Luke 23:42 And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Oh! what wondrous, yea, miraculous faith! How much had it to contend against! 1. Against the circumstances of the ease. Admit that the converted thief had witnessed Jesus' miracles, and had heretofore conceived high notions of our Lord's divinity and power; now when he saw that very Jesus, his Companion in death, nailed to the cross by his side, surely (humanly speaking), it was enough to stagger his faith, and lead him to join in the godless taunts of the godless men around him. 2. His faith had to contend against the voice of the times. For the whole national spirit was against Jesus, crying, "Away with Him, crucify Him." 3. Example was against him. All around him are unbelievers; and we know well how contaminating is the society of unbelievers. And, further, his faith leads him to re prove sin in others: "Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation" — even in the very man who in all probability was his accomplice in crime; for he adds, "We indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds" (Luke 23:41). Well, I think his faith cannot be accounted for upon any principle derived from the nature of the case. What would you think of some politician now-a-days clinging to some favourite scheme of reform, when the spirit of the age was against him, the voice of his fellow-countrymen, his friends, and his neighbours pronounced his cherished scheme Utopian and ridiculous? The man would not be able to withstand all; and very likely he would abandon his project for ever as he finds himself thus alone in his views, or gain for himself the no very enviable appellation of a man of unsound mind. How, then, I ask, can you account for his unflinching faith? Oh! he was taught by God's Holy Spirit, and that Spirit supplies with strength in the hour of need, with comfort in trouble and tribulations. And He only can make us call Jesus "Lord, even the Lord of our salvation." (F. McGlynn, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.WEB: He said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." |
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