I am sure you have seen posts on social media that lambast believers as illogical or claim the Bible is full of contradictions. What is the motivation? Did those people posting just discover that we believers have been scandalously misled over hundreds of years? And, therefore, out of their own sense of civic duty, they are telling us for our own good? Yeah… right.

Those attempts at “poking the bear” are so transparent and so amateurish that I have trouble believing the people posting them are close to serious. It is a shame that they waste time trying to find a scandal where there is none and miss the scandal that really matters.

The story of Jesus as told in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John comprises the fundamental textbook we have on His Life. I believe it is all the evidence we need to believe in Him… because that story, His life, was all the evidence the people of His time had.

Whatever humanity has said or done since that time, regarding that subject, is irrelevant.

It is true that His disciples continued His teaching; true that Peter and Paul and John and others wrote letters of instruction to the followers that eventually became the Church; true that that Church has carried that message forward for 20 centuries. But their words can add nothing to or take anything away from the words of Jesus.

Before a reader thinks that I am dismissing the power of the work of the Holy Spirit in those writers and the Church in general, let me say it this way:

God has never established time travel as an instrument of Faith.

And that is utterly important. It is, in fact, a tenet of our faith. As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says: Hebrews 9:27-28 (NASB) And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

We are appointed to die once and then we face the judgment.

There is no chance to go back in time and get a “do over”. If there were such a possibility, Jesus’ once and for all sacrifice would be meaningless. In fact, free will eventually loses meaning in a universe where cyclical travel to the past is possible… the very meaning of the word “decision” becomes meaningless, for a decision without permanent consequences is no decision at all… (it is just an experiment.)

So, why am I talking about time travel?

Assume that the people that came after Jesus, that taught “Christianity” after Jesus, discovered by intellect or revelation new truths about Salvation, truths that were not revealed by Jesus Himself when He walked among us… Wouldn’t that mean that those that came to believe in Jesus after His death and resurrection (including after 2 thousand years of Church History) are different from those who knew Him and believed in Him when He walked this Earth?

Is that possible? Wouldn’t that create different categories of “Salvation”? For, surely, if our Christian “knowledge” has increased with the centuries, we would have to conclude that a believer of the 21^st century believes on a much stronger foundation than those believers of the first century.

But that wouldn’t be fair, would it? Maybe some of the people that died back then, as unbelievers, would have actually believed if they had been presented a stronger case. If that were so, the only fair thing to do would be to go back in time and tell them all what we know today.

I hope that sounds silly. There is no such thing as time travel.

Therefore, every believer, of every century, must stand on equal footing with the very first believers. This is as it must be. After all, Jesus had no favorites. (He was not “a respecter of persons”). He offers eternal life equally to everyone and anyone, regardless of what century you were born in, regardless of where you were born, regardless of who you are … (Could the Son of God, the creator of space, time, and the universe, do any less?)

And this, in the eyes of the world, is a scandal.

The criminal on the cross

Luke proves this idea of the universal reach of Salvation, by citing the extreme case: Remember the two criminals that they crucified with Jesus? At first, both jeered at Him, joining the shouts of the crowd below. But then, things changed:

Luke 23:39-43 Now one of the malefactors who had been hanged spoke insultingly to Him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? Save thyself and us.

But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost *thou* too not fear God, thou that art under the same judgment? and *we* indeed justly, for we receive the just recompense of what we have done; but this [man] has done nothing amiss. And he said to Jesus, Remember me, [Lord,] when thou comest in thy kingdom.

And Jesus said to him, Verily I say to thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

A criminal – a criminal whose crime was severe enough to merit death by crucifixion – a man who as far as we know never followed Jesus, at the last minute meets the Messiah and makes the choice.

Sure, he must have heard about Jesus, like even Herod had. But had he ever had a chance to hear the words of Life from Jesus’ lips? And yet, here, hanging on a cross, facing a long agony and a painful death, somehow, he hears the voice of the Father calling.

John 6:44 No one can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day.

John 10:27-28 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them life eternal; and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand.

The criminal heard.

He heard, and he said, Yes.

This is the prototypical case, the first ever recorded case, of a “death-bed conversion”.

And I bet, as I say it that way, that some readers will stop for a moment and maybe frown at my use of that phrase, with some suspicion.

Isn’t that true? Doesn’t the world mock the concept?

“Sure,” the world says, “when there is no other hope, when there is no help to be had, when you are too weak to make any other choice, then sure, anyone would claim to believe… just in case.”

