And he said to Jesus, Remember me, [Lord,] when thou comest in thy kingdom.
One man hanging beside Jesus, dying for his own crimes, looked at a bleeding figure on a cross and addressed Him as a King with a kingdom still ahead of Him. Everything in sight said the opposite. Commentators treat his short prayer as one of the most remarkable acts of faith in the Bible.
Nothing visible supported what this man said. His confidence rested on something he had been taught inwardly, not on what his eyes reported.
Here is every mark of conversion, and of the most remarkable faith. The fear of God, the beginning of wisdom, is there; conscience upright and vigorous. He knew the perfect sinless righteousness of Christ as man. He owned Him as the Lord when His own disciples had abandoned and denied Him, and when there was no sign of His glory or of the dignity of His Person. Men counted Him as one of themselves. His kingdom was only a subject of scorn to all. But the poor thief is taught of God; and all is plain. He is as sure that Christ will have the kingdom as if He were reigning in glory.
Some translations read "in your kingdom" instead of "into your kingdom." One writer builds his point on that wording, and also notes what the man did not ask for.
He did not ask for any sacrifice to be offered on his behalf. His prayer tells us that he did not feel the need of it. The Lord's answer shows us there was no need of it. "Remember me when you come in your kingdom," not into, but in — that is, in the royal splendour and power which belonged to Him who was then, and is still, the King.
The other criminal wanted rescue from the cross. This one, in the same agony, asked for none.
As soon as he has finished his witness to the other thief, his heart turns to Christ by instinct. How undistracted he was! Was he thinking of his pain? Or of the people around the cross? He was completely taken up, as always happens when a person is aware of God's presence. To all appearances he was completely helpless. Yet he heard the Shepherd's voice, and knew Him as the Saviour and King. … The other criminal thought only, if he thought at all, of being rescued right now. This one saw the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
One writer looks past the work done for this man to the work done in him, and traces its order.
Where the heart knows the work done for the soul, there is a work done in that very soul. So it was with this man. Even though it all happened so fast, the Spirit of God has given us the great moral marks of it. First of all appears a hatred of sin in the fear of God; then the repentant heart rebukes the shameless evil of his fellow.
A convicted robber asked the King of kings to keep him in mind. That was a bold thing to ask.
He does not ask for a part in His kingdom, but to be remembered by Jesus then. What! He, a robber, to be remembered by the King of kings and Lord of lords? Even so. He was right, and those who would judge him wrong are wrong themselves. They do not enter, as he did, into the glory of Jesus, Who calls His own sheep by name now, and Who, when that day comes, will not forget the last any more than the first, in the perfection of His love. … Others might put up the sign over the Crucified without faith. But the name and kingdom of the Crucified were written on the converted robber's heart.
He asked for a distant day. He was given that same afternoon.
The Lord went far beyond what the crucified criminal expected. He said, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." Later the man would share in the glory of the kingdom. … But meanwhile the Lord would have him with Himself in Paradise. There he would wait with Christ for the time his soul had desired. Such is grace — divine grace. It loves to go beyond our desires, and to bless according to the heart of the Giver rather than the need we put into words.
Another writer looks at what this man's words meant to Christ Himself:
What a balm for the heart of Christ that was! What a blessed, wonderful cheer from God for the heart of His own Son.
- Taught — God taught him, so he was sure of the kingdom when nothing in sight backed him up. Even Christ's own disciples had gone, yet he owned Him as Lord.
- Turned — the work inside him came out in a clear order. First the fear of God and a hatred of sin, then an open rebuke of the evil beside him.
- Asked — he wanted no relief from his pain and no sacrifice for his sin. He asked one thing: that the King in His royal power would remember him.
- Answered — grace gave more than he asked for. Not a distant day but that same day, and not only remembrance but Christ's own company.
- Comforted — the prayer that owned Him as King was a balm to the heart of God's own Son as He hung there.
And Jesus said to him, Verily I say to thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Two criminals hung on crosses beside Jesus. One of them asked to be remembered when Jesus came into His kingdom. The answer names a time, a place, and a companion.
The dying man looked ahead to a coming kingdom.
The dying robber prayed the Lord to remember him when He should come in His kingdom. Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." So He offers a blessing beyond and better than the one he asked for. To the renewed mind it is a dearer prize than any outward display, however glorious: the joy of being that very day with Christ Himself, where the Father delights to love and honour the Son.
Some move the punctuation, so that the Lord only says "I tell you this today." Commentators reject that reading for two reasons.
The usual way of handling this text is to change the punctuation. They would have us read the words like this: "Truly I say to you today: you shall be with me in Paradise." They make it mean, "today, this day of my humiliation, I say to you." But the word order in the sentence is all against them... Besides this, the Lord is answering a prayer in which the thief named a time when he wished to be remembered... The Lord says in effect, "You shall not wait for that: today you shall be with Me."
The word has a background outside the Bible.
A word on paradise. It is Greek, and said to be derived, whether rightly or not, from the Persian, and is used of an enclosed garden or pleasure park (Song 4:13; Neh. 2:8). In the New Testament it occurs as a description of the present place of the saints who are out of the body (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4), and also of their future place of bliss, in which the tree of life will be found (Rev. 2:7)... Paul clearly distinguishes it from the third heaven.
Commentators differ here. Another writer reads Paul's account as naming one and the same place.
Paradise is identified with the third heaven by Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. In Revelation 2:7 the Tree of Life is there, a reminder of the earthly paradise, but filling the whole scene.
The circumstances of this conversion rule out every other explanation for it.
So we see how brightly grace shines in the salvation of the thief on the cross. There can be no possible mistake about him. Clearly he had no good works to trust in. He had done no deeds of charity. Of baptism and the Lord's Supper he knew nothing... For what could he do? Where could he turn? His hands and his feet were nailed fast to a criminal's cross.
So is his case an exception, or the rule?
The thief is an example, not of extraordinary faith, nor of an unusual way of saving sinners, but of the only way. I believe God has singled him out to give us an example, free of any later details. It shows us that the title to heaven and the fitness for heaven are both given the moment the sinner believes... There was no need of any preparation for Paradise beyond the preparation which divine grace gave him.
The promise settles what happens to a believer between death and the raising of the body.
A similar truth appears later in the case of the converted thief. The point there is just the same — immediate blessedness, not just later, when the body is raised from the dead. That is what he looked for when he asked to be remembered at the coming of Jesus in His kingdom. But the Lord adds more — immediate blessedness now.
Of the three parts of the promise, one carries the weight.
How did the saved thief enter heaven? With Christ, and in all His perfectness... He was not merely to be inside the door, but with Christ, wherever that might be. Oh, these blessed words "with me"! They settle and define everything about our heaven.
One question remains: who speaks like this?
"Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." Who is this, coming out with His "Amen" when He is about to die? Who is this whose eye could, before closing in death, turn on a poor sinner and send a ray of glory into his soul?
- Asked — He prayed for a place in a future kingdom; the answer gave him something better and sooner.
- Today — Word order and the man's request both tie "today" to the promise, not to the speaking of it.
- Paradise — A garden of delight; used of the present home of departed saints and of the future scene where the tree of life stands.
- Fitness — Hands nailed down, no works, no rites; title and fitness for heaven arrived the moment he believed.
- With Me — Not merely inside the door but in Christ's own company, and that on the very day he died.