Back to the garden
This week's verses are Luke 23:39-43: One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “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.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” These verses are interesting because they paint a picture of the final judgment. Men are gathered on Jesus' left and right. One rails at him and makes skeptical demands of him. The other is contrite and asks for mercy. As the song says, sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell. Jesus tells the penitent criminal that they will be together that day in paradise. Paradise. We all have our own picture of what we would consider to be paradise, but the original word c...