Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 11/11/12
Luke 23:39-43
“Jesus remember me,
When you come into your Kingdom.”
Words uttered by a man
Whose crimes had finally pinned him down.
His wasn’t a worthy life.
He didn’t walk a righteous path.
Maybe out of circumstance,
Maybe out of choice,
But whose wrong turns
In the eyes of the law
Had spun him to this place,
Wasted and ruined,
Car-crashed on a cross.
And yet this man,
With nothing to show for himself,
Was the greatest comfort
To Jesus, King of the Jews,
Covered in spit and blood and gore
Hanging just beside him.
Deserted, ridiculed, scorned,
Abandoned.
Not a good day.
Not a good time.
And yet this man saw in Him, God.
Saw in Him, perfection.
Saw that He had done nothing wrong
And believed in Him.
When all else had cracked and soured,
His plea of faith and sorrow
Was so sweet and so right
It brought healing in a moment
And let loose the words
Of a mutual wild liberation:
“Assuredly I say to you,
You will be with me in Paradise.”