35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, 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 Christ? 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, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
The score is 98-99 and the losing team has the ball, what's more is there is only three seconds on the clock. 3... The player dribbles up the court. 2... He launches it into the air. 1... Then in it goes into the net and the buzzer sounds. The game is over, 100-99. The game was a close call for the team that who, until a second ago, was doomed to lose.
One can't help but think about that criminal on the cross next to Jesus. The clock was counting down to the end of his life. He had until sometime before sunset when a Roman guard would break his legs to speed up his death so that they could get him down in time for the Sabbath. We don't know much about this criminal, but we can assume he was not of faith before. But there he was, right down to the buzzer when Jesus looked over at him to let him know, that he was saved and that he was going home to Heaven at the end of the day.
That's the big difference between the basketball game and the criminal, that final shot required skill on the players part, the criminal however just gave an admittance of Jesus' innocence. Now make no mistake, Jesus knew his heart, in fact the other criminal even calls Him the Christ. The criminal who went to Heaven though, he admitted his sin, clearly felt repentance and acknowledged Jesus as an innocent sacrifice.
It's that easy. Sometimes it's easy to forget, much like the basketball player, we practice day in and out to be that perfect player for God's team. We go to church, bible study, Sunday school, catechism, we share the word with our neighbor. But we have to remember that we do these things out of love for Christ. No one's going to blame the player for practicing too hard, but when that player, no matter how good he is if he, puts the letter "I" in "team" then he's not favorable in the eyes of his coach.
No I am not saying ease off of your Christianity, time with God's Word or good works, but instead to remember that Jesus is the one who saves you. Remember that the Holy Spirit gives you faith and that apart from Him you can do nothing. A Christian really has it easy in regards to the path to righteousness. Jesus has already done the heavy lifting at the cross. So you point to Him for holiness.
Out of love you live a life that reflects your Savior. You share the message that eternal life is so easy that anyone can have it. You build your faith, live under the Law and your get baptized and share in the sacrament of communion for fulfillment of God's promise.
The criminal on the cross probably wasn't baptized, he never took communion, or went to catechism. He never put his envelope into the collection plate and at the time probably didn't understand the resurrection that was to occur two days from then. How blessed we are in the many ways we can serve Christ today in ways that this criminal never had a chance to. How blessed we are that our home in Heaven is just as secured and just as easy to get to as that criminal.
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