A CROOK AT THE CROSS
Luke 23:43 “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
Title: “Crook at the Cross”
1. Jesus talks about heaven in Matthew 13 utilizing 7 different scenarios.
a. Matt. 13:24 – Wheat and Tares – grow together
b. Matt. 13:31 – Mustard Seed – least of seeds, greatest of herbs, tree/birds
c. Matt. 13:33 – Leaven – in meal and whole loaf
d. Matt. 13:44 – Treasurer – hid in field, is found, and buys field
e. Matt. 13:45 – Pearl – seek goodly pearl, finds, and buys it
f. Matt. 13:47 – Net – gathers every kind
g. Matt. 13:51 – Householder – brings forth old and new treasures
There is an ultimate irony that he is being crucified between two malefactors…….Let’s break down that word Malefactor.
a. Fact – something with real demonstrable existence, truth
b. The ultimate fact for a Christian is the will, the way, and the word of God
c. Factor – is one therefore who does the will, walks in the way and lives by the word of God
d. Benefactor – is one who is so blessed for doing the will, walking in the way, and living by the word of God that their cup runs over and they bless others.
e. Malefactor – therefore is one who does not do the will of God, neither walks in the way of God, nor follows the word of God.
f. Jesus would say it is one who would place his hand upon the plow and look back. That person is not fit for the Kingdom of God. Such a person would be considered a sinner….a transgressor of the law….a crook!
I have been blessed in my life to have interacted with some of the great theological minds of this day. I have been blessed to attend some of the fine theological institutions. But my true Christian learning has not been from the halls of the academy, nor from the feet of those who teach theology. My true Christian learning has come from persons who never went to the schools of higher learning, but to the school of hard knocks. They taught me something very meaningful. Not theology, but kneeology. How to get on your bended knee and get a pray through. How to have a little talk with Jesus and tell him all about my troubles. He will hear your faintest cry and he will answer by and by.
It was the kneelologists who revolutionized my understanding and reading of Scripture. They told me that you have to make the Bible your own. They told me that when you read scripture remember to read it from the perspective that if you don’t see a name. Put your name in there.
Therefore, since we don’t see a name associated with these two malefactors….put your name there. Jesus was crucified between Talbert and Amos….between Miles and Willard…..between Timothy and Everett…..put your name in there. The characteristics of a malefactor, sometime is like you and me….because we sometimes don’t do the will of God,
We sometimes don’t walk in the way of God….we sometimes don’t live by the word of God.
In other words, don’t look so harshly at these malefactors, because if the truth is told, any one of us could easily be a Crook at the Cross.
You see we as humans birth children into the world but our society creates crooks. Our children are not born crooks…crookss are made and not born. This is good news for somebody who has a proclivity for ghettoistic conduct (just made that word up!). Crookish behavior is not the natural state of your soul. But a template…a frame, a paradigm designed to keep you living below your destiny. Short of your potential..substandard living and disenfranchised dreams is what crooking is all about.
Now please, I know some of you are thinking “Pastor Swan I know you’re not talking about me…you’re talking about my cousin, you’re talking about pookie nim but not about me. But I’m asking you to shake off your bourgeois paradigms for a minute and realize that all of us have some crook proclivities..ghetto tendencies and countrified activities. This is a derivative of country and ghetto. I make this declaration so we can enter into this text honestly, clearly and without a false veneer of religiosity, which strangles our ability to see through the Holy Spirit that God is always using crooks to do God’s work.
Let me break it down so you understand what I am trying to say…there was a crook named Noah, who was drinking too much gin and juice and got drunk on the eve of reconstruction. There was a crook I know…actually he was a pimp named Abraham who pimped his own wife…anytime you go into a strange land and lie and say this aint my wife …this is my sister and yall can have her and do what you want with her…it sounds like pimpin’ to me! There was a crook named Jacob…Jacob was a hustler who stole his brothers birthright…there’s a crook I know by the name of Moses…if you got Moses mad he would give you the royal BEAT DOWN but God said I wanna use him to liberate my people. There’s a crook and a player I know by the name of Samson..who went to the wrong barbershop and lost his strength. And what about that crook…the baller…shot caller named David. If there ever was a crook..it was David..pimpin Uriah’s wife…having the man killed..but God said David was a man after His own heart. God uses thugs!
