“Knocking on heaven’s door” (Full Service)
Sermon starts at 23:53
Scripture: Luke 23:39-43
Don’t let the normal punctuation fool you. The conversation between these three men didn’t emerge in smooth, flowing sentences. During those few hours on the cross, each and every statement would’ve been punctuated with something far more profound – and far more painful – than commas and question marks. Each side of this three-sided conversation would have come out as single words and truncated phrases – words uttered between gasps for breath and groans of pain. These were words spoken out of agony and into agony…
You see, this was no coffee-shop speculation about what happens in the moment of death. This was the dying, reaching out with all the desperation and all the emotion of those standing at the brink. From the one, we hear the anger, the raging against the dying of the light – raging against the inevitability of death. And yet, within his mocking challenge, you have to wonder if there wasn’t also the faintest hope that Jesus might just have been able to do what the first felon challenges him to do – save not just Jesus himself, but save them all.
It isn’t Jesus who responds to the mockery, though, but the other criminal. And that, in itself, says something important about the effect that Jesus has already had on him – that he would spend what little breath he has in rising to Jesus’ defence. Unlike the first criminal, this one speaks with the acceptance that’s marks the final stage of grief. He knows where he is. And he knows how this ends. This man is walking the epitome of the valley of the shadow of death…
And, incredibly, what he encounters there is Jesus. What he experiences there, in the final hours of his life, is the Good Shepherd himself – and not just as comforter, armed with rod and staff as in the psalm, but as fellow-sufferer. As one who, like him, speaks through gritted teeth. As one who also forces out words in pain-filled bursts…
And perhaps the first thing that needs to be said this morning is that the same promise of Jesus’ presence is there for us today. He is with us in all the battles against cancer, and in all the heartache over our families, and in all our despair over this world. And, while we’re in that valley of shadows, this same Jesus continues to intercede for us, just as we heard him doing last Sunday: “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” That is the voice of one who has compassion on those who are sheep in need of a shepherd…
But it’s this second word from the cross, which Jesus speaks to the crucified criminal that we’re focussing on today.
And, as is the case with so many verses in scripture, virtually every word in this verse is packed with meaning. In this promise, spoken out of agony and into agony, every word counts. Every word speaks into our desperation in the face of death. And every word shows us a crucial piece of the hope, the promise, and the invitation that Jesus has for us today…
In English, these words begin with “truly”. In the face of this ultimate challenge to our existence, Jesus begins with the assurance that he speaks the truth.
Now truth is something of a rare commodity these days. We’re surrounded by claims of fake news, by politicians avoiding the question and skirting the issue. And in this age of blossoming AI, a new challenge to truth has been created – with computers being able to not only generate words, but even images and videos, that have no link to reality. Welcome to the age of the deep fake!
But this first word that Jesus speaks to the man beside him is not only a declaration of truth, but something that goes beyond truth. In English, the word is “truly”; in the original, it’s “amen”. This isn’t just a statement that what follows is fact. This is a solemn declaration before heaven. This is the first century equivalent of “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God!” In the hour of his greatest need, Jesus offers this man words that, though they may be comforting, are also, and most importantly, true!
And then we also need to consider the source of this declaration: “Truly, I tell you…” “I”: this is Jesus who’s speaking. The same Jesus who taught “not as the scribes do, but as one with authority”. The same Jesus whose every claim thus far in the gospels has been backed up by demonstrations of God’s endorsement, and God’s favour – including those words that Peter and the others had heard on the mount of transfiguration: “This is my Son, my chosen; listen to him!”
So, the one who now claims to speak the truth from the cross is the very same one who has always spoken with the commendation of God. And although, God’s final commendation, the resurrection itself, is yet a few days away, we have to know that if there’s anyone who can speak to us with authority about the realities of life and death, it’s Jesus! Jesus, who interrupted a funeral in order to give a widow back her son, and demanded that his friend Lazarus’s tomb be opened so that all might see his Father’s glory…
But just what is this promise – this true promise, this trustworthy promise – that Jesus makes to this man who asks to be remembered? One of the most important things to notice is that it’s a promise for today: “Today you will be with me in paradise!” Today. Not someday. Not just at the last day. Today.
Remember the hope that Martha had in John, chapter 11? “Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’” That’s where Martha’s hope lay – off in the distant future. But what Jesus offers her is a hope for right now: “I am the resurrection, and the life,” Jesus said to her, “Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” Yes, Jesus is saying, there will be a resurrection on the last day – that’s a promised part of God’s remaking of creation…
But, as Revelation 20 makes clear, that is the second resurrection. What Jesus is speaking about here, though, is a first resurrection. And if you expeience this first resurrection, then the second death – and Revelation speaks about that too – the second death has no power over you! It cannot touch you! And this first resurrection is real. It’s true… And, just as Jesus promises here, it happens the very day you die. For both himself and the one he was speaking to, the first resurrection would happen “today”, meaning there is no gap between our death here and the beginning of our life in Jesus’ presence.
