You Will Be With Me (Holy Week Devotional)

“[Jesus] replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

- Luke 23:43

When Jesus died on the cross, he was flanked on either side by two men who had earned their fates. Matthew’s gospel tells us they were thieves, but no other information is given about them. The details of their crimes go unreported, the whereabouts of their families are unknown, and even their names are a mystery. The only reason we are even aware they existed is because they happened to be crucified next to Jesus—otherwise, like most criminals, they would have simply been disposed of by their society and hastily forgotten.

This was part of the humiliation of crucifixion. You would be mocked and flogged, stripped naked and publically nailed to a cross, left to hang there until death—and then you would be forgotten. No prison guard would ever have to bring meals to you, no letter would ever be sent to you, no visitor’s shadow would ever darken the floor of your cell. You had been permanently dealt with, and now society could move on from you and your crimes without ever having to think about you again. Crucifying the worst criminals unto death gave the public tacit permission to forget them entirely.

To one of the thieves at Jesus’s side, it seems that this was the most severe consequence of his crime. For when he spoke to Jesus in those last hours, it was not to taunt him like his fellow criminal did. Nor did he appeal to Jesus out of desperation to miraculously lift him off the cross or call down an army of angels to save him. Rather, his appeal to Jesus was as meaningful as it was simple: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

All that he wanted, all he dared hope for, was for the Lord to remember him. Something, whether the evidence of his eyes or the leading of the Spirit, had led him to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah he claimed to be, that death on a cross would somehow lead to Jesus coming into his kingdom. And though the thief had no illusions about being part of that kingdom, it would be enough to know that, while everyone else forgot about him, the Messiah remembered.

When you are at your most alone, when all others have abandoned you, this may be your prayer as well. You don’t expect God’s help, you don’t think He’ll fix everything for you, you just want Him to remember you. You just want to know that, when everyone else has forgotten you, He has not. That would be a mercy. That would be enough.

But from an abundance of grace, he gives more. To the thief on the cross, Jesus offered more than a memory in his kingdom, he offered him a place in it. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “today you will be with me in Paradise.” When the man wanted only to remain in Jesus’s mind, Jesus promised to remain at his side. When he wanted only remembrance, Jesus promised him presence.

He offers the same to any today who, like the thief on the cross, will cry out and place their trust in him. When others forget you, when friends and family fail, not only does the Lord remember you, He stays with you. No one is too lowly or too far gone; no one is a hopeless case. When you feel most alone, may you lean on the grace of God, knowing that not only does the Lord remember you, He is with you.