Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Luke 23:33-43 “Luke assumes that the reader knows what a crucifixion is like and thus spares us the details. There are two unique elements in Luke’s telling of Jesus’ death that are both powerful and beautiful. The first is Jesus’ brief prayer: “Abba, forgive them for they know not what they do.” This defining sentence is found only in Luke 23:34, and even some of the most reliable ancient manuscripts omit it. No significant translators have left it out, though, because those who have read Jesus’ other teachings about forgiveness find it entirely congruent with whom Jesus was. The other element found only in Luke was the interchange between Jesus and the two who were crucified beside him. It is here we find the one thief asking Jesus to remember him and Jesus responding with the promise of paradise. What is meant by the promise is unknown. The word used by Jesus is a Persian word meaning “walled garden.” It is a special intimate place to take a loved one. Evangelical theology says that one was saved/forgiven/redeemed/heaven-bound while the other was lost/doomed/condemned/hell-bound. That may be, but it is not the only way to read the text. Jesus never replies negatively to the taunting thief. He does not rebuke him, or scorn him, or warn him of torments to come. All three of the men are enduring hell already. They are being physically tortured to death, condemned, naked, exposed in public. They are cut off from all comforts, from family and friends. They are alone, pinned like butterflies to wood, and left to die in the sun. Jesus doesn’t warn the taunting thief of hell, because all three of them are already there. Jesus does respond to the kind thief’s plea: “Remember me.” I’m not quite sure why we need to take the tender promise to one and make it into a win-lose scenario with God for the other. If the first prayer of Jesus has any meaning at all it was prayed for both thieves, the soldiers, the taunting crowds, the deserting disciples, and you and me as well. Promising one of the men paradise was a gift. The other thief was not condemned; in fact, he was forgiven because he “did not know what he was doing.” The tragedy is that he never knew it. His bitterness, anger and self-justification all closed him off from experiencing the promise of Jesus to us all. It wasn’t so much that he wouldn’t be with Jesus after he died, but that he couldn’t let himself know grace while he lived.”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Luke 23:33-43 “Luke assumes that the reader knows what a crucifixion is like and thus spares us the details. There are two unique elements in Luke’s telling of Jesus’ death that are both powerful and beautiful. The first is Jesus’ brief prayer: “Abba, forgive them for they know not what they do.” This defining sentence is found only in Luke 23:34, and even some of the most reliable ancient manuscripts omit it. No significant translators have left it out, though, because those who have read Jesus’ other teachings about forgiveness find it entirely congruent with whom Jesus was. The other element found only in Luke was the interchange between Jesus and the two who were crucified beside him. It is here we find the one thief asking Jesus to remember him and Jesus responding with the promise of paradise. What is meant by the promise is unknown. The word used by Jesus is a Persian word meaning “walled garden.” It is a special intimate place to take a loved one. Evangelical theology says that one was saved/forgiven/redeemed/heaven-bound while the other was lost/doomed/condemned/hell-bound. That may be, but it is not the only way to read the text. Jesus never replies negatively to the taunting thief. He does not rebuke him, or scorn him, or warn him of torments to come. All three of the men are enduring hell already. They are being physically tortured to death, condemned, naked, exposed in public. They are cut off from all comforts, from family and friends. They are alone, pinned like butterflies to wood, and left to die in the sun. Jesus doesn’t warn the taunting thief of hell, because all three of them are already there. Jesus does respond to the kind thief’s plea: “Remember me.” I’m not quite sure why we need to take the tender promise to one and make it into a win-lose scenario with God for the other. If the first prayer of Jesus has any meaning at all it was prayed for both thieves, the soldiers, the taunting crowds, the deserting disciples, and you and me as well. Promising one of the men paradise was a gift. The other thief was not condemned; in fact, he was forgiven because he “did not know what he was doing.” The tragedy is that he never knew it. His bitterness, anger and self-justification all closed him off from experiencing the promise of Jesus to us all. It wasn’t so much that he wouldn’t be with Jesus after he died, but that he couldn’t let himself know grace while he lived.”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Luke 23:33-43 “Luke assumes that the reader knows what a crucifixion is like and thus spares us the details. There are two unique elements in Luke’s telling of Jesus’ death that are both powerful and beautiful. The first is Jesus’ brief prayer: “Abba, forgive them for they know not what they do.” This defining sentence is found only in Luke 23:34, and even some of the most reliable ancient manuscripts omit it. No significant translators have left it out, though, because those who have read Jesus’ other teachings about forgiveness find it entirely congruent with whom Jesus was.
