"Remember me when you come into your kingdom"
A good thief, a storm, and all the Worsts that we carry around with us
A few months ago, I had a day where I just felt sad and anxious all day. I was worried about some friends of ours going through a tough time, and at the same time all my own hopes and fears piped up all day long to remind me they were still there, hungry for attention.
That night, I made time to sit down and take it all to prayer. I grabbed my Bible, and almost as soon as I sat down the story of Jesus calming the storm came clear-as-day to mind. I read and re-read Mark 4:35-41, asking Jesus to show me what I need to hear from Him that day.
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Mark 4:35-41
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
I am always with the disciples a bit here, at first.
How could Jesus sleep through that? Certainly he would have felt the boat rocking violently, heard the scream of the wind and the shouting of the terrified disciples.
The Worst was in progress, was actually happening. Jesus was with them, and was going to die, too. They were on their way to continue an important mission - how could he not just get up and save himself and them? They knew He could do it, so why wasn’t He doing anything?
And then the thought came to me: What was the Worst thing that could happen, at that moment, in the disciples’ minds?
Death.
Death itself was the still the Worst, to them.
Death meant the thwarting of their plans, the unexpected and unwanted ending to their God-given mission. Their time had been wasted. They would be soon separated from what and Who they held dear. They were already suffering and would soon suffer terribly in the physical process of drowning.
And yet, Jesus asks them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
“Peace! Be still!” He exclaims.
To the wind and the water, and to the disciples.
Sometimes in prayer, I get the feeling that Jesus isn’t quite done speaking to me about the Scripture or idea He wants me to know, that He wants me to spend some time chewing on things and come back again later. That night was one of those instances.
A few days later, I was taking little Joseph on a walk around the block and sneaking in some prayer time. I came back again to the Calming of the Storm, and suddenly the Good Thief - the man hanging on Jesus’ right in Luke 23 - came strongly to mind.
The Good Thief’s words were bolded and shining in my mind: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus was connecting these two situations for me.
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” 40 But the other responded, and rebuking him, said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving [c]what we deserve for our crimes; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Luke 23: 39-43
I realized that the disciples, worried about dying in the storm months earlier, sounded eerily similar to the angry criminal hanging next to the Lord on Good Friday: “Are you not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”
The angry criminal and the disciples still didn’t know Who they were with, still feared Death as the Worst. They didn’t really understand His mission: to defeat death by unfathomable mercy.
The Good Thief, however, knew Who hung next to him.
He believed that if Jesus was choosing to submit himself to the Cross, it must be for a reason. He knew he himself deserved death for his crimes, but the true-man-and-true-God next to Him didn’t.
Humility, hope, and trust were in the Good Thief’s heart.
And the Good Thief knew that Death was no longer the Worst.
Like the disciples back in that boat, and like the angry criminal, we all carry the Worst around with us. And it is many Worsts, when you think about it. And they all feel like Death, to some extent.
What if I get sick? What if I die? What if my loved one dies? What if this person thinks that about me? What if I have to get a job? What if we have to put the kids in school? What if we get pregnant again? What if we lose another baby? What if we have a special needs child? What if we our son or daughter is about to make a decision we know will cause them suffering? What if he cheats on me? What if that person gets elected? What if the Church lets us down? What if my loved ones get a divorce? What if this trip gets canceled? What if my child gets exposed to that? What if I lose that contract? What if another pandemic breaks out?
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Romans 8:35
This verse isn’t just saying something “nice” - that Jesus will love you and be right beside you no matter what you go through in life. That’s true, of course. But it’s deeper than that.
This verse should remind us that nothing can get in the way of the already-completed, ever-present reality of our Redemption.
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we will live we are always being given up to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh…, Knowing that he who raised the Lord will raise us also with Jesus.”
2 Corinthians 4:8–11, 14
Jesus will be hanging next to us when if and when He permits us to suffer on any of those Crosses. He suffers when His loved ones suffer. He’s there. And what keeps Him on that Cross alongside us is Divine Mercy, the truth that our sufferings together in this present time continually overcome Death, and are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed to us.
Remember me when you come into your kingdom.
In times of stress and trouble, there is so much contained in this little prayer.
Thank you, St. Dismas. Can’t wait to meet you one day.
“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
2 Corinthians 1:5
What a powerful and important meditation on suffering. Thank you, Erin.
Thank you for sharing this. I needed to read this