"Today ... Paradise!" A SERMON

BY PASTOR DAVID LAYMAN

PREACHED February 17, 2008

Luke 23:39-43

I Corinthians 15:19-22

It was a day I will never forget. I was standing on a rocky hilltop outside Jerusalem called "Golgotha". Three men were being crucified. One of them, Absalom, was my brother. I wouldn't have been there, but I promised my dying mother that I would try to find my older brother, who had left home years ago and never looked back. Absalom broke my parents' hearts. He grew up rebellious, stubborn, strong willed. My brother and I were as different as could be. That's what everyone in our home town said, thank goodness. "It's hard to believe those two boys came from the same home", folks used to say. My brother set out from the start to do as he pleased. I grew up with the goal of not disappointing my parents like my brother had. And, if I do say so myself, I was pretty good at it. I stayed home and took up my father's trade. I learned my lessons well at the synagogue, and became a leader within it. In fact, I became a Pharisee and studied the law and all its fine points. Meanwhile, we'd occasionally get word of Absalom. He had moved to Jerusalem and was spending too much time drinking. Then, we heard he'd taken up stealing. Absalom was playing fast and loose with women. Then we heard Absalom had joined a revolutionary movement, using his criminal skills to help financially support a group of radicals who wanted to overthrow Rome. To be honest, for a moment I thought Absalom was going to make something of his life. Seeking to overthrow Roman rule was at least a step in the right direction. He was no longer seeking to live just for himself.

So I came to Jerusalem looking for Absalom, and heard through the grapevine that he along with some others were arrested and sentenced to death on a cross. If I wanted to see my brother, I'd have to make my way to a hill outside of Jerusalem. I'd never seen a crucifixion up close, and had no desire to do so. But I'd made a vow to my mother, so I went. You'd think such events were so terrible that no one would want to go. But the Romans executed people right beside a busy highway. It was as if the Romans were saying to the world "See what happens to people that cause us trouble!" And I discovered there's a certain element that just likes to see blood and gore. A pretty sick form of entertainment, if you ask me. I was surprised to find leading scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees at the cross. They were there to make sure Jesus, a religious teacher, got what he deserved, as one Pharisee told me. This Jesus had spoken blasphemy, I was told. Claimed to be God's Son. Healed people on the Sabbath. Overturned the money changers' tables in the temple. Likely to start a revolution and bring the wrath of Rome down on us.

I'd heard Jesus speaking in the temple one day that week, and to be honest, I'd never heard anything like it. A humble carpenter who was the most eloquent and engaging speaker I'd ever heard! Really made you think. According to my Pharisee friends, that's the most dangerous kind! But back to my brother....

I made eye contact with my brother just before they nailed him to the cross. I'd always known my brother as arrogant and cocky. He tended to treat me dismissively. I was the goody two shoes, he said. But when our eyes made contact at Calvary, the arrogance in my brother was gone. He looked ashamed. Absalom gave me a look that broke my heart. To be honest, I'd long been ashamed of my brother. Angry at him. Put out that he'd broken Mom and Dad's hearts. But on that hillside outside Jerusalem, I quickly went from anger and frustration to tears, as all three men were nailed to their crosses and put on public display. I started to move further back in the crowd, thinking I was going to get sick. But then I heard Jesus, the one in the middle, say "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they are doing." Those words stopped me cold. I couldn't believe that Jesus would address God as Father, as if there was some kind of intimate conversation going on. And then ask God to forgive those who were sending him to the cross!

Jesus' first words on the cross didn't have the same effect on others they did on me.

Soldiers were busy casting lots to divide Jesus' clothing. They weren't interested in forgiveness, but in gambling and diverting themselves from the terrible crime they were participating in. The religious leaders weren't accepting Christ's offered forgiveness. They were scoffing at Jesus, saying "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" It wasn't enough for them to see Jesus hung on a cross to die. They had to ridicule him. Soldiers got into the mocking, offering Jesus wine, saying "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was a mocking inscription placed over Jesus, "This is the king of the Jews." Things were going from ugly to uglier.