ReplyDeleteThe other element found only in Luke was the interchange between Jesus and the two who were crucified beside him. It is here we find the one thief asking Jesus to remember him and Jesus responding with the promise of paradise. What is meant by the promise is unknown. The word used by Jesus is a Persian word meaning “walled garden.” It is a special intimate place to take a loved one.
Evangelical theology says that one was saved/forgiven/redeemed/heaven-bound while the other was lost/doomed/condemned/hell-bound. That may be, but it is not the only way to read the text. Jesus never replies negatively to the taunting thief. He does not rebuke him, or scorn him, or warn him of torments to come. All three of the men are enduring hell already. They are being physically tortured to death, condemned, naked, exposed in public. They are cut off from all comforts, from family and friends. They are alone, pinned like butterflies to wood, and left to die in the sun. Jesus doesn’t warn the taunting thief of hell, because all three of them are already there.
Jesus does respond to the kind thief’s plea: “Remember me.” I’m not quite sure why we need to take the tender promise to one and make it into a win-lose scenario with God for the other. If the first prayer of Jesus has any meaning at all it was prayed for both thieves, the soldiers, the taunting crowds, the deserting disciples, and you and me as well. Promising one of the men paradise was a gift. The other thief was not condemned; in fact, he was forgiven because he “did not know what he was doing.” The tragedy is that he never knew it. His bitterness, anger and self-justification all closed him off from experiencing the promise of Jesus to us all. It wasn’t so much that he wouldn’t be with Jesus after he died, but that he couldn’t let himself know grace while he lived.”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says about Luke 23:33-43 “Luke assumes that the reader knows what a crucifixion is like and thus spares us the details. There are two unique elements in Luke’s telling of Jesus’ death that are both powerful and beautiful. The first is Jesus’ brief prayer: “Abba, forgive them for they know not what they do.” This defining sentence is found only in Luke 23:34, and even some of the most reliable ancient manuscripts omit it. No significant translators have left it out, though, because those who have read Jesus’ other teachings about forgiveness find it entirely congruent with whom Jesus was.
ReplyDeleteThe other element found only in Luke was the interchange between Jesus and the two who were crucified beside him. It is here we find the one thief asking Jesus to remember him and Jesus responding with the promise of paradise. What is meant by the promise is unknown. The word used by Jesus is a Persian word meaning “walled garden.” It is a special intimate place to take a loved one.
Evangelical theology says that one was saved/forgiven/redeemed/heaven-bound while the other was lost/doomed/condemned/hell-bound. That may be, but it is not the only way to read the text. Jesus never replies negatively to the taunting thief. He does not rebuke him, or scorn him, or warn him of torments to come. All three of the men are enduring hell already. They are being physically tortured to death, condemned, naked, exposed in public. They are cut off from all comforts, from family and friends. They are alone, pinned like butterflies to wood, and left to die in the sun. Jesus doesn’t warn the taunting thief of hell, because all three of them are already there.
Jesus does respond to the kind thief’s plea: “Remember me.” I’m not quite sure why we need to take the tender promise to one and make it into a win-lose scenario with God for the other. If the first prayer of Jesus has any meaning at all it was prayed for both thieves, the soldiers, the taunting crowds, the deserting disciples, and you and me as well. Promising one of the men paradise was a gift. The other thief was not condemned; in fact, he was forgiven because he “did not know what he was doing.” The tragedy is that he never knew it. His bitterness, anger and self-justification all closed him off from experiencing the promise of Jesus to us all. It wasn’t so much that he wouldn’t be with Jesus after he died, but that he couldn’t let himself know grace while he lived.”