"You Will Be With Me"

Scripture: Luke 23: 41-43
"We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong."  Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."  Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

Observations:
Can you imagine what life has been like for this guy?  He's admittedly a criminal.  I wish we knew his back story but we can imagine that he's had it rough.  He's probably had to fight for everything he's ever gotten.  And he's probably had to keep a lot of secrets in his lifetime.  And here he's come to the end of his life with the shame of all those secrets just spilling out all over the place as he's now a public spectacle.  But even though his crucifixion is very public… and he's surrounded by a crowd… I'm sure this is the loneliest he's ever felt.  Not that he hasn't been lonely before.  His whole life has been so lonely.  But this is his all-time low.

And now think about Jesus.  For all of eternity, He's been in perfect communion with God.  Never once has He ever walked alone during his time on this lonely earth.  In fact, up until now, He's only ever experienced loneliness in empathy for others.

But in the midst of his loneliness, the criminal looks over at Jesus and see's a flash of hope.  His low opinion of himself keeps him from asking too much so he makes a meager request, "Will you please just remember me?"

And Jesus' answer is radical and completely unexpected, "You will be with me."
"You won't be alone anymore."
"I know how alone you've felt.  But that's over now."
"I'm taking your place."

And then it goes dark because Jesus takes on the sin of the world… my sin.  God has to turn his head away, and for the first and only time in all of eternity, Jesus experiences the most abysmal loneliness.

Application:
And that's the last time in all of history that anyone ever really had to be alone.  Because of what Jesus did at that moment, God can say to us, "You will be with me."

What does that mean for me?  It means any time that I've ever felt lonely, that feeling was a lie from the enemy because God has never once let me walk alone.  When I feel lonely, I can take a cue from this criminal and squeak out my request, "Remember me, Lord."  Or I can boldly claim, "You are with me always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20.)

Either way, His response is the same: "You will be with me!"

Prayer:
Wow, God!  I'm amazed at how much you love me!  Thank you for this reminder of that this morning and for this fresh perspective on the old, old story.  Your love is amazing!  Thank you for Jesus and that I never have to walk alone.  In HIS NAME!  Amen!

Confident in this…
Miranda