The other criminal hanging on a nearby cross joined in the mocking by saying over and over "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." I was afraid my brother Absalom would join in the mocking. But instead, he intervened, saying to the other criminal "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." I was shocked. I'd never seen my brother so humble, confessing that he had done wrong, saying that he deserved the terrible crucifixion he was getting. More than that, Absalom was speaking up by challenging someone for doing the wrong thing, instead of going along with it. For the first time since I can remember, I was proud of my brother! I stood there in open mouthed disbelief.

Then my brother, with great effort, said to Jesus " Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." My brother, who had spent a lifetime believing in nothing larger than himself, believed in Jesus! My brother, beyond all reasonable expectation, believed that today was not going to be the last day for Jesus. "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." My brother believed that the sign above Jesus' cross: "The king of the Jews" was true, and Jesus was preparing not just to die, but to enter his kingdom. I was amazed.

Even more amazing was that Jesus spoke back. He said to my brother "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Paradise was believed to be the dwelling place of the righteous beyond death. It harkened back to the Garden of Eden, a place of serene beauty and God's presence. That's where Jesus promised that my brother would be! My brother Absalom, who'd left home years ago, and spent the rest of his days dwelling in one den of iniquity after another, was promised paradise by Jesus.

I hate to admit this, but it upset me to hear Jesus say this. I wanted to take Jesus aside, if I could have, and said "Now wait a minute, Jesus. You don't really know what my brother Absalom is like. He gave our parents nothing but grief in his younger years. He broke my mother's heart when he left home. She cried for him night after night. And my brother was a thief, a liar, a drunk...and I wouldn't be surprised if my brother would have put a knife into the back of a man that had crossed him. You can't be serious about promising paradise to someone like him!"

Think of what Jesus could have said at that moment! He could have said to my brother "Sorry, friend, but my dream has died. It's all in vain. Look about you and see how everyone save you has turned against me." Or, Jesus could have said "I wish you'd thought of this before you broke all those laws. The net effect of your karma, I fear, will still carry you to hell. Too little, too late!"

Instead, Jesus proclaimed "Today you will be with me in paradise." It was a better promise than "Today you will be in paradise." That would have been great enough! But better yet was the promise that Jesus himself would be right there with this penitent criminal! Jesus made this amazing promise to the penitent thief "Today you will be with me in paradise." But following that, Jesus did not turn to the other criminal who continued to heap abuse on him and say "I'll see you in paradise, too!" To put everyone in a hammer lock and consign them, kicking and screaming, to a paradise the objector loudly states he doesn't believe in, would make a mockery of human freedom! We are responsible for the decisions we make in life. And for someone to be 10 feet away from the Son of God, seeing God's Son unjustly suffering a terrible death, seeing Jesus freely offer forgiveness and refuse to take it.... I just don't believe Jesus would take the unrepentant criminal by the ear and force him into paradise!

Since that day at Golgotha, I've gotten to know Jesus' disciples. I've heard his teaching, I've become a follower. I came to see that Jesus knew indeed what my brother was like, and he forgave him anyway. I heard the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), sharing that even those redeemed at the last minute could experience the blessings of life eternal. My earlier life as a Pharisee focused on self righteousness and making myself feel good about being better than someone else. Not only did Jesus break through Absalom's hard heart that day. He began to break through mine. I came to see that, in the light of Christ's perfection, all my good works were like filthy rags! But that doesn't need to distress me, because, by the grace of God, I can be with Jesus in paradise as well!

Big brothers are supposed to show their younger brothers how to live. My brother never did this in a positive way until the day he was crucified. Absalom humbled himself before Jesus. Absalom realized he deserved to suffer punishment. Even from a painful cross, he could see that Jesus should not have been hanging there beside him. My brother asked Jesus to remember him, and Jesus promised "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

No matter how disappointing a life is to God, there's always hope, until the very end, that we can turn to Jesus and say "Remember me!" But don't wait for the last day to make your confession. None of us knows when our last day will be. I began to place one foot in paradise the day I first believed. Jesus promises us His presence not in some distant future, but today!

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