The Man Between Two Criminals

There is one moment in the New Testament where Jesus Himself, dying, tells another dying man exactly what is about to happen to him — and it deserves more careful attention than almost any other verse in this book, because it has been fought over, mistranslated, and misused for centuries by people trying to make it say something other than what it plainly says.

Here is the scene. Jesus is on the cross. Two criminals hang on either side of Him, both under a Roman sentence of execution. One of them joins the crowd in mocking Him. The other does something remarkable — in the middle of his own execution, in agony, he turns to the criminal mocking Jesus and rebukes him:

"Don't you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong."

— Luke 23:40–41 (NET)

And then he makes a request — modest, almost tentative, the request of a man who has no grounds to expect anything and asks anyway, because something about the man dying next to him has convinced him it is worth asking:

"Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom."

— Luke 23:42 (NET)

Notice exactly what the man asked for. Not immediate rescue. Not a place at Jesus's side today. He asked to be remembered — a modest request for future recollection, pinned to some later moment "when you come in your kingdom," a kingdom this dying man had no clear picture of, arriving at some point he could not specify. It is the request of a man hoping, at best, to be a footnote in someone else's eventual victory.

Jesus's answer does something a careful reader should not let pass by too quickly:

"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

— Luke 23:43 (NET)

This is not merely a kind answer to a humble request. It is an answer that exceeds the request in every dimension the request had. The man asked to be remembered eventually; Jesus promises presence immediately. The man asked for a place in some future kingdom whose arrival he could not date; Jesus promises paradise today — this same day, the day both men are dying. The man asked, essentially, "don't forget about me when this is all over." Jesus answers, in effect, "you will be with me before the sun goes down."