Have you ever been in a place when you really and truly felt like you needed God to make a miracle? When, perhaps like the thief in our passage, you can’t imagine there’s a way out? How can we hear and answer God’s call when rescue is unimaginable?
First, God’s call penetrates any darkness. Two thieves have been crucified with Jesus. I’m not sure I can think of a bleaker future for someone, than being nailed to a cross. No one gets down from a cross…alive. And yet one of these dying thieves hears Jesus’ prayer, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.” One thief sees Jesus’ response to the sneering of the Pharisees and the mocking of the soldiers, and is touched by it. One thief recognizes both his own failures and Jesus’ goodness. Even in this darkest time, the thief perceives the greatness of Jesus, and understands that Jesus has saving power. God’s call can penetrate even the darkest times.
Second, answering God’s call transforms the heart. Or is it that God transforms the heart, so we can answer His call? During the 1970s, my dad pastored a church in Hollywood, CA. His young adult group had serious issues—a barefoot hippie who had dabbled in magic, a runaway prostitute, and the list went on. What was extraordinary about that group was not what they were when they came, but how they left. The barefoot hippie broke down in tears one night and began a journey with a Lord and Savior crucified and risen for him. And the runaway prostitute finally realized that every time she ran, God had been chasing her. When she stopped and turned to greet the Hound of Heaven, she found that Jesus could take all her fears and fill her with grace instead. And the redeemed hippie and faith-filled prostitute even got married, and are still trying to live godly lives. Why am I telling you this? Because I know that if God can transform the heart of these two, and a convicted thief on a cross, I know he can get ahold of your heart and mine and make them new. The more we answer God’s call, the more clearly we can hear God’s voice. Answering God’s call transforms the heart.
Finally, the way through is God’s way, not necessarily ours. When we face the darkness and we need a miracle, we often want the miracle to come on our terms. We pray, not for God’s will to be done, but for God to do our will. We pray, not according to God’s purpose, but for our own good, our own happiness. Whatever the darkness, God provides a way through, but it may not be our way. The thief did not leave the cross. Jesus died that day. But on that cross, the thief found a savior and had his heart changed. And on that cross, Jesus prayed for forgiveness and offered up His life to God’s way. Sometimes the miracle is that God walks with us in the darkness. Sometimes the miracle is discovering that when we hurt, Jesus shares our pain. God always provides a way for us, and God will walk with us in it.
What about you and me? When rescue seems unimaginable, will we find ourselves scoffing like the self-righteous Pharisees, mocking like the hard-hearted soldiers or cursing like the unrepentant thief? When rescue seems unimaginable do we write God off? When we are feeling lonely, facing the darkness ahead, do we believe the bullies, or do we believe our Lord who made us and died for us? You see, I think we often sell God short. Believing in God is a fine thing, we say to ourselves, but not when things get real. Believing in God is good, but let’s face facts. The fact isthat even when rescue seems unimaginable, God’s call penetrates the darkest, bleakest times, and draws us in and transforms us. When rescue seems unimaginable, God comes in and helps us answer with the same kind of forgiveness and grace our Lord and Master, the crucified King of the Jews, has shown us. The promise is that when we walk according to God’s purposes that God will be at work in and through us. Indeed, when we live and love as Jesus has shown us, the promise is that others will see Christ in us and give God the glory. The promise is that by God’s grace, Christ’s love and the Spirit’s leading, we will become the miracles God has always intended for us to become. Rescue may be unimaginable, but so is the greatness and power of God’s love on the cross.