“Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

These were Jesus’ words to one of the two thieves crucified with him who has become known as the “Good Thief.”  The other thief had reviled Jesus, challenging him that if he were the Christ to save himself and them.   The good thief rebuked him, and then said, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Tradition tells us that the good thief’s name was Dismis.   

Jesus makes the amazing promise to Dismis that he would be with Jesus in paradise that very day.  Jesus  made this promise to no one else.    

We should take comfort in this story because it demonstrates the extraordinary mercy of God working through Jesus.  Dismis was a convicted murderer, but he witnessed the injustice of Jesus’ crucifixion and in contrast to the other thief, was persuaded that Jesus was truly the Son of God and wanted to follow him at this late moment in his life. 

A similar story played out in real life with a friend of mine, John, who was a county prosecutor in Duluth, Minnesota.  One of his early cases involved a high school friend named Jim.  Over the next twenty-six years, John would prosecute Jim a dozen times on theft-related charges to support a chemical dependency.  In the last prosecution of Jim, it was determined that he was terminally ill with sclerosis of the liver.  The judge assigned him to a hospice outside of prison.

Over the next six months, John visited Jim two or three times a week at the hospice facility.  They reminisced about growing up in the 1950s and talked about their favorite baseball teams.  They also started reading the bible together.  That fall, Jim repented of his sins and surrendered his life to Jesus Christ.  He died in late November. 

John says, “Over the last six months I frequently called Jim ‘brother’ because we were brothers in Christ.  Jim loved reading and praying the psalms.  God used Jim to teach me about acceptance of suffering and perseverance.  He showed me it’s never too late to say yes to the Lord, no matter what we have done in the past.  I know he is in paradise today – just like another thief who died on the cross next to Jesus.” 

Is there anything we should repent of during this Holy Week?