Thieves
Page 6
away, but close enough to watch the spectacle. A dry north wind blew dust around the dismal parade. The road rose steadily until the city could be seen from the distance.
“What a dead, desolate place – it even smells of death,” Eber mumbled as he walked up the barren hillside. “I never thought I’d be coming here myself. What a perfect place to crucify someone – a warning for others who might think of rebellion, or otherwise.”
When Shem thought he could go no farther, a jab with the point of a sword prompted him forward. Finally, they stopped not far from a sheer rock wall that overlooked Jerusalem.
They fell to their knees. The cracked, dry earth seemed to share their hopeless despair. The noise of the crowd faded into the background; Shem could no longer hear the shouts.
Paradise
The two thieves were forced to sit on the rocky ground. The guards removed the logs and dragged them to each assigned cross. Their arms were stretched and held firmly; one arm was nailed then the other. The feet were last.
A large, bulky soldier hammered mercilessly the rusty spikes into their hands and feet. Ropes were used to tie the arms to the cross making sure neither would pull their hands free once the seventeen centimeter spike was driven in.
Each hammer blow was a lightning bolt of agony. Both screamed, the unbearable pain was only slightly lessened by the drink of wine and gall each was given before being laid down on the cross.
Shem, head throbbing, forced himself to look over to his left at the man called Jesus, who was grimacing with each blow of the hammer, but not crying out like Eber and Shem. He had an unbelievable aura of inner strength. Through all the bloody and painful torture, the man exhibited a deep seated calm.
A thought scurried through Shem’s mind like a flash of lighting: Could He be the one prophesied in the Torah?
The crosses were lifted straight up and dropped into holes in the ground; the pain doubled in intensity. The city of Jerusalem could be seen from the cross, but it was just a blur and no longer made any difference. There was now only unimaginable darkness and an unknowable fate confronting them.
Phantoms, shapeless specters flitted to and fro. The reverberating echoes of the mob no longer concerned Shem. His mind was on the man on the middle cross. The man spoke – his voice, low but audible, pained, but controlled:
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
What – did he really say that? Shem was not sure if he’d heard it right.
“Mother, there is your son, son, there is your mother,” continued the man’s strained voice as he looked down at a woman that Shem took to be his mother.
Shem’s watery eyes gazed at the priests who were waving fists and shouting obscenities, inciting the crowd into a frenzy. He wanted to scream at the scoffers and tell them to shut up. The man was suffering enough at their hands! But he couldn’t get the words out.
Shem, through the unbearable throbbing caused by his butchered extremities, managed to pay close attention to every word spoken by the prophet.
“Eli, Eli, Lama Sabacthani!” the man cried out.
What is the man saying? Shem wondered.
Then Eber yelled from the other cross: “If you be the anointed one, save yourself and us too!”
Shem could keep quiet no longer, summoning the little strength left, he spoke as loud as he could, his screaming muscles protesting every move:
“Don’t you fear God – since you and I are under the same sentence of condemnation?”
Breathing deeply through his pain, he continued, “We indeed are suffering justly and deserve what we have now. This man has done no wrong.”
Shem turned his head painfully toward the prophet. He sucked some air into his battered lungs and cried out:
“Jesus ... remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”
The response was like a fresh drink of water for a thirsty soul.
“Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise,” the Prophet spoke into his heart.
The words brought a calming stillness that changed everything. To Shem it seemed as if heaven had opened up that very second.
A veil was removed from Shem’s eyes, and he saw Jesus the Messiah revealed. This was not just another mortal sharing the same fate, Shem was looking at the Son of God!
There was no more pain, no despair. Just a deep-seated sense of peace, freedom from human limitation. All the horror of the cross evaporated. He was beyond death.
Afterthought
This brief narrative is about the life of one man who, by the Grace of God, found redemption at his last breath. A man who hungered for truth, who recognized Jesus as the truth and responded with an open heart. He did not need to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but only believe.
This could be any one of us.
God desires to reveal His Love and Grace to each of us long before we are confronted with death and eternity. That was the purpose of Jesus’ bodily manifestation upon this earth. By taking on Himself the very nature of man, and at the same time humanity’s curse, He destroyed the power of sin and death that had humanity under its pitiless authority. Jesus, the Son of God, defeated sin, death and the curse of the law by becoming sin and bearing its very curse.
Shem became aware of who Jesus really was. He did not have a full grasp of the rationale for Jesus being crucified, but it was enough for him to cry out for forgiveness.
We, as Shem did, need not have a ‘full’ grasp in appreciation of how God could love us rebellious and lost sinners. We just need to respond in faith to that love.
The Word that saves is as near as the tongue and close as your heart – if we repent, believe in our heart that Jesus is the Messiah of God who died and rose again. Confess him as Lord with our mouths and we shall be saved. Then, as one grows in faith, the understanding of God’s Grace becomes even more glorious.
God desires for each one of His creations an extraordinary, personal and intimate experience that in the Bible calls ‘The New Birth.’
For God so loved the world that He gave...
God gives, We receive.
THE END
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Contact the Author
Tony’s Other Books
Power of Submission, the Servant Heart
Available in Spanish as: Corazon Sumiso
Using examples from the lives of Joseph, Moses, and others this narrative helps to clarify the differences between ‘servant-hood’ and ‘servant-heart.’
Toot the Conqueror
Available in Spanish as: Toto el Conquistor
A graphic novel about the adventures of a heroic boy named Toot. It’s a humorous study on conversion and growing in faith. Toot finds himself questioning God when temptation hits, and he must find the strength to become a true conqueror.
On many occasions we find ourselves asking the same questions.
Four Elements of Prayer
Available in Spanish as: Cuatro Elementos de la Oracion
Prayer, a subject that will produce a thousand and one opinions. All religions have their own systems of ceremony and attire – from the noisy to the quiet. One can hear sounds of despair in some places and quiet confidence in others.
Jesus came to bring humanity back to the creator. And, in doing so, he showed us how to commune with our Heavenly Father.
Mere Mortals
Available in Spanish as: Meros Motales
In this short narrative, I touch on a few reasons why God chooses seemingly ordinary people to accomplish the extraordinary. Why does He love His creation so much? Why does God limit Himself to doing things through Mere Mortals?
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