Stations of The Cross - Eleventh Station

            Jesus promises the Kingdom to the penitent thief

 

                                    Luke 23:  39-   43

 

          He hangs now, broken and abandoned on the cross

          He slowly lifts his head; words have been said.

          To find more air – pushes down on his rest.

          Two other men – condemned, their lungs appressed,

          Must follow suit, each breath delaying death.

          Through the pain, the voice gasps again:

 

                           “Hey carpenter!

                            I you’re the Messiah,

                            Prove it!

                            Get off the cross

                            And save us.”

 

           Turning his head, he can see the poor wretch,

           Hanging like he, and more afraid to die.

           He discerns the hostility as futility.

           Hi way of coping is through enmity,

           The man must have someone he can vilify,

           In reply, another voice now decries:

 

                    “Leave him alone, can’t you see,

                     He’s not like you and me,

                     Condemned, for our guilt.

                     He’s done nothing wrong,

                     To be treated so ill.

                     Rabbi, remember me,

                     When you come

                     Into your Kingdom”.

 

            He turns, to find the second thief, a man

            About to die yet finding sympathy.

            He knows the thief’s words are said to ease

            His pain. He cannot know his Fathers plan,

            Yet his empathy serves to Glorify,

            What must happen; with this,

            Jesus finds peace. He replies:

 

                       “Truly, I tell you,

                        Today, you will

                        Be with me,

                        In Paradise”.

                        

                  © D G Moody 2023

 

Images  from Wikimedia Commons: Jörn Droemann.