“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Memory has never been one of my strong points. The Bible says that God will not forget even one hair of our heads. I cannot even remember all of my hair styles throughout the years, much less remember each and every hair.
If it were up to me to save the entire world, or even those with whom I am acquainted, I am pretty certain that my book of life would have a serious lack of names, and would be more of a listing of traits: Guy with goatee and glasses; Five-ish aged boy with purple shoes; Lady with microphone headed hair.
That last one was a member of a former church that I attended. Her hair was a perfect, huge, black ball on top of her head. Thus, from behind she looked like a microphone. We called her microphone lady. Thus, that is how she would be listed.
All of this is to say that I am not the savior of the world, and you should be thankful for that.
I am not certain that I should even be trusted with choosing our nation’s leaders. At least half of you, if you had the chance, would look at the ballot that I cast recently and agree. But, beyond the vote that I cast recently, I am talking a little more in general.
I usually prefer my leaders to be intelligent, decisive, and powerful, with a distinct sense of justice – giving the criminal no leeway while rewarding the law abiding citizen.
If you were to choose a piece of furniture to represent the type of leader that I tend to lead toward, it would probably look a little like a throne. Sure, I believe in democracy, but I also like my leaders to have the ability to get things done.
Whether or not they have a throne to sit on, there is one thing that I know for certain, the furniture that the leader of my natural inclinations would choose probably would not be a cross.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus’ kingship has something to do with memory and crosses.
Jesus’ type of leadership has to do with remembering even those despicable people who we would rather forget. Memory.
Jesus’ type of leadership has to do with identifying with the lowest of the low in society. The Cross.
Jesus’ leadership looks a lot like an innocent man, nailed to a cross, uttering the words “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing,” over those who would seek to destroy him. It looks a lot like the man who would choose to forgive a criminal who rightly deserved execution on a cross, but, in an act of contrition, says, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
“Love your enemies.” “Love your neighbor as yourself.” “Blessed are the poor.” “Rejoice, for the lost has been found.” “Forgive, even if they sin against you seven times a day.”
These are the values of the king that we have.
They are not the values held by most strong civic leaders for whom we might vote. However, they are the values of a king…and a heaven Father…who does not wish that even one of us would be lost. They are the values of the one who is able to remember every hair on your head. They are the values of the savior we have been given by God.
And, these eternal values are probably a good thing. If we are honest with ourselves (and I am asking you to do that right now), we all have aspects about ourselves that probably should be forgotten and left behind.
All of us have sins that we hope would never come to the surface. All of us have acted out of fear rather than love. All of us have chosen to hate someone and call them an enemy rather than forgive.
All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, as the Apostle Paul says.
There is no one who does good, not even one, declares Psalm 14.
All of us are the criminal, hanging on the cross next to Jesus; every single one of us.
And, if you are sitting there saying to yourself, “Well, that does not describe me,” then you especially are the one hanging there…guilty of making yourself god and violating the first commandment; “You shall have no other gods.”
All of us hang there, guilty as charged, next to the king who seeks a different way. His way is a way of mercy. His way is a way of love. His way is the way that refuses to forget.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
The words pour from our mouths as words of hope. They fall at the foot of the cross as we seek a merciful king. Thankfully, for us, the king who hears our words replies, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
Yes, even you are not forgotten. Jesus does not forget you; not one of you.
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