Luke 23:39-43 – 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

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In eternity, I would love to be able to talk to this criminal whom Jesus assured would be with him in paradise. He lived a life as a criminal yet experienced salvation within hours of death. Right until the end, Jesus loved people intensely. He didn’t dwell on the pain or the betrayal he was experiencing. He cared for the soul of the person who, frankly, probably didn’t deserve forgiveness.

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Re-enact this part of the story. If you are by yourself, play multiple parts. If you are with someone else, take up different parts (Jesus, criminals, crowd, soldiers). What will you say? How will you act? Will your scene be sad? Tense? Dramatic?

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Station 12