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Now one of the criminals hanging there
reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no
fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we
received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into
your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say
to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
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Luke 23.39-43
The two thieves that we have
encountered time and again in our reading of and reflecting upon the Scriptures
can provide us a wonderful insight into the great mercy of God. It is only in
the Gospel of Luke do we witness a conversation of the three crucified men. Yet
it is in this conversation that we are allowed to share in one of the most
intimate moments of all of Jesus’ human life. And from this conversation, do we
recognize something quite universal in the scene.
As I was developing my
thoughts on how to approach these characters within our Lord’s Passion, I
needed to really stop and consider not only who these thieves were then, but
who they are now. The thief on the left of Jesus, Gestas, and the thief on the
right of the Cross, Saint Dismas, do not have named rolls in the Gospels given
to us in Sacred Scripture. These names are given to us in the Passion account
of the Gnostic Gospel of Nicodemus. They are also named in the Arabic Infancy
Gospel, an apocryphal work compiled in Sixth-Century Syria, which tells the
story that as Jesus, Mary and Joseph were returning to Nazareth from Egypt,
they encountered two thieves along the way, Dismas and Gestas. Dismas pleads
Gestas to spare the Holy Family’s lives by paying a ransom for them. Gestas
agrees, and allows the Family to be on their way. Before they depart company,
however, a young Jesus prophesies that they – Dismas, Gestas and Jesus – would meet
again when He is crucified, and that they would be crucified along with Him,
one on His right, the other on His left.
While these stories are
interesting to read (though we hold no faith in them), and while it is “fun”
(if I may use that word) to develop an understanding of who these men are that
we encounter so briefly in the Sacred Scriptures, we must come to the
realization that these two thieves reveal to us something that is deeper than a
moment of repentance and mercy while Jesus dies upon the Cross. In their
respective persons, both Dismas and Gestas portray the reality of humanity and
of human society: the human society of Jesus’ day and our day, and the humanity
that we are all called to.
You see, in the two thieves,
one is able to see society’s reaction to Christ, and, in extension, those who
follow Him on the one side, while seeing the follower’s reaction to society
while seeking out the mercy of God on the other side. And while I would like to
take full credit on developing this thought all by myself, as I was doing some
research and reflection into the two thieves, I came across the idea of the
societal / disciple reflection in a small book by Servant of God Archbishop
Fulton J. Sheen, The Cross and the
Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness. Though the good archbishop
primarily focuses on the attitude of Christ showing mercy from the Cross
(focusing upon the second Beatitude), he also mentions how the attitudes of the
thieves reflect modern-day the society that we live in and the humanity to
which we are called.
Gestas, the thief on the left
of our Lord, represents society as we know it. (That includes society in the
days of Jesus, as well as speaking of our current day.) In this thief’s mocking
and taunting of the Lord, we notice how society continues to mock Jesus – in
His message, in His mission, and in His Body – the Church. This is something
that we can look through the pages of history to observe, and yet acknowledge
that it continues to happen through our day.
Society taunts our Lord to
prove He is Who He says He is. Just like Gestas, our modern society wants to
see Jesus come down from the Cross, not understanding that it is the Cross on
which Jesus truly proves He is Who He says He is! It is in society’s view that
the Cross (and all who stand in Its shadow) are completely foolish because we
are being held captive to something that is archaic and out-of-date. Yet, we
who know Christ and who have turned to Him time and again know that the message
and reality of the Cross is not archaic, but eternal – constantly showing us
the depth of God’s love for us. Gestas, and modern society, proves that the
misunderstanding exists of what the message of Jesus REALLY is, which is not
that we use our power to promote what we want to see happen, but that we funnel
the power and talents God has given us through our submission to the will of
God so that we may continue help others to know Christ, so that they may be
able to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
On the other side of Jesus, we
have Saint Dismas. This thief who showed mercy to Jesus was, in turn, showed mercy by Jesus in the Lord’s final moments on the Cross. Dismas gives to
us the great example of how humanity ought to be: rebuking society for the
mockery and taunting it gives to Jesus, while, at the same time, seeking the
mercy of God for the wrongs that we know we have done in our sinfulness – both
individually and collectively.
Yet, there is something more
in this seeking of mercy in the example of this early saint: an intimacy with
Jesus that we can only find on the Cross. If we think back to the conversation
in the Gospel, we notice that Dismas calls upon Jesus by name, asking to be remembered in the Kingdom personally by
Jesus. It is an intimacy that we, in our humanity, should know all too well,
for it is when we are on the Cross with Jesus that we enter into our most
intimate moments with Him. And, in turn, our Lord promises us not only the fact
that He will remember us, but guarantees us that we will be with Him throughout
our struggles to the glory promised by Him. The true intimacy that we search
for all our lives is portrayed right in front of us as we look at our Lord on
the Cross. The same intimacy is felt by those who love Him when we celebrate
the Paschal Mystery: presenting ourselves with Him on Golgotha, and touching
Him like the Doubting Apostle on that first Easter Sunday when we accept those
sublime gifts of bread and wine which are, in all reality, His True Presence:
the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of God Himself.
Something that struck me as
important as we reflect upon the two thieves crucified along with Jesus is
something that we really do not think about on a constant basis, and that is
that they were both facing our Lord. Gestas, while mocking and taunting Jesus,
is facing Him with anger, violence, wrath, envy and antagonism – thinking only
of himself. Dismas faces inward with vexation towards Gestas and his mockery of
Jesus, yet with compassion and a sorrowful heart towards “this man [who] has
done nothing criminal” – thinking of someone other than himself. Archbishop
Sheen has given us a wonderful quote to meditate upon as we think about the
conversation Christ has with the two thieves: “If our heart is filled with the
sand of our ego, how can God fill it with the fire of His Sacred Heart? If
there is no ‘for sale’ sign on the selfishness of our souls, how can God take
possession of them?” The sand of egoism is the quick sand that prohibits us
from truly standing on the Rock of our faith, Who is Jesus, and only the fire
of God’s love can burn it away. The post of the “for sale” sign on our soul
MUST be the Cross, for it is there, and there alone, that God can obtain that
which He purchased for so great a price. No matter which side of the Cross we
happen to be on, we, at some point of our lives, must turn to face the Cross
and Him who is crucified on It.
For those of us who follow
Christ, we never intentionally want to be Gestas, but at times we are,
especially when we fall into the mindset of society. We struggle and strive to
be more like Saint Dismas each day: trying to help society recognize the errors
of its way, and asking our Crucified Lord to remember us from the glory of His
Kingdom. Let’s face it: Throughout our lives, we are going to be one of the two
thieves! But if we are going to be thieves, let’s steal something worth
stealing. Raymond Brown, one of the leading American Scripture Scholars of the
Twentieth Century, noted in an essay about the Passion narrative of Luke: “The
oft-used observation that the ‘good thief’ ultimately stole the Kingdom is not
too far from the truth.” Let’s go after and steal the Kingdom, like Saint
Dismas. Or even better yet!, let us steal the Heart of our God, who has already
stolen ours.
In all things, stolen or not,
thieves or not, guilty or not, we need to face the Cross. We need to be able to
see the ultimate sacrifice made for us so that we can be guaranteed the same
promise that the thief on the right side of Jesus received: “Amen, I say to
you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” It is only by facing the Cross
that we can have a true conversation with our Lord; it is only by facing the
Cross that we can gain the true intimacy that we are searching for.
Let us pray: “The Wise Thief
did You make worthy of Paradise, in a single moment, O Lord. By the wood of
Your Cross, illumine me as well, and save me.” Amen.
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Enjoy the journey . . .
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