The Second Word Of The Cross
Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise
The "Good Thief" is promised, upon his request of Jesus to be remembered when Jesus "comes into his Kingdom" that "Today you will be with me in paradise". The request was for the coming of the Kingdom. The thief was promised that presence today. The promise of eternal life is one of the great comforts of Christian life. We do affirm and afterlife. That is the ultimate purpose of this Season of Lent as we journey toward the empty tomb of the Paschal Feast. But please note something in what Jesus said. He told that person that he would be in paradise with Jesus today. We are promised we will be with Jesus in the world to come, but we who are living are with Jesus today. We live so much in our past, perhaps feeling anger and pain about it, or perhaps glorifying the past as better than the present. Neither past nor future exist. There is only now. There is only today. Today, whether our lives are going as we wish, or we are going through extreme difficulty, is the only day we will find our salvation. Today is the only day we will "be with Jesus". As the New Testament says, "today is the day of salvation". Jesus is near us, and concerned about us in life and in death. In life and death we belong to God. The risen Jesus says to us, "...I am with you always, until the close of the age". Paradise is today as well as in the future, for Paradise is where Jesus is. Heaven is promised in our future, but heaven is also today and now. May God grant us to find life in the present, and know him all of our days and into eternity.
In The Peace of The Cross
Jim Stahr
a
Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise
The "Good Thief" is promised, upon his request of Jesus to be remembered when Jesus "comes into his Kingdom" that "Today you will be with me in paradise". The request was for the coming of the Kingdom. The thief was promised that presence today. The promise of eternal life is one of the great comforts of Christian life. We do affirm and afterlife. That is the ultimate purpose of this Season of Lent as we journey toward the empty tomb of the Paschal Feast. But please note something in what Jesus said. He told that person that he would be in paradise with Jesus today. We are promised we will be with Jesus in the world to come, but we who are living are with Jesus today. We live so much in our past, perhaps feeling anger and pain about it, or perhaps glorifying the past as better than the present. Neither past nor future exist. There is only now. There is only today. Today, whether our lives are going as we wish, or we are going through extreme difficulty, is the only day we will find our salvation. Today is the only day we will "be with Jesus". As the New Testament says, "today is the day of salvation". Jesus is near us, and concerned about us in life and in death. In life and death we belong to God. The risen Jesus says to us, "...I am with you always, until the close of the age". Paradise is today as well as in the future, for Paradise is where Jesus is. Heaven is promised in our future, but heaven is also today and now. May God grant us to find life in the present, and know him all of our days and into eternity.
In The Peace of The Cross
Jim Stahr
a
Labels: The Second Word of the Cross
posted by Theoblogger at
4:13 PM
