“There’s More to the Picture”
Ed
Howard
February
13, 2022
Sometime
in my 40s, I worked with a man named John Walker. John was somewhere in his
60s, and he was an expert with a shovel. He could move more material with a
shovel than anyone in the company. Even the men in their 20s could not stay
with him.
Now that was not the only thing he
could do. He was a tractor trailer driver and could operate a lot of the
machinery in the company, but his specialty was the shovel. If anyone looked at
John, all they might see was an old man with a shovel, but there was more to
him than met the eye.
In the crucifixion picture of Jesus
and the two thieves, the center of focus is on Christ, just as it should be. But
there, too, is more to the picture than meets the eye.
The scripture reading Luke 23: 32-38
tells us that Christ was mocked by the soldiers and the crowd. One thief that
was hanging there beside Him said, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and
us.” But to me, Christ could not come down from the cross.
The
reason he could not come down off of the Cross was because Jesus was and is our
sacrificial lamb, our Paschal or Passover lamb. When the Israelites in Egypt
placed the blood of the Passover lamb on the door posts of their houses, the
Angel of Death passed over their homes and slayed the firstborn males of the
Egyptians.
In the same way, the blood shed by
Christ on the Cross is applied to the doorposts of our hearts, by faith, and
God promises that his Holy judgement will pass over all mankind. All who put their trust in the Messiah’s
death as their Passover lamb will experience the promise of Salvation and
deliverance from the bondage of sin and death.
The second thief says that he is
guilty and deserves to be on the cross, and then he states that Jesus is
innocent and does not deserve to be crucified.
At that, the thief turns to Christ and says, “Remember me when you come
into your kingdom.” Jesus replies,
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
These words, though few, are dynamic. When the second thief makes the statement
that he deserves to be on the cross, he is making a public confession of his
sin. By turning to Christ and asking to
be remembered in His Kingdom, he is seeking forgiveness and accepting Jesus as
his Lord and Savior. Christ, by the authority given to him by God, forgives him
and gives him eternal life when he states that the thief will be with him in
Paradise.
From the Cross to today, seeking the
Kingdom is still the same:
1)
recognizing being a sinner,
2)
seeking forgiveness,
3)
accepting Christ as your personal Savior, and
4)
striving to be Christ-like
Let’s look at just how each of us
interprets sin. For me, the easiest definition is that which comes between you
and God. There is another definition,
and that is to miss the mark. If you shoot an arrow at a target and you miss by
an inch or a mile, it makes no difference- you missed the mark. Sin a little or sin a lot, you still miss the
mark. A degree of sin is not a comparison between people; one sinner is not
more guilty than another since all sin weighs the same.
Admitting to your own sin is not the
easiest thing to do, but there is nothing to compare it to. It is strictly on
you. Confessing to God and seeking
forgiveness opens your heart to acceptance of Christ as your personal Savior. Your
confession and acceptance of Christ is the road to eternal life.
Last
is to be Christ-like. That can be summed up in six words: Love God; love your
fellow man. There is an old Gospel hymn I used to sing and have heard many
times done by various Gospel groups.
You gotta walk that lonesome valley
You gotta walk it by yourself
Well there ain't nobody else gonna go there for you
You gotta go there by yourself
The
question is: Where are you on your walk?
Everyone’s walk is a personal journey.
Remember,
the thief on the cross was seeking the Kingdom. So should we always be seeking
the Kingdom- the Kingdom of God!
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