An Eternal Decision

My husband and I like crime shows --maybe a bit too much. We like to hear people's stories, see the bad guys get what they deserve, and celebrate when families are able to take the first steps toward healing. Sadly, some of those "bad guys" are barely more than children; they are seventeen, eighteen, in their early twenties. They are sentenced to twenty-five years --a sentence longer than they have been alive; some are sentenced to life. Young adulthood will be lived as time in the yard or working the prison's laundry. Years when thirty-somethings are typically raising families, saving for their first home, or griping about coworkers, these prisoners will lie on cots dreaming of campfire smells or the sound of waves crashing on the shore. It's agonizing to witness a decision made in haste now being served for life.

A similar event took place about two thousand years ago. A man to whom we usually refer as The Thief on the Cross --even Scripture gives him no other name but "criminal." Actually, we are told there were two thieves on crosses that day. Both sentenced to death. Both mocked Jesus. But only one remained The Thief on the Cross. He is the one who did not stop long enough to seek forgiveness. The other is now a brother, a man of wisdom and action. Action?! you say. He was hanging on a cross! How was he a man of action? Because even in his condemned state, even as time ticked away and his body failed, even as the very moment of his death came more clearly into view --perhaps because all of these are true --he chose to seek reconciliation.

It might be more comfortable to assume he'd stolen out of necessity. Perhaps he'd been framed or been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Better to think some deep-seated tenderness of heart caused him to respond to the punishment he was receiving and the injustice Jesus received. We may not like to think that, when we get to heaven, the man we will embrace --not as The Thief on the Cross, but as a brother --that man was rotten to the core. This one who spoke his petition to the King he cursed a short time before, this one may have knocked down an old man, stolen his money clip and beaten his stooped little wife with her cane to keep her from crying out. Maybe he left a young mother for dead as he stripped her of her jewelry and set her house ablaze. His own words betray him:

Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.
Luke 23:40, 41

The due reward. Death. This thief was indeed a man of action --those heinous and holy, at least on this blessed day. Though fixed to a cross, destined to remain there until he breathed his last, he had value, he knew wisdom, and he took action. A decision made in wisdom is now immortalized for life to the glory of God! 

He saw the time winding down. He saw what was happening. By God's grace, He saw Jesus for who He is. Wisdom. And he took action! He took seriously what the Holy Spirit was saying to him. For what was maybe the first time in his life, he saw reality: he was a sinner, deserving of all he was receiving (and more); the only One who could show him any real sort of mercy was hanging on a cross beside him. The Thief on the Cross mocked, What can He possibly do for you? Don't you see He is in worse shape than you are? But this brother chose to act on what he saw with spiritual eyes. Truth. And he would not allow the thief to take it from him.

We too have our sins. We gossip. We condemn. We hold grudges. Maybe we too, steal. The Holy Spirit is not not speaking; perhaps we're just not taking it seriously. While hours before, Jesus' own disciples had felt the weight of heavy eyelids made from full bellies, sleeping when they should have been praying, the two men on crosses flanking the Savior of the world felt the weight of fear and death. One chose to mock that weight, to power through it in his own strength --The Thief --a sentence served for life. The other chose to conquer that weight through the power of Jesus Christ --our brother, a man of wisdom and action.

When we feel the weight, may we consider carefully our decision and choose with eternity in mind.