It has to be one of the most amazing “Jesus encounters” recorded in the gospels. It provides hope for those who appear to be beyond hope . . . it illustrates the degree to which we are saved by grace (totally) and not of anything we can do (nada, zip, zero, double-doughnut holes) . . . it demonstrates the sole focus of the Son of Man to seek and save the lost . . . and it places the prize firmly before us. And all this is done in a two sentence, twenty-two word conversation between two men on the brink of death.

“Then [one of the criminals crucified with Jesus] said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.'” (Luke 23:43)

So . . . what do you think about that? Hover over it for a bit . . . try and take in what just happened there . . . start running through the implications of all that is illustrated through that brief “death-bed” interaction between a sinner and the Savior.

What does it say about grace? It’s not like this hoodlum had been “interested in Christianity for some time” . . . not like he tried to “live by the good book” . . . not like he’d been seeking . . . in fact, both Matthew and Mark record that “even the robbers crucified with Him reviled Him” (Matt. 27:44, Mark 15:32). There this punk was . . . nailed to a tree . . . guilty for crimes he knew he had committed . . . hanging with his buddy on a cross . . . with Jesus in the middle . . . and, at least at first, he joins with the crowd . . . those staring up at the three but focused on Jesus . . . and he adds his voice to their blasphemous mockery . . . “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross! . . . He saved others, Himself He cannot save . . . descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” (Mark 15:29-32)

Imagine it . . . blaspheming Jesus one moment and then, only a couple of hours later, believing Jesus . . . really? Spitting, as it were, upon the Holy Name of Jesus in one breath and then, as he nears his last breath, addressing the Holy One as Lord . . . can it truly happen like that? Yeah . . . it can . . . that’s grace . . . the ushering into Paradise those who do not merit Paradise . . . and none of us merit Paradise.

That the thief went from reviling Jesus to revering Him . . . from attacking Jesus to defending Him . . . from trusting in himself to believing that the middle man on the cross was the Lord . . . and would be coming into a kingdom . . . a life beyond this life . . . and that Lord Jesus might “remember” and have a place for a vile sinner in His kingdom . . . all of it was a sovereign act of grace by the Father, through the Spirit, resulting in the Son winning one last disciple before death . . . one more follower . . . one who would follow Him into Paradise itself. And in that act . . . and through that conversation . . . grace is defined . . . the amount of faith needed is measured . . . the extent of hope is presented.

But as I was taught years ago by a wise preacher, one criminal was saved at that eleventh hour so that none may despair . . . but only one, that none may presume.

Oh, the grace of God . . . able to save the chief of sinners . . . willing to save, even at the last minute, all those who come to Him in faith . . . delighting in saving, even to sharing His Paradise as our inheritance . . . desiring to save, that we might be with Him . . . and have our own face to face “Jesus encounter” . . . and our own conversation . . . “Lord, thank You for a place in Your kingdom . . . to You be all glory . . . amen!”