Jesus, you indiscriminating lover of God’s creation,
What have you done now?
Inviting a criminal into the great wedding feast of Paradise?
A criminal
His own actions condemn him
He received a fair trial
He doesn’t deserve to be among the decent people
His own words say he was guilty
He doesn’t even belong in the world
What have you done now?
Inviting a criminal into the great wedding feast of Paradise?
What kind of God are you? What kind of man?
Jesus, the Condemned-to-Death Christ
Even in the death chamber of Golgotha,
You don’t know your place.
Even in the death chamber of Golgotha,
You don’t know this criminal’s place.
You use death itself to form Your community of faith.
“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
That’s what you told him.
What a spectacle. You, the dying, broken, stained-by-our-sin, condemned God-Man. Able but not willing to step outside the death chamber.
What a spectacle. You and the dying, broken, stained-by-his-own-sin condemned criminal. Unable to do anything but to use his last, dying breaths to trust you. What a joke! What a death house conversion!
Jesus Christ! You indiscrimnating lover of all humans.
Is there anyone you are unwilling to love?
Habakkuk saw it 700 years before. He knew what You were like.
He shouts at all who will hear what You told him then:
Everybody look and watch,
Be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
That you would not believe!
Jesus Christ! You unbelievable God. You unbelievable man.
What kind of God are you? What kind of man?
You brought gifts of God that we did not ask for
Gifts of God we still do not want to receive:
Good news to the poor?
Freedom for the prisoners?
Sight for the blind?
Release for the oppressed?
What kind of Kingdom have you created?
What are we to do with gifts like these?
What about us? What place do we have among the poor, and the
prisoners, and the blind and the oppressed?
And now you announce your royal procession into Paradise?
You and your friend from Golgotha.
What kind of God are you? What kind of man?
Oh poor of the ages, dead to the world but alive in Christ, pray the mercy of Jesus over us.
Oh prisoners of the ages, dead to the world but alive in Christ, pray the mercy of Jesus over us.
Oh blind of the ages, dead to the world but alive in Christ, pray the mercy of Jesus over us.
Oh oppressed of the ages, dead to the world but alive in Christ, pray the mercy of Jesus over us.
Oh Golgothan criminal, dead to the world but alive in Christ, pray the mercy of Jesus over us.
