Thought of the Day April 2, 2019 Jesus and the good thief
Jesus and the good thief on the cross
It
could be that the witness of Jesus’ love of the sinner and his desire to save,
even the most forsaken, compelled this man to cry out to Jesus. The great
evangelizer is still at work even from the cross. “Today, you will be with me
in paradise.” The dying Christ responds
with utter tenderness and reassurance for which we hardly dare hope.
Jesus’ reply proved the truth of Hebrews
7:25: “He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through
Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Interestingly enough, Jesus’ reply to the
mockery of the crowd was to pray for forgiveness for them. But Jesus’ reply to
the sincere repentance and profession of faith of this man was the promise of
eternal salvation.
Here is the fulfillment of the parable of
the lost sheep found in Luke. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leaves the ninety-nine
and goes after the one who has strayed.
When he finds it and returns with it, the Good Shepherd responds: “I tell you, in just the
same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” (Lk
15:7)
A
sincere repentance, an acknowledgment of Jesus, earns the grace of salvation
for this man. He is the first to experience the gift Jesus came to give all of
us, mercy, reconciliation and the forgiveness of our sins. It reminds us that the grace of mercy and
salvation is available to us even at the very end of our life. But we can’t
presume on this grace.
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