A tragic event
March 23, 2009 (Monday)
As we count the days until Good Friday, we think about the events of Holy Week. On Friday of that fateful week, Jesus was crucified, and two criminals were also crucified, one on either side of Jesus. Do you find it horrifying that one of those criminals used his dying hours to berate Jesus and reject the offer of eternal life? If you do, do you also find it difficult to accept the fact that millions of people today are saying “No” to Jesus, “No” to a meaningful and happy life, and “No” to a home in Heaven?
Why do people reject Jesus? Some do it because, frankly, they like their lives as they are, and they don’t want to make any changes. Many of them offer excuses for their refusal to follow Jesus, but the real reason is that they just don’t want to.
How do people reject Jesus? Usually they do it by continuing to live their lives their own way, just as the song, “My Way,” suggests. Some have found an answer for themselves in secularism, a cult, another religion or bold atheism. The proposition that people reject Jesus for an alternative of some kind is true.
What happens to the person who rejects Jesus? People today who reject Jesus as Savior are turning down a wonderful life of meaning and purpose as a child of God by faith. The criminal who rejected Jesus as he was dying went into eternity unprepared. He was lost, but he could have been found if he had allowed it. Jesus said He came to seek and to save the lost. The tragedy for him was that he was lost forever, because he rejected his only hope.
Next Monday we will look at the person who died on the cross on the other side of Jesus. His story is different. Although he also died that day, he went to Heaven. How? Why? Read Luke 23 today and see what happens when a person believes.
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LUKE 23 NIV:
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.
33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.
34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
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 37and 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.