildoers first century terrorists. They were at war trying to make a way to become an independent nation again. Their tactic was violent aggression. They would have just witnessed how Barabbas was set free in the place of Jesus of Nazareth. What a cruel irony! The one who could have been their messiah—the king to lead them to independence and freedom—is sentenced to death. They are all three crucified together in a row. Two evildoers with Jesus in the middle with the sign “King of the Jews” in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew over his head. This, so that everyone would get the cruel joke: “Here is your king!” “This is what we do to anyone who challenges our power and control over you.” Pontius Pilate, King Herod, the religious authority, the temple soldiers, the Roman soldiers, the crowd, and even one of the two crucified laugh at this cruel joke. “You are the Messiah—you are King, are you not? Get off that cross and take us with you. Be the savior from death and oppression that a king is supposed to be.
A miracle happens. One of the criminals sees who is really going to have the last laugh. He may very well be the first New Testament prophet, preacher, and evangelist. It is a brief ministry; perhaps only a few minutes. But his sermon followed by a prayer is one of the clearest messages in all of Scripture. He turns to the other criminal who was mocking Jesus and says, “Do you not fear God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds.” He says, “Guilty as charged.” He humbly and powerfully points out sin. He is quick to include himself as a sinner. He realizes he was deceived by sin. He understands that he has been betrayed by a lie that God’s kingdom will come by violence. “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh,” Scripture says, “but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12).
Like the evildoers who will die with Jesus, we all have transgressed God’s Law. We have failed to trust God to be our champion the way he chooses to win the victory for us. Like the insurrectionists, we sometimes impose our concept of justice to those around us and hate, name call, and kill. Like them, we also should say, “Guilty as charged.” We fail to understand what mercy is because we do not take the condemnation of the Law seriously. Mercy is God withholding what we deserve—judgment, punishment, and death. Mercy presumes we accept the truth of what the criminal says, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, but...”
“But…this man has done nothing wrong.” That is also the sting of the Law. Jesus is the only one “who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). He is the perfect righteousness of God. He is absolutely righteous. He does not need mercy because he has not been condemned justly. The criminal is preaching against the powers. He has become a non-violent resister to the Roman authority. His words declare Pontius Pilate to be the one who is unjust toward this one he mocked as king. Now his defiance against injustice is rooted in the righteousness of Jesus. He has nothing to lose. What more can they do to him? He will speak out and raise his voice against a cruel and unjust system.
And then the criminal turns to his righteous King and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He likely heard Jesus say just hours before to Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest” (John 18:36). He sees, hears, and believes the truth of this Jesus of Nazareth: he is Christ the King. He is true Lord and Messiah. No one can take his rightful reign away. No one can stop or silence his Kingship. He heard Jesus say, “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing?” He heard the King extend his mercy to those who wrongly crucify him. The One wearing the crown of thorns has the power and authority to take away sin. There is a wisdom that comes to the criminal as he stands at the threshold of his mortality. The reality of death does not crush him because he knows that death will not be the end of his King. Instead, he lives with the hope of eternal life.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” “I believe you are King of heaven and earth, Jesus. Extend your grace to me as you have extended your mercy. Bring me with you so that I can see the fullness of your Kingdom. Jesus’ response, “Truly, today you will be with me in paradise” is the assurance of this grace. It is a gift purchased by the blood of Jesus on the Cross. The paradise in the Garden of Eden lost by our parents’ first sin is restored by the King today.
He has broken the curse of sin and death for us. And he gives our brief lives hope and meaning to pray and see his Kingdom come.
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