SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2025 | LAST SUN. of the CH. YEAR; 29 C
Luke 23:27–43
Re-Claimed for Paradise
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Grace mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for today’s message is the Gospel reading from Luke 23, where we hear from the thief on the cross next to Jesus. He says:
We are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man [Jesus] has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And [Jesus] said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Let us pray:
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of ours heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
Amen.
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God is generous in all of his gifts towards us. He doesn’t hold back blessing from us, but lavishes it on us, in love, even when we don’t deserve it. And let me tell you, we don’t deserve it.
This short interaction between Jesus and the thief crucified next to him brings all this into sharp relief.
It begins as this faith-filled thief rebukes his faithless fellow thief. His rebuke, though, is essentially just a confession of his own sins. He says to the other thief, “We are receiving the due reward of our deeds.” Or as Paul’s says in Romans chapter 3, “The wages of sin is death.” And so this death on the cross is precisely what we deserve.
As the thief hangs on the cross, the immediacy of the situation demands a general confession. Certainly he will not have privacy, if that matters. Nor will there be enough time before his death to name all of his sins. The clock is ticking. And add to that the fact that he will not likely have enough breath to list all his sins. Remember that crucifixion often led to suffocation as the cause of death. So even his brief statements here were probably difficult and labored. So essentially, this condemned criminal says to Jesus, “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess to you all my sins. And I justly deserve present and eternal punishment.”
By the power of God’s Spirit at work in Him, The man knows and believes that this general confession is enough; after all, Jesus is God in the flesh and He already knows everything. Likewise, he knows and believes that despite appearances, Jesus will prevail. Despite the clear trajectory of the day…namely that all three of these men, the two thieves along with Jesus himself, will die before sunset…still he says to Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Facing the end of his life, the thief says, “Jesus, I am a poor miserable sinner who deserves death. But you are the king of kings and Lord of Lords. And whatever happens today, you will come into your kingdom.”
That’s pretty extraordinary! This man believes that Jesus will conquer an impossible situation. He believes that Jesus will be victorious. Jesus will defeat death! And so he begs Jesus for mercy. Remember me! Son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner.
The thief’s acknowledgement of his sin and of Jesus’ power aligns with Jesus’ own words earlier in the Gospel reading. While he was being led away to the site of his crucifixion, he corrected the mourners who were weeping for him. He says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” Yes, I am on my way to bear the suffering and shame of the cross. But don’t weep for me. I will conquer it. I will defeat it. Instead, weep for yourselves and for your children. Feel sorrow for your sin and confess. Humble yourself before the Lord and receive His mercy and forgiveness, lest you be condemned forever.
But few do. The rulers don’t weep or confess or humble themselves; they scoffed at him; and the soldiers mocked him; and the faithless thief railed at him. Hatred and cynicism filled the air. But this one man, this one thief, is honest in His confession of sin and his plea for mercy. Lord, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
So it may seem strange, but this condemned criminal is the example for us. It’s not all the respectable people in this story, who are gainfully employed and enjoying the status and honor of their positions. It is not the rulers or the soldiers, the Jews or the Romans, or even the disciples. It is a criminal who teaches us true confession and repentance.
It is a condemned criminal who shows you what it means to be honest, to tell the truth about your sin, to humble yourself and beg for the mercy of God.
So you and I should acknowledge before God that we are as this thief, this criminal: Lost and condemned, and under the oppressive power of sin, death and the devil.
And we should say, with humility and hope: O Lord, have mercy on us, poor miserable sinners.
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Now notice what is Jesus’ response to this man’s honest confession and earnest plea for mercy? Already, Jesus has asked His Father to forgive those who would scoff and mock and rail and crucify him. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” But now to this faith-filled thief, Jesus makes a promise: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Here is another extraordinary thing: Despite what this man, by his own admission, deserved, yet Christ has mercy on him. And he graciously and generously grants him the gift of paradise. Paradise! Wow!
God is generous! Toward this criminal, this thief. And toward you too!
We are reminded, for instance, of the all temporal blessings of God. Luther names them in the explanation of the first article of the Apostles creed. He writes that God has given us “body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and He still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.”
That’s a lot of blessing.
But wait, there’s more.
Take a quick survey of the readings for this day. They are overflowing with God’s generous grace and mercy.
In Malachi, the merciful Lord declares that sinners who fear the Lord, will be spared. And He declares that we are His treasured possession.
And in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we see our generous God transferring us from our native home in domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His Son. And this He does by shedding of His blood. Christ our Lord generously makes peace between you and God by His blood, shed on the cross.
And of course, here in the Gospel lesson, we see the generous and undeserved gift of eternal life and fellowship with Christ: Today you will be with me in paradise.
And it is these very same gifts of God that we enjoy today in the Divine Service. For here in the Words of Absolution, Christ our Lord has forgiven you all of your sins. And here at the font, He reminds you of your Baptism, by which you were washed clean and made a child of God; adopted into the family of God. And Here at His altar, He serves you His true body and blood, which brings you true peace and a gives you a foretaste of the fellowship, the communion, between God and all the saints, which we will fully enjoy on the Last Day, at the marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end.
What generous love, what rich blessing our dear Father pours out on us! And for all this it is our duty, Luther says, to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.
Notice that Luther is not afraid to point to God’s generosity and say, “Look, God has done all this for you out of the richness of His love and mercy. Now what should you do?”
Let me tell you:
You should thank and praise, serve and obey Him. You should worship often, receiving the gifts of God whenever they are available to you. You should gladly hear and learn His Word. You should boldly call upon the name of the Lord in every circumstance. You should eagerly love and serve your neighbor, giving of yourself for the sake of others. In short, you should live your whole life, guided by His Word, and in faith-filled service to Him. Because all that you have and all you are comes from God and belongs to Him, who blesses you with life; and forgives your sins, who reclaims you from the power of sin, death and the devil, making you His own child, and who promises you paradise with Him, forever. Amen.