So, we’ve covered “truly” and we’ve covered “today”. But what Jesus promises today is “paradise”. Now paradise isn’t a word that we use all that often. As Christians, we tend to speak more about heaven. For us, paradise tends to be a word we use to describe things like tropical beaches, and untouched wildernesses. But this is the word that Jesus uses: paradise So just what does Jesus mean by that?
Well, this word “paradise” is used just two other times in the whole New Testament. And it’s those two other instances that help us get a handle on what Jesus is referring to here.
One of the other places we find the word “paradise” is in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. In chapter 12, Paul writes about a man (and it may well have been Paul himself) who, as he says, “was caught up into the third heaven.” Now, for Paul, “the heavens” are all the realms above the earth. You may remember that Genesis 1 talks about God creating “the heavens (plural) and the earth”. So, in the cosmology of the day – in the way they understood the structure of creation -- the first heaven would simply be the atmosphere of earth – the realm of weather and wind. The second heaven would be what you and I now call space. It’s the realm of what we still refer to as the “heavenly bodies”, things like the sun, the moon, and the stars. The third heaven, though, beyond and outside all the others, was the abode of God. And it’s there, into the third heaven, that this man is caught up… And then, just two verses later, Paul equates this third heaven with paradise. So, for Paul, this paradise was not a beach, but the heavenly realm of God.
And, then, the other place that the word “paradise” is used is again in Revelation. And there, in chapter 2, we’re told that it’s in “the paradise of God” that the tree of life is to be found. And that same tree of life is also a part of John’s later vision of the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from God. So, what Revelation shows us is that, until the new Jerusalem appears – until the new creation comes -- the tree of life, and the paradise it’s a part of, remain in heaven where, according to Peter, all of our imperishable inheritance is kept...
Perhaps the most important thing we can say about this paradise, though, is that to be in paradise is to be with Jesus himself: “Today you will be with me…” And that promise of being with Jesus is one that’s repeated over and over again in the New Testament. For instance, as he writes his letter to the Philippians, Paul really doesn’t know what the future will hold for him. The possibility of death looms large. But his perspective on death is shaped by this promise. He says that, “For me, living is Christ and dying is gain. And I am hard pressed between the two,” he says. “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better…”
And less that twenty-four hours before this “conversation of the crucified”, Jesus had promised his disciples “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” However you and I may think of paradise, therefore… Whatever metaphors we may use to describe it, the one unchangeable reality about it, both while time endures, and once time yields to eternity as well, is that to be there is to be with Jesus. Paradise is to be where he is.
And then the last word we need to think about this morning is “you”. And Jesus uses that word twice is this promise he makes to the second thief: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” And if there’s one thing we must know about this word “you” is that it’s singular. In English, “you” is a word that can refer to a group, or to just one person. In the language of the New Testament, though, the word makes clear whether “you” is one, or “you” is many. And, in this case, “you” is one.
And why is that important? Because it means that this promise that Jesus made was to the one criminal, but not to the other. One is included, but the other is not. To put it as simply as possible, not everyone is getting in…
And there are a number of different ways we could explore the implications of that. We could talk about how the one who receives this promise recognized his own guilt: “we indeed have been justly condemned,” he says. And that’s crucial. Only those who know -- and admit – they’re guilty, experience Jesus’ promise. And given the one who’s speaking here, we certainly can’t argue that it’s the good who are getting in: this man has justly been sentenced to death, and he knows it, and Jesus knows it too.
Or, we could talk about how the one who receives this promise also recognizes Jesus’ innocence: “this man has done nothing wrong.” And that’s crucial too. Because only a sinless life could pay for a life of sin. Only a spotless lamb could serve as a sufficient sacrifice.
And we could even talk about how the thief who receives this promise not only recognizes Jesus’ innocence, but also the fact that even a dying Jesus has a kingdom to offer: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And that would be crucial too…
But perhaps the simplest way to get our heads around the implications of this word “you” would be this: whenever you find yourself, in the words of Bob Dylan’s old tune “Knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door” – and make no mistake about it, one day that will be true of all of us… But, whenever you do, whether it’s soon or years from now, you want to be someone who knows the right name to whisper:
“Jesus, remember me....”
And one thing I can promise you is that Jesus does remember. And if you ask, he will remember you. Truly. Amen