A sense of justice is embedded in the human psyche. When financial advisors scam their clients, we generally want punishment beyond simple repayment. The emotional toil on victims feels as if it carries additional value–that’s why courts assign repayments for “emotional distress.” It’s not enough for a perpetrator to regret and fix their poor choices; they must serve as an example–a warning–to suggest others avoid acting in the same selfish or criminal ways. Humanity’s justice includes punishment.
Justice through punishment has a long history. Medieval times were rife with torture devices for enemies of the king. The movie Braveheart famously ends with William Wallace (played by Mel Gibson) being drawn and quartered after being taken captive in battle. In the Bible, we see vicious forms of justice, whether it was the Philistines gouging out the eyes of Samson (Judges 16) or, later Philistines removing the heads of King Saul and his three sons before displaying their mutilated bodies for all to see (1 Samuel 31). These forms are brutal by today’s standards, but they were intentionally gruesome to make an even more violent world think twice before acting.
The Roman Empire had its own form of public punishment–the crucifixion. Reserved for the most severe revolutionaries or criminals, the guilty would have nails driven through their hands and feet to a wooden cross and lifted high for all to see. Hung for hours, their muscles and tendons would tear, and they would have to press their flesh against the nails driven through them to take each breath. Slowly, the strength would fade, and the convicted would suffocate from an inability to draw breath in their lungs. That is one abhorrent, convincing example.
That is the context by which Jesus died for us. A perfect man convicted on behalf of all of our sins, He endured this pain–after brutal beatings and flesh-ripping lashes–for our benefit. However, Jesus was not the only one crucified that day.
Scripture reveals there were two other criminals crucified alongside Jesus. Luke 23 records that one of the criminals mocked Jesus, expecting the “true” Messiah to be able to save Himself. The other, “rebuking him, said, ‘Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our crimes; but this Man has done nothing wrong.’” (Luke 23:40-41, NASB) This criminal acknowledges his own guilt and his due penalty–if you can call such a torturous death as “due”--while still recognizing Jesus’ innocence. Doomed to death, the criminal asks, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42)
Does Jesus rebuke this criminal or tell the criminal it was “too late”? No, “He said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:43) The Roman Empire deemed the criminal an opportunity to show law and order, but Jesus deemed him an example for grace. There was no baptism. The criminal never tithed to a church. He never evangelized. There was only–simply–faith.
The criminal’s faith was new and weak–a last-ditch effort at redemption. His faith was not convinced by apologetics but validated by the example Jesus set on the cross. That meager, infant, perhaps selfish faith was still enough.
How can this be? Doesn’t the Lord take vengeance on his adversaries, making no clear way for the guilty? (Nahum 1:3) Isn’t this the same God that forced the Israelites to wander in the desert for 40 years, who sent vipers among his own rebellious people? How can the same God who loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing (Isaiah 61:8) welcome an admitted criminal by a profession of faith in his last moments? Where is the justice in that?
The Bible has many examples of God extending mercy to seemingly undeserving subjects; the various ways in which an unchanging God reacts to different sinners force us to ponder what the differences are. If sin can beget different responses, what is He really looking for in us?
Micah 6 has one answer: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV) God also speaks through Jeremiah, saying “if in a truthful, just, and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will be blessed.’” (Jeremiah 4:2, NIV) God desires us simply to reject the world’s conventions and recognize Him–especially in His Son, Jesus. The crucified criminal exemplifies this: unable to perform just acts or extend mercy to another, he still had the option to show humility before God. He was saved by it.
True heart change is the core of any authentic conversion. It is important for believers to act justly towards God and others and to show mercy by loving our neighbors as ourselves. However, these characteristics will flow from a humble heart. The heart change is the delineator.
God will receive the ones who, through humility, acknowledge His Son, Jesus Christ, even in the last seconds of life. 1 Samuel confirms, “The Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7, NIV) and if the heart is genuine in its profession of faith, it is enough for God to cover the impending punishment with eternal grace. As a football is heaved at the last moment by a Hail Mary, last-minute confessions occasionally work, too.
Knowing this, do we risk our eternal salvation on our cognitive abilities in our last moments? Or, do we honor a God so enamored with His creation that He will accept a lifelong sinner by one final repentant act? My advice is to welcome Jesus into your heart now and become an example of grace, not punishment, for the rest of your life.
