An Interview with a Criminal

 Who, living or dead, would you most like to have a conversation with? There are all kinds of brilliant answers that I have heard. And a few silly ones too. Given this choice, many folks choose a family member, and some, Elvis or John Lennon, others, a Bible character. I always have chosen Mary Magdalene when asked this question. But today, while reading Luke 23:39-43, I changed my mind. I decided to request a conversation with the repentant criminal on the cross beside Jesus. I will call him Mr. Criminal 2. Maybe our conversation would go like this. 

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Me: Hi, Mr. Criminal 2. I have many questions about that day on Calvary. Would you be willing to answer a few?

Mr. Criminal 2: Sure, but I really want to get back to play a round of golf with The Big Guy, so make it quick. What do you want to know?

Me: I have read what you said to Criminal 1 on the cross. How did you know Jesus didn’t deserve to die on that cross? 

Mr. Criminal 2: Wow! Getting right to the punch line. I like that. Before that day, I wasn’t really paying much attention to the stories about the miraculous healings and preaching of Jesus, but I did know who he was. Everybody did. I was a thug, you know. And so it took my mind off of my pain to watch him being nailed on the cross beside me.

Me: So you watched him suffering to get your mind off of your own?

Mr. Criminal 2: Yeah. But he was tortured so much more than either of us criminals. In fact, I think they forgot about us at times because the soldiers and crowd were so worked up about Jesus. Here is how crazed they were. Before the crucifixion there was this other heinous criminal named Barabbas, a real piece of work. The powers-that-be asked the crowd to choose to release Barabbas or Jesus thinking they would release the guy who healed people and stuff. But they were so crazed that they chose to crucify Jesus and release that evil dude. Their thirst for Jesus blood was like nothing I ever witnessed before. I couldn’t understand this. So I thought I had better watch him closely to see why they hated him so much.

Me: So you decided to focus on Jesus crucifixion rather than your own?

Mr. Criminal 2: Yes. And this is when I saw his innocence. It was so obvious. It didn’t matter what they did to torture him, from the crown made of thorns to taunting and spitting on him, he kept his cool. He even forgave those damn executioners! He was majestic-like and kind at the same time, even during that shameful degrading torture. He never lost it. He was other-worldly in his words and countenance yet he was enduring the pain of this horrible death with the additional physical and mental tortures beyond that of us two criminals. He clearly was not like us. 

Me: So, if you could see that he had an unknown source of power, why didn’t you ask him to save you like Criminal 1 did? 

Mr. Criminal 2: You know, as I watched him I realized that he was choosing this death for some strange reason. And what is more, he was talking to God like he was his dad.

Me: So why didn’t Criminal 1 see this too?

Mr. Criminal 2: Here is the thing. That guy never really looked at Jesus. He focused on the angry crowd and the soldiers. If he had ever watched Jesus, he would have seen it. 

Me: So then what happened?

Mr. Criminal 2: Here we are slowly dying this painful death and Criminal 1, pipes up with the plan for Jesus to rescue us. But he didn’t think Jesus was able to do it and so he was really mocking Jesus just like the blood-thirsty crowd around us. By then, I had seen enough to know Jesus could save us from this torture and for some reason he chose to endure it. So I told criminal 1 what I thought. I said, “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”*

Me: So how did you decide to make that request of Jesus that is recorded in the Bible?

Mr. Criminal 2: I don’t know. It just came out of watching him when I said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”* And then Jesus looked at me. Oh the compassion in his pained eyes! Then Jesus said to me, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”*

Me: How did that make you feel? 

Mr. Criminal 2: You can’t imagine. I was so engulfed by Jesus love that I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. We died after that and just like he said, I joined him here in paradise and have been rejoicing ever since! I am a new man, clean and forgiven. What a gift!

Me: So you are saying that the only difference in you and Mr. Criminal 1 is that you kept focusing on Jesus?

Mr. Criminal 2: That is it. I was as bad as that guy. I knew we both deserved crucifixion. Criminal 1 never admitted that he deserved this punishment and focused on his own pain and bitterness while I watched Jesus until I was in total awe of him. I knew without a doubt that he was the Son of the Most High God. 

*quotes from Luke 23:39-43 The Message translation 

The Most Costly Requirement

 My Baptist preacher’s kid upbringing taught me the process to becoming a Christian is to walk up an aisle in front of a church, say a prayer with the guy in front of the church, and get dunked in a pool of water. It was much later in my life that I discovered that this process, though it is not wrong, it is not all of the story and also not a set-in-stone procedure. My point is that it is a cultural tradition more than a universal requirement for salvation and is not the whole story.

So what is the requirement for salvation as lined out by the Bible? What steps must be followed? After searching, it appears that the only qualifier is belief. How easy is that? And if all we have to do is believe, why aren’t more people professed Christians? If it is so easy to become a follower of Christ, why aren’t more people following him? What is the big barrier? In my more recent life experience, I realized that the hardest thing about becoming a believer is what precedes belief in Christ. It is a posture of the heart that must happen first. This blog is my attempt to describe it. 

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This posture of the heart is described in the Bible as acknowledgment that I am a sinner just like everyone else. “Sinner” is a heavy word and we are hesitant to take it on as a label. It’s hard to admit that my sins are no less than the sins of any other person on this planet. It is seeing myself as much in need of redemption as a bigot, or a liar or even a politician. It is difficult to profess that the guy to my right and the guy to my left are no better or no worse than me. Internalizing that I am the same as everyone else, no better than my worst enemy, is a huge ask! It is declaring to God that the struggle is more than I can handle on my own. In a nutshell, this little barrier to belief is called humility.

You might be wondering if this humble pathway to belief is recorded in the Bible anywhere. I am a digital queen so my Bible is digital as well. It enables me to quickly find information that I seek in any translation. After a search, I found references to humility multiple times throughout the Old and New Testament in every translation from King James to the Amplified version. It would be hard to miss humility while reading through the Bible! It would be hard for this little term to be glossed over by culture. But somehow, I never made the connection until I was much older. 

More than all these recorded Biblical instructions to humble ourselves, the Bible shows us the importance of humility with many stories. Jacob’s struggle with an angel, Sampson’s lack of humility right up until his humbling end and Joseph donning his flashy coat to end up touring of the bottom of a cistern are just a few that come to mind. But the most crystal clear Bible story highlighting the attitude of the heart is of the criminals dying on the cross to Jesus’ left and right as described in the book of Luke.

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself-and us, too, while you’re at it!” But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” 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 23:39-43 NLT

This contrast of pride and humility can’t be overlooked and it can’t be minimized! Humility of the heart is required by God.