And how immediate is the forgiveness of Jesus!  “...today you will be with me…” (NRSV, Luke 23:43, our emphasis).  And when the Good Thief heard those words he knew with certainty that he was forgiven and all would be well.

And the result – life with Our Blessed Lord, “you will be with me”.  Until he gained forgiveness by his faith and penitence, the dying robber had been far removed from Jesus.  Though only a few feet separated the crosses, yet his unrepented sins formed a vast gulf cutting him off from all fellowship with his Saviour.

For forgiveness is not the end of the Christian life, but its first beginning, when one enters into fellowship with Our Blessed Lord, and in that fellowship begins to change, in spite of many falls and failures, into his likeness.  And as faith and penitence are necessary for life with Christ here, so are they the double gates leading to life with him hereafter – “Today you will be with me in Paradise”.

This second word from the Cross following the first – the prayer for forgiveness – brought a welcome joy to the breaking heart of Jesus, and peace and new-found happiness to the dying penitent.

But it does not rest there.  Jesus still speaks those words to the penitent soul today.  If we are truly penitent, he gives us, even now, the nearness of his life and presence for us to share: “Today – you shall be – with me”.

Reference

1. King, E. (Bishop of Lincoln, died 1910) Meditations on the Seven Last Words of Our Lord.