The Two Thieves

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Have you noticed how complicated we make everything.  We all used to play sport to keep fit, then it gradually changed and got more serious and we all had to get fit to play sport. It didn’t really matter who scored the goal, or who did ran the furthest, or did the most tackles and then it started to change and we had people measuring every aspect of the game to get better results.

Let me give you an example, Jack Darling of the West Coast Eagles, he in this period has played 13 games, on the field for1475 min, scored 113 points, 17 goals, 11 behinds, 152 disposals, 58 handballs, did 94 kicks and had 760 marks… and this list goes on and on! Everything is measured. How much fun is that?...- how complicated! In some sports they even take blood samples to check haemoglobin levels etc!

Sometimes I think we make Church and what we believe far too complicated, when in fact it’s really simple. When things become complicated, it becomes a burden. It’s like walking through a maze, which way to turn now?  But today I want to tell you, and show you that the burden is light, the Gospel is a straight line and we don’t need to add any rules or measurements or conditions to experience the fullness of what God has promised us!

And a good place to start and illustrate this is to look at the account of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. We pick up the story in Luke 23:32 as Jesus is led out to be crucified on the cross

Luke 23:32-43 NIV

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the Jews.

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Just as an aside don’t you find it a bit barbaric to see that theft was a capital punishment in those days especially crucifixion? And despite that extreme punishment for a crime, it did not serve as a deterrent? It makes you wonder about the deterrent effect of penalties we have in our criminal system. But that is another discussion. Let’s look at the two thieves

Don’t you find these two thieves so reflective of the world we are in right now?  Some accept and some reject. The world mocks Jesus almost using the same words, “Jesus if you are really the Saviour then show it to be true and save us from these trials and tribulations we have, or “if you are the Saviour, why didn’t you save us from this disaster?” But Jesus was not there to save Himself from this terrible event. He was there to conquer sin and to conquer death for all mankind. And as for us asking about being saved from this or that…. well we are saved in Him… to eternal life!

Getting back to the thieves and looking firstly at the unrepentant thief. If you examine what he said 

Firstly he called Jesus, the Christ, or the Messiah, secondly, he asks Jesus to save him. Little does he realise it but this is almost a salvation prayer! But you can recite as many prayers as you like and we can say to people repeat this prayer after me, but if the words are not accompanied by a change in heart in faith it is meaningless.  Repeating prayers is meaningless unless it comes from the heart, it becomes no more than a chant.

Romans 10:9-10  (NIV) If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

It’s the second thief though that opens the door to so much understanding.

Luke 23:40 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Firstly we see he fears God and the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Then he acknowledges his own sin and the justice it deserves. But at the same time he recognizes the sinlessness of Jesus and he calls on Jesus to save him. Therein lays a biblically correct confession of faith sufficient to be saved. 

It’s interesting that this thief came to this point while on the cross. We can see this in the book of Matthew, because initially this thief also appeared to be mocking Jesus and then he changed.

Matthew 27:41-44 NIV

41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. 

But at some point it must have been a case of “scales falling off this thiefs eyes”. It reminded me of when Jesus healed the blind man, He took some dust ( and are we all not derived from dust) and Jesus mixed this dust with His spit, just as He mixed with us and became part of humanity. Then we too were washed in the “Pool of Siloam” and were baptized by His Spirit, and at that point the scales we had, fell from our eyes, just as it did for this thief on the cross.

The whole situation of this repentant thief also reminds me so much of Micah 7:8

Micah 7:8-10 (NIV)  

8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

9 Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case

 and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.

But this short interaction between the repentant thief and Jesus offers us so much in guiding us against false doctrine and teaching. Let’s have a look at some of them.

While we are looking at this, I would like to touch on the subject of faith. This repentant man had faith, that there was life after death and it was Jesus who could save him into the kingdom of heaven, and that’s why he asked that Jesus would “remember him” in His kingdom. This is faith and illustrates what Hebrews 11:1 says

Hebrews 11 (NKJ) 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

Now I want to go into faith in greater depth at another time, but the NKJ (and NASB) translation from the Greek is more explanatory than other versions. This verse has a few parts to it.

 Firstly looking at, “faith is the substance of things hoped for “. This when you look at the original text has an element of reality to it. This word substance, sub- under, stance-on which one stands- rather like a foundation of a building, you can’t see it but it’s real, its substantial. It is NOT a wish, or pie in the sky idea, it’s based on “substance” It’s not wishful thinking!

The second part “the evidence of things not seen.” (the Greek word actually means proof of things not seen) This is the is the testimony that is given to the first part of the verse . It proceeds the first part.

This thief had a very real experience with Jesus Himself, he spoke directly to Jesus, and you don’t get more real than that! And as he speaks, he testifies to that reality asking that Jesus remember him in His kingdom after he dies. But the value of it he will never see until he dies. If you read Hebrews 11 you will read in the last verses “9 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,..” 

Now let’s apply this to one thing- faith healing. From what I see there is a lot of misunderstanding about this. Faith healing comes about when one receives clear and specific instruction through the Holy Spirit that God will heal someone. Based on this reality then, that person would then pray for healing of this sick person testifying to God’s instruction that He will heal them. And they will be healed.

This is in stark contrast to “just” asking God to heal someone, or a prayer asking that God heal someone. When we pray and do this, we recognise the sovereignty of God, we understand that God can say no, that we submit to His authority and realise that not all our prayers will be answered in the affirmative. By the way if this were not so, no one would get sick or die of illness! And so this is a request to God having not received clear and specific instruction from the Holy Spirit that God will heal someone.

There is a very big difference between these two situations. One is based on reality and the other a request. But we seem to wonder why some people are not healed? Now we know.

Finally isn’t it wonderful how God has the power to make Himself known, irrespective of our own circumstances or abilities, even when we may be at the end of our lives, hanging on the cross with a few hours left to live? It gives us hope for those not yet saved. Look at this story

“Alexander MacKay was a Scottish missionary in Uganda. But how did he become a missionary? Well his story starts with the missionary, David Livingstone, the Englishman who travelled into Africa as an evangelist in the mid-1800s. After a number of years, a British newspaper sent a reporter Henry Stanley to find Livingstone. When Stanley came upon Livingstone, he uttered those famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” 

Stanley was so moved by his time with Livingstone that he himself later became a missionary, and he went to Uganda. In April of 1875, Henry Stanley wrote a letter appealing for workers to come and evangelize the region with him. He gave the letter to a French colonel who then left for the coast. But the Frenchman was suddenly attacked by a native tribe. He was killed and his body was left unburied on the sand where it was discovered by some English soldiers who happened to be passing that way. The soldiers buried the French Colonel, but before doing so they pulled off his boots. In one of them was Stanley’s letter, stained with the dead man’s blood. They sent the letter to an English General in Egypt who sent it to a newspaper in London. Six months later, in December of that year, Alexander MacKay read Stanley’s letter in the London newspaper. Through that letter, God spoke to MacKay and called him to be a missionary to Uganda.” 

God’s message will find its way to its intended destination, one way or another.

We generally make life too complicated and what we believe too complex. But as Glen quoted last week, it’s simple “we are great sinners and Jesus is a great Saviour” So let’s pray that God’s message would find its way into the hearts and minds of our children and our friends and families, just as it did for that repentant thief, and that they too would have that faith and courage in adversity.They are going to need it.