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Current mood:  contemplative Category: Religion and Philosophy
While Jesus was spending His 6 hours nailed to His cross, there were two other crosses accompanying Him, one on His right and one on His left. The two men nailed to these crosses were receiving the physical consequences of crimes they had truly (and admittedly) committed here on earth, while Jesus of course had committed no crime.
However, that's where the similarity between the two other men effectively ends. They both, being criminals and likely very "hardened" people, spent some hours going along with the crowds mocking Jesus, hurling insults at Him, and sarcastically asking Him "If you are the Son of God, save yourself -- and us!" Jesus took it all patiently, a lesson in itself for us when we're taking insults and verbal abuse that we do not deserve.
But in the course of time, and as Jesus had made a few statements to the Father and the crowd, there was a sign placed above Jesus' head on His cross; it was the one way Pilate could really stick it to the religious leaders who "forced" him into crucifying the Man he had declared to be guiltless of any wrongdoing. It declared, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew (so that anyone passing by would be able to read it), "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." When the religious leaders saw it, they immediately protested, begging Pilate to change it from "King of the Jews" to "He said He was King of the Jews", so as to avoid passersby thinking the title was true. In a rare show of intestinal fortitude, Pilate refused, saying "that which I have written, I have written."
At this point, a change occurred in one of the men, a stirring of his heart. One of those hardened criminals saw Jesus for who He really was, and began to rebuke the other criminal for his mocking:
"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."
After saying this, he turned to Jesus and said "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." Jesus looked over at him, likely with a smile creeping into the corner of His parched, bloodied lips, and said "Most assuredly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
† * * † * * †
You see, even though those two men hung on those two other crosses some 1,977 years ago, today everyone on the planet lives and dies on one of those same two crosses: one of ridicule and contempt for Messiah and the things of God, and the other of repentance, desiring forgiveness from Messiah and acceptance into the Kingdom of God.
It's important to note that both criminals started off the same way, by ridiculing Jesus and superficially thinking He was just another kook. Notice that Jesus had no condemnation for the ignorance of those men. He did, however, recognize that once they had been exposed to who He really was, they would be forced to make a choice between continuing in their rejection (which would no longer be based on ignorance but on their own choosing to willfully do so) or coming to Him in repentance.
Seeing this point, there's no condemnation for anyone who has (or even at this moment *is*) mocked and ridiculed Jesus in their ignorance of who He really is. However, just as those two criminals were under sentence of death, and their time on earth was extremely limited, we also are all under sentence of death, and while it could be 50 seconds or 50 years until that sentence is finally executed, the sentence itself should cause the same stirring in our minds: I'm going to face eternity eventually...could He possibly be who He said He is?
All of us will have to choose between one of those two crosses, whether we want to reject and ridicule Him up until the very moment we breathe our last breath, or change our minds (the definition of "repent", by the way) and approach Him asking for forgiveness.
The sooner you make your choice, the better, as the soldiers came at a moment those two criminals were not expecting to break their legs, speeding up their process of death by preventing them from being able to push up with their legs to catch a breath. This world is throwing things at us every day that could be just as effective as those soldiers' hammers...I beg of you, don't wait too long to choose which cross you want to meet God from.
In His service, and yours,
j†
9:01 PM
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