Luke 23:39-43 NIV
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
In Luke 23:39-43, the criminals being crucified with Jesus cry out to him. One scorns him for not saving them from their punishment. He demands mercy as if mercy were somehow an escape from consequence. The other accepts his punishment and, with a faith I can barely comprehend, says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus, literally dying on a cross, responds, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
We are meant to be horrified that Jesus is treated and condemned as a criminal. We’ve always seen and treated criminals as less than people, making an example of them of what not to do or be. It is really an example of our cruelty and viciousness. We are not so different from those we condemn.
What is awful is we must accept Jesus as a criminal – fake trial and everything. We let the “justice system” humiliate, torture, and tear him down and throw up our hands in resignation. The disciples, except for some women, abandon him. That is the point of the justice system. Not just to destroy Jesus, but to terrorize and humiliate his followers. We’ve always thought the death penalty was an effective means of stopping people from committing crimes. The crucifixion’s affect on Christianity gives a pretty good idea of the death penalty’s efficacy.
What is amazing is it is an unnamed criminal who truly gets who Jesus is and dies with Him. Is that not what we profess in baptism? The man knows he deserves condemnation and confesses to Jesus. He submits himself to Jesus and, in return, Jesus forgives. Completely. Instantly. The man knows that, even as an actual criminal, he can trust Jesus, he can turn toward goodness, and can even boldly ask for a place in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus response tells us, the Kingdom of God will have criminals in it. Some of them will even be guilty of crimes.