Preached from the account of the two thieves crucified with Jesus, this message uses an imagined life history of Gestas and Dismas to explore why Jesus had to come as a complete man, a near kinsman redeemer who could be tempted, suffer, and die on behalf of humanity, and closes with the repentant thief’s plea for mercy as a picture of grace available to anyone regardless of their past.
Scripture Reference
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise
Key Points: Why the Redeemer Had to Be a Man
- An imagined backstory contrasts the two thieves, one raised in strict religious observance who turned to crime after years of poverty and unanswered prayer, the other shaped by shame and street survival from birth, showing that both arrived at the cross by very different paths.
- The law of the near kinsman redeemer in Leviticus 25 is used to explain why redemption required a man rather than an angel, since it was humanity that fell and only a qualified relative could buy back what was lost.
- Jesus is described as fully man and fully God at once, a lump of flesh formed in Mary carrying only the blood of God, so that he could be tempted and suffer exactly as any person does rather than having an advantage over human weakness.
- Old Testament appearances of God in human form, to Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, and the three Hebrew children in the furnace, are distinguished from Jesus as temporary manifestations rather than the permanent body God had prepared for himself.
- The thief on the right’s shift from calling Jesus this man to pleading remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom is presented as genuine, confident faith arising in his final moments despite a lifetime with no reason to expect mercy.
- Jesus’s response, promising paradise that same day, is framed as proof that grace is available regardless of how someone has lived, since neither thief’s crimes disqualified him from receiving it.
- The message closes by turning to the listener directly, asking what has been done in gratitude for the mercy shown at the cross, and pointing to the ongoing availability of that same mercy today.