Really?  But that other criminal on the other cross had exactly that same opportunity, and he just kept cursing to the very end.

So, what is wrong with a death-bed conversion?

What is wrong with realizing at the last moment that many of the choices in my life have been driven by selfishness, guided by the cynical rules of this world, made in the service of the appetites of this body for pleasure, comfort, and power? What is wrong with realizing that – after all that – all I have gained is a withered heart?

If I indeed realize all that, and if the Father’s voice has gotten through and I cling to it, how could it be wrong?

But maybe you don’t think it’s wrong. That there is no “scandal” here. Ok, let me say it this way:

You agree with me that a person that wasted away his life in sin, hurting himself and others, down to the very last minute, and then suddenly asks Jesus for mercy is just as worthy of eternal life as a believer that spent his or her whole life following the Messiah.

Does that thought bother you?

Ok. Imagine this:

What if at the end of days, when we all find ourselves before the King – as He is about to Judge all of humanity (as Jesus portrayed in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46) – what if we look up to that throne and see Jesus as the King and two other people sitting there next to Him  (as Jesus Himself suggested) one on his right and one on his left… and when we squint to see through the unbearable light, we suddenly recognize one of those two people to be… the criminal on that cross?

What would you say?

Does that thought bother you?

What if I told you that it is not the criminal on the cross? What if I tell you that on that other throne is another man… whose name was Adolf Hitler?

Does that thought offend you?

Are you scandalised now? Yes, I am trying to shock you… Because I don’t think we really understand how shocking Jesus’ claims – Jesus’ life – was to the people of His day. We are so used to hearing the story and shaking our heads at those religious leaders that put up that “kangaroo court” to condemn Him; we are so used to feeling only disdain for that crowd that cried out “Crucify him”; telling ourselves that we would never have done that… so used are we to that, that we convince ourselves that we would have had no problem believing Jesus when He said He was God.

As if His teachings have never presented a stone of stumbling in our path…

Luke 20:17-18 (NASB) But Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what is this statement that has been written: ‘A stone which the builders rejected, this has become the chief cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

It seems to me we forget that this is the Jesus that told us the parable of the vineyard workers: where the ones that worked barely an hour at the end of the day got paid just as much as those that labored all day under the heat of the sun. Did that parable never give you pause?

This is the same Jesus that told his disciples in the gospel of Luke:

Luke 17:7-10 But which of you [is there] who, having a bondman (slave) ploughing or shepherding, when he comes in out of the field, will say, Come and lie down immediately to table? But will he not say to him, Prepare what I shall sup on, and gird thyself and serve me that I may eat and drink; and after that *thou* shalt eat and drink? Is he thankful to the bondman because he has done what was ordered? I judge not.

Thus *ye* also, when ye shall have done all things that have been ordered you, say, We are unprofitable bondmen; we have done (only) what it was our duty to do.

Sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it?

Likewise, this is the same Jesus who told that criminal hanging on that cross beside Him (who had even cursed Him barely an hour before), “today you will be with me in Paradise.”

I hope that we all confess that the above passages make us uncomfortable to some degree.

But I think it is the last one, the criminal forgiven, that bothers some of us the most. But why does it bother us? Is it that that criminal on the cross is already in Heaven and we are not? Or are we  bothered by the thought that any awful criminal would ever make it into Heaven? (Maybe even Hitler??)

Really, don’t dismiss the question or the scandal that it elicits. Is God’s arm too short that He cannot deliver even the most vile of sinners? Is that what bothers you? Because if that is it, I just invite you to reconsider the Infinity of God, how much much much higher His goodness, mercy, and justice are than any we could ever conceive.

Or is it something else? Are we really thinking that such a criminal does not deserve to be forgiven? Am I really thinking that I, on the other hand, have earned that forgiveness?

Do you hear the voice…

“But what about all the sacrifices I made to stay on the straight and narrow road, including all the money I gave to charity, including every time I turned the other cheek instead of getting even. Doesn’t that count for anything? Yes, I know I have failed plenty of times… But I worked really hard, gave up so much in this life to follow the Messiah. Doesn’t that count for something? Is this, really, fair?”

I don’t have a comforting answer if that is the voice you are hearing inside you.

Because the Jesus we are talking about is the Son of God, the God who told Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 18:20-32 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

That sounds great, good and fair… But then it continues:

And the wicked, if he turn from all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do judgment and justice, he shall certainly live, he shall not die. None of his transgressions which he hath committed shall be remembered against him; in his righteousness which he