The cost was too much. To have to pay for all the sins of the entire world was the burden that fell upon the outstretched arms of our Savior as He hung on the cross. The agony and the pain He endured while having His hands and feet nailed to the tree was only part of the suffering He experienced that day. He suffered the mocking comments, the taunts, and the doubts of those surrounding Him-from the soldiers standing at His feet, to the criminals whom He divided. Yet, even in these last hours of Christ's life we find He is giving of Himself. He answers the dying request of a criminal with reassurance that he will join Him in paradise that very day. It is a paradise the thief does not deserve. He did not earn it on his own account, yet it is credited to him by the suffering and death of the One who promises it.
We, too, are like the criminal that died alongside Jesus that day. We deserve to pay the penalty for all of our sins, by dying on a cross. We have daily failed to live up to the commandments God has given to us by sinning in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We deserve to be punished and suffer death just like the criminals on the cross did.
But Christ Jesus took our place on the cross. His suffering and death on the cross has opened the gates of paradise for all those who believe. We share in the same promise the thief received that day-one day we will be with Christ in Paradise.
We wait patiently and expectantly for that day when we will share in the peace, joy, and happiness that Christ has opened for us in paradise.
THE PRAYER: Dear heavenly Father, we thank You for the precious gift of Your Son Jesus Christ who gave of Himself so that we may one day be with You in paradise. Amen.
Written by Pastor Luke Jacob
Pentecost Lutheran Church - Racine, Wisconsin
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