Testimony from a Death Row Inmate

Luke 23:26-43

Imagine if you were a criminal.

A terrible criminal. Imagine if, all the way back to your earliest memories of your youngest youth, you’d only ever done the wrong thing. In fact, ever since you can remember, the only thing you’d ever wanted to do was the exact wrong thing. As a little child, you would steal your friends’ lunches. You would ask for money and never plan to pay it back. You would wait till no one was watching and kick friendly animals. You would sneak out of your house and do terrible acts of mischief…

And things only got worse as you got older, got bigger, got smarter, got tougher, got meaner. Now, you looked for new and different opportunities to break the law: you were always trying to do something worse than last time…

All in all, you became a very bad person. You became a very hard person.

So, eventually, when you found yourself arrested, put in jail, put on trial, you began to feel feelings you’d never really felt before. You felt a sense of guilt. You felt shame. You felt like whatever sentence you might receive might just be the sentence you actually deserve…

And when that Roman judge decided what your fate was – DEATH! – you weren’t particularly surprised or bewildered. It seemed to you that dying on a cross was the natural ending for a life of very unnatural living. It seemed to you that this was actually what you deserved. It seemed – somehow – right…

And now you’re up upon that hill – the hill called “Skull” or “Calvary” – and the terrible day of your execution has arrived. And now they’re stretching out your arms and legs to be nailed to the cross, and—

OH! the pain is OVERWHELMING!

You scream a scream of endless agony. All the people watching laugh at you.

And now they’re lifting up your cross and now – OH! – it has dropped into the hole they’ve dug to keep it standing upright. And you are gasping now to gather up each breath as all your bodyweight is sagging down, hanging against the pain of the nails.

And that’s when you look around for just a second…

You are looking around at the world you are leaving…

You are looking at the blue sky overhead, the hills in the distance, the city – white and brown – standing down below. You look at all the faces of the scoffers and the soldiers and the citizens who are simply walking by…

And then you turn your head to the right: to your side: to regard the other criminals who are being killed next to you…

And that’s when you see Him.

A Man you have certainly heard much about.

A Man who everyone once said might be the Savior, the King of Kings, the long-awaited Messiah of your people…

What is He doing here? you wonder to yourself. He is not the sort of Man to end up here…

And that’s when He turns to look at you.

And something happens down inside you.

You have never experienced love, understanding, human kindness – and now you see them all in those eyes. His eyes are regarding you. His eyes are accepting you.

But, suddenly: “Hey! Aren't you a Savior? Why don’t you save yourself and us?” echoes from the other side of Jesus. You recognize that voice: it is the other condemned man: one of a gang of criminals you used to run with…

But you say to him, “Don’t you understand? We are getting exactly what our crimes deserve here. But this Man has never done a wrong thing ever…”

There is something in the eyes of Jesus that tells your heart that what He’s doing is purposeful, needed, necessary. His eyes speak of hope… peace… joy.

And now you’re calling up every bit of all your courage and your hope and your heart to be brave enough to speak His name:

“Jesus?”

He turns His head to look at you.

“Remember me,” you whisper, “when you come into your Kingdom.”

You watch how He gently smiles.

Then He leans His head as close as He can get to you, pulling against the nails, and you’ll never forget what He says to you:

“Truly I tell you,” He says, “today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Today.

In Paradise.

You find yourself believing Him.

You find yourself believing in Jesus.

And now, you say to your heart, you may die happy.

You may die free.

Jesus, the Teacher, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, is dying to set you free.

Let’s Talk About It

• Have you ever done something wrong that you regretted later? How did that feel?

• What does it feel like to be forgiven and loved even after you’ve done something wrong?

• What does it feel like to forgive someone else when they hurt you?