One of the criminals...kept deriding him...but the other rebuked him, saying: "Do you not fear
God?" Luke 23:39-40.
Two equally guilty criminals, but different as day and night. What's the difference? The
believing criminal says it's "fearing God." One does, one doesn't. But what does that mean?
The un-fearing thief thinks his big problem is with the authorities who caught him and the justice
system now executing him. All he really needs is to get off that cross. Perhaps he doubts that
there is a God at all, or that God knows he's innocent. Either way: with God there's nothing to
fear. No problem.
"Not so," cries the believing thief. The "big" courtroom where nobody ever stands 100%
innocent is God's courtroom. To "fear God" is to fess up to the truth of our own lives. We do not
fear, love and trust in God above all things.
Yet fearing God is not the last word. The believing thief follows his fear word with a plea for
mercy to the innocent one on the middle cross. To this guilty God-fearer, now a Christ-truster,
Jesus offers acceptance. Remarkable!
When we are linked to the Man in the Middle, our case in God's court is already decided. Not
that we're declared innocent. No, we're guilty as charged, and nevertheless forgiven. How so?
Jesus enters our case, stands in for us before The Judge. He takes our sentence too, our place on
the cross. In Christ our court date with God -- that's judgment day -- is already behind us. Call it
Paradise. Today already! Incredible? No. It's worth believing. He said so.
Prayer: Renew our hearts, God, to redeem our fears. Nothing in the world is worth fearing, you
say, but You alone. Then in your Son you surprise us with his cheering words "Fear not." Let
faith in this surprise replace our fear of anything--even you. Amen.
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