Please don’t try to look at me funny right now bcuz there’s some crook in you! If the wrong person crosses you..says the wrong thing to you..all of a sudden the CROOK comes out of you right in the middle of the worship experience. Don’t look at me funny…just sit in your seat ..see what’ll happen…the crook will rise up in you. EVERYBODY has a little bit of crook in them.
TEXT
We see in this text that Jesus is on the cross being lynched between two crookss. The moment of execution the moment of murder, Jesus the son of God is hanging out with crooks. He’s hanging out with people who have the same position but have a different mission. People looking at Jesus and these crooks assume that because of their condition, they have the same conclusion. But I’m here to let you know that you cannot determine my conclusion by looking at my present condition. My condition is just an outward manifestation of what is happening in my life. You’ve got to get in touch with my internal and eternal connection to understand where my conclusion is going to be. I’m here to let you know that you may be going through a condition right now..but this condition is not your conclusion. We serve a God that is not rattled by your outward condition but is looking at your inward reality. If your internal reality is connected to an eternal God you don’t have to worry about your external condition.
You see God can work through your condition and bring you to a new conclusion. So even if people are hatin’ on you and they say you’re about to die..I’m here to tell you that God doesn’t care about the condition..God is the one who closes the chapter and will give you a new conclusion. Is there anybody here today that can testify that somebody said you weren’t gonna make it…you weren’t gonna graduate..you’re gonna lose you mind if I walk out on you, you won’t be able to pay your bills..but look at you now baby. In spite of it all you made it! Do I have a testimony that my condition did not dictate my conclusion?!
YOU HAVE VALUE
So we see Jesus on the cross here..and yet he’s in the same position as the two crooks but he has a different mission. You see people will try to label you bcuz you live in the same neighborhood as they do or you work on the same job as they do or you drive the same kinda car as they do. They assume that you’re just like them. But you’re not just like them. Just because your condition is like theirs doesn’t mean your destiny is the same. Let me see if I can break it down for you…. If you take a hundred dollar bill and you do this to it…it’s still a hundred dollars. If you ball it up and throw it on the floor it’s still 100 dollars. If you crumple it it up or spill koolaid on it …it’s still has the value of 100 dollars.
In other words…no matter what you do to it…it’s value remains the same. Whether its wrinkled or folded it still has the same value. No matter what you’ve been through, you still have value! God imprinted something on you. Nobody can take it away from you. You still have value. But if you ever go to the bank and you see a conversation between a 100 dollar bill and a 1 dollar bill …the dollar bill will say I’m just like you, We’re both green, we both have the same ink…we have the same paper …I’m just like you! But the 100 dollar bill will say, I’ve got a different value than you. You will never see a 100 dollar bill in the bank trying to jump up in the dollar bill drawer. You see 100 dollars like to hang out with other 100 dollar bills but 1 dollar bills will try to hang out with 100 dollar bills. I’m here to ask you today…If God gave you value, what are you doing hanging out with dollar bill folks in the first place? Sisters, if you’re a hundred dollar sister…stop hanging with one dollar brothers. Brothers…if you have value..stop hanging with one dollar sisters. You’ve got value! I don’t care if they take permanent marker and put zeroes next to the 1, they’re still worth a dollar. You have value and you need to know that you are beautifully and wonderfully made!
