Parson to Person: Jesus, remember me

But the other criminal rebuked him. ?Don?t you fear God,? he said, ?since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.?

Then the criminal said, ?Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.?

Jesus answered him, ?I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.? Luke 23:40-43

Luke?s gospel emphasizes that Jesus is savior of the world. All kinds of people at the periphery of society are included in Jesus? work of saving people from their sin.

In the first two chapters, Luke introduces a couple who are barren (Zechariah and Elizabeth), a poor, young girl who bears a son out of wedlock (Mary and Jesus), low caste shepherds, an elderly man (Simeon) and an elderly woman (Anna).

Luke continues to highlight the people that Jesus meets: lepers, widows, height-challenged, cheating tax collectors (Zaccheus), ethnically diverse people (Samaritans, Simon of Cyrene), murderers, criminals, terrorists, soldiers and religious outsiders (Joseph of Arimathea).

We may want to exclude ourselves, thinking that somehow Jesus cannot save me. Luke?s message is that no one, regardless of what you have done, is beyond Jesus? forgiveness.

The response is simple enough. Recognize our sin. Recognize Jesus? innocence. Ask Jesus to remember me, to save me.

We may be tempted to exclude others. As a child, I still remember singing, ?Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.? Sin has not only blinded us to our own sin. Sin has blinded us to exclude all kinds of people that Jesus labels precious.