JESUS SAVES THE MAN ON THE CROSS
39One of the
criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying,
“Are you not the
Christ? Save yourself and us!”
40But the other
rebuked him, saying,
“Do you not fear
God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
41And we indeed
justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done
nothing wrong.”
42And he said,
“Jesus, remember
me when you come into your kingdom.”
43And he said to
him,
“Truly, I say to
you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
LUKE
23:39-43
COMMENTARY
Fulfilling to
the end his ministry, our Lord JESUS who was sent not come to condemn the world
but to save it (John 3:17), He accepted the last-minute repentance of one of
the criminals crucified next to Him who moments before was also criticizing Him
together with the unrepentant robber (Matthew 27:44)
Besides what old
traditions say about this man, according to the Scripture he was a thief, and must
have also committed murder, and murder of Roman soldiers. That is the reason
why he was trialed by Pilate and condemned to the ultimate form of execution,
death on a cross.
He must have
converted when he saw Jesus praying for those who crucified Him (Luke
23:32-34), and realizing that Jesus was innocent and unjustly condemned, he tried
to stop the abuse the other robber was delivering to our Lord constantly.
In his declaration,
this repented criminal, it is clear that he accepted Jesus’s lordship and
authority, that is why he said:
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”
(Luke 23:42).
Our Lord JESUS
CHRIST, seeing the faith and repentance of this man, He did not hold resentment
towards him because he also had been abusing Him.
He did not hold
against him that he had killed human beings, and neither that he was not
baptized or that had even confessed his sins.
He professed his
faith in Jesus publicly, repented of everything in his life away from God, most
probably not even having time to reflect in all of it and the consequences, but
he was sorry.
Without Jesus
giving him a formal absolution, nevertheless He let him know he was forgiven,
and that He will save him, when He said:
“YOU WILL BE
WITH ME IN PARADISE”
The same way
Lord JESUS, the King, saves today anyone who confesses faith in Him and repents
of his sinful life and submits to Him as his Lord and Savior.
Because HE is
the savior, not rituals or ceremonies, that only make sense after we are accepted
by Him and never before.
Omar Flores.
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