Remember Me!

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
~Luke 23:42-43 

It had not been a good day.  For that matter, it had not been a good life.  But all that would be over by the end of the day.  This miserable, excruciatingly painful day!  The sentence of death which had been handed down was, he surmised, just what he deserved.  And today, that execution would be carried out with ruthless Roman efficiency.  

The spikes were nailed in, and He screamed and cried out in pain as his flesh was ripped with each hammer blow.  He howled as the cross was raised and then dropped into the awaiting hole with a thunk.  Every nerve in his body was on fire and there was no relief.

As the day wore on, the hot sun slowly baking his skin, drying his blood into clots that the ravens would soon be coming for.  He looked to his far left and saw a face he remembered from the dungeon.  Another criminal who had been rightfully condemned to die.  But to his immediate left was a face he didn't recognize.  He had heard the soldiers call him Jesus.  He had heard all about Jesus, but had never met Him until today.  This Jesus had been beaten and whipped, but His only crime was a fabrication the Jewish Leaders had put forth, and now, here was this innocent man hanging unjustly.

Every breath came with extreme pain as his rib cage and diaphragm were pulled apart by his own weight.  He gasped and wanted death to hurry, but the Romans were cruel and calculating with this torturous execution.

The other criminal berated this Jesus along with the crowd.  Perhaps he had gone insane from the pain and heat.  

Finally, he sensed that the end was coming soon, for the innocent Jesus, so he took one gulping breath and said, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom."  

And he heard the words that brought him true peace for perhaps the first time in his miserable life when Jesus said to him, "Rest assured, today you will join Me in paradise."

Think about this, WE are the criminals.  We have been justly condemned to die.  Yet we long to hear those words from Christ to us, "Rest assured, you are going to be with Me in paradise."  We know that Jesus freely offers us forgiveness and acceptance, but do we accept these FREE gifts?

"Jesus, please remember me when you enter into Your Kingdom."

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