THE TWO ATTITUDES
If you look closely at these Crooks two distinct attitudes emerges
Crook of rebellion – One of them says, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
i. The rebellious attitude is one that is selfish. It seeks to organize the resources of this world for one’s own exclusive benefit. It doesn’t care about equal distribution. It is an attitude that says it’s my way or the highway. It’s an attitude that is resident throughout the world that forces persons to abandon their way of living, learning, and loving to conform to their style. And if they don’t will use their military might to force conformity. This rebellious attitude affects nations, states, cities, organizations,and individuals. It’s the attitude that says I’m number one.
The other attitude is Crook of repentance – It says, Do you not fear God. We have indeed received justly for our deeds. Will you remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom?
The repentant attitude is that that is self-sacrificial. It realizes that only what you do for Christ will last. It realizes that for as much as you have done it unto the least of these you do it unto Christ. It realizes that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” [John 15:13]
The repentant attitude will “Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” [Romans 10:9]
Scripture records the story of Jezebel. She lived her life as a testimony to hedonism and selfishness. She sought to destroy the Man of God. She defiled the things of God. She stole from others to enrich herself. She was truly evil incarnate. But the Book of Revelation 2: 21 states, that her greatest sin was that God gave her space to repent; and she repented not.
Jesus says in Luke 15:7 when he shares the parable of the lost sheep. The Shepherd has 100 sheep and he loses one. He leaves the ninety nine and goes after the one that is lost. When he finds it He says for the people to rejoice with him, because he has found the sheep that is lost. “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.”
There was a Crook with an attitude of rebellion.
There was a Crook with an attitude of repentance.
But, I’m so glad there was a Christ who is our redemption.
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed.
Christ the redeemer says, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
TODAY
One of the things that turns people off about religion is talk about the great by and by. Talk about treasure that is in store for you in heaven. Some would even say that religion is the Opium of the Masses, because it focuses so much attention on the other world. Theologians call that eschatology. That’s a futuristic view. Many theologians subscribe to that view. Another view is that eschatological talk is symbolic. That’s the view of Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebur that would suggest that eschatology should not be taken literally, but symbolically.
But I subscribe to the understanding that when Jesus speaks and says Today. That’s realized eschatology. When Jesus says today. He means today. When Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It’s here. Jesus speaks to us in a theological dimension that is called the already/not yet.
When Jesus says to the malefactor that Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. When he says to the Crook at the Cross that Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He is speaking to each one of us.
And what he is saying to us is that no life is beyond the love of God. If I am willing to make room for the Crook at the Cross, there is plenty good room for you in my Father’s house.
CROOK IN HEAVEN
I don’t know who else is in Heaven, but I know there is a crook in Glory!
This day you will be with me in paradise. Jesus didn’t ask if the crook spoke in tongues. He didn’t ask if he’d been baptized. He didn’t ask if he know the Pentateuch. He didn’t ask what church he went to. He didn’t ask if he was divorced…if he was rich, if he was poor, if he was Democrat or if he was Republican. He just said…this day you will be with me in Paradise!
As I close let me tell you that I don’t know if Adam is in Paradise. I don’t know if Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samson, Deborah, Jepthae, David, Solomon, Amos, Ezekiel, Peter, Augustine, Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Harriet Tubman is in Paradise.
But I know…there’s a CROOK in Heaven! Heaven is a place for people who’ve been broken…people who’ve been hurt…people who’ve been forgotten….I thank God that Heaven is a place for crooks like me and you.
CONCLUSION
Let me close with this story. A story is told of a bus making a trip to the Pearly Gates of Heaven. New angel wants to turn bus away because of passengers. Gabriel comes…
And their bus driver is Jesus and Jesus says Heaven is open to whosoever will: “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not die” “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” “whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.’
That’s why the Crook at the Cross let us know there is room for you and for me. Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.
At the Cross At the Cross where I first saw the light and the burdens of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day.
Was it for crimes that I have done, He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! Grace unknown! And love beyond degree!
At the Cross, At the Cross where I first saw the light …
The Crook at the Cross lets us know that no life is beyond the love of God.
