Scripture Daily

Context No. 3140 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 23:43-49: in context

43Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 44It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. 45The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last. 47When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” 48All the multitudes that came together to see this, when they saw the things that were done, returned home beating their chests. 49All his acquaintances and the women who followed with him from Galilee stood at a distance, watching these things.

To the dying criminal beside him, Jesus says, today you will be with me in Paradise. Then darkness covers the land, the temple veil is torn in two, and Jesus cries out, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, and breathes his last. The centurion, watching, glorifies God: certainly this was a righteous man. And the crowds go home beating their chests.

In his final moments Jesus does two things that reveal everything. He promises Paradise to a criminal who simply turned to him, salvation given freely at the last hour to one with nothing to offer but faith. And he dies with words of trust, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit, not despair, but confident surrender to the Father. The torn veil shows the way into God's presence now opened by his death; the centurion's confession shows even a pagan soldier drawn to the truth. At the cross, mercy for the guilty, trust in the Father, and access to God all converge.

Do I entrust my life, and my death, into the Father's hands as Jesus did, and do I marvel that Paradise is promised even to the thief who simply turns to him?

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