{"id":23819,"date":"2016-04-11T14:13:13","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T20:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=23819"},"modified":"2017-04-17T21:57:44","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T01:57:44","slug":"true-mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/true-mercy\/","title":{"rendered":"True Mercy","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jesusthief\"Christ and the Good Thief<\/em>, Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), c. 1566<\/span><\/p>\n

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THERE <\/strong>is so much confusion today as to what “love” and “mercy” and “compassion” mean. So much so that even the Church in many places has lost her clarity,\u00a0the force of truth that at once\u00a0beckons sinners and repels them. This is no more evident than at that moment on Calvary when\u00a0God shares the shame of two thieves…<\/p>\n

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MERCY REVEALED<\/p>\n

One of the two thieves crucified with Jesus mocked Him:<\/p>\n

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\u201cAre you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.\u201d The other [thief], however, rebuking him, said in reply, \u201cHave you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.\u201d Then he said, \u201cJesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.\u201d He replied to him, \u201cAmen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (John 23:39-43)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here we stand in awe, in profound silence\u00a0at what is taking place in this exchange. It is the moment when the Redeemer of mankind begins to apply<\/em> the merits of His passion and death: Jesus, as it were, claims the first sinner<\/em> to Himself. It is the moment when God reveals the purpose of His self-sacrificial love: to bestow mercy upon mankind<\/em>. This is the hour when the heart of God will be rent open and mercy will gush forth like a tidal wave, filling the world like an ocean of unfathomable depth, washing away death and decay and covering over the valleys of dead\u00a0men’s bones. A new world is being born. <\/em><\/p>\n

And yet, in this moment of mercy that brought billions of angels to a standstill, it is to only one <\/em>thief that this divine benevolence is granted: “today you <\/em>will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus did not say, “Today, both of you….\u00a0but “he replied to him,” <\/em>that is, the second thief. Here we see a principle, a\u00a0very simple<\/em>\u00a0principle that has guided the Church’s teaching for 2000 years:<\/p>\n

MERCY PRECEDES REPENTANCE\u2014
FORGIVENESS FOLLOWS REPENTANCE<\/p>\n

Remember these words; cling to them as you would to a life buoy, for the Spiritual Tsunami<\/a><\/em> of deception racing through the world at this time seeks to capsize this truth, which forms the very hull <\/em>of the Barque of Peter.<\/p>\n

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“Mercy precedes repentance”<\/u><\/p>\n

This is the very heart\u00a0of the Gospels, the very thrust of Christ’s message as He walked along the shores of Galilee: I have come looking for you, the lost sheep.<\/em>This is the profound prologue to the Love Story that unfolds in each line of the Gospels.<\/p>\n

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For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.\u00a0(John 3:16-17)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is to say that Love could not wait\u00a0any longer.\u00a0The world became like an adulterous bride,\u00a0but Jesus, like a jealous groom, sought to take his stained and sullied bride back to himself. He did not wait for our repentance; but rather, demonstrating His love for us, stretched out His arms, was pierced for our sins, and rent open His heart\u00a0as if to say: no matter who you are, no matter how blackened your soul by sin, no matter how far you have fallen away or how terribly you have rebelled… I, who am Love itself, loves you. <\/em><\/p>\n

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God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So why, then, did Jesus not extend Paradise to the first thief?<\/p>\n

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“Forgiveness follows repentance”<\/u><\/p>\n

One cannot call the Gospels a true “Love Story” if there are not two<\/em> lovers. The power of this Story lies precisely in the freedom in which God made man, a freedom to love his Creator\u2014or not<\/em>. God becomes man in order to seek out the one who no longer loves Him in order to invite him back into the freedom and happiness of their first embrace… to reconcile. <\/em>And this is why only the second thief is admitted to Paradise: he is the only one of the two who accepts what he clearly sees before him. And what does he accept? First of all, that He is “condemned justly,” that he is a sinner; but also, that Christ is not.<\/p>\n

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Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father. (Matt 10:32)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is clear, of course, that both thieves are well aware, more than we might expect, of Jesus’ mission. The first thief acknowledges, to a degree, Christ as the Messiah; the second thief acknowledges that Jesus is a King\u00a0with a “kingdom.” But why, then, is only the second thief admitted to the Bridal Chamber? Because to acknowledge Jesus before others means to acknowledge both who He is\u00a0and <\/em>who I am, <\/em>namely, a sinner.<\/p>\n

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If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, \u201cWe have not sinned,\u201d we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:9-10)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here, John has painted a beautiful picture of the marital bed of the Cross. Christ, the Groom, seeks to “implant” in His Bride the “word” which has the power to beget eternal life. As Jesus said elsewhere: “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”<\/em> [1]<\/sup><\/a>John 6:63<\/span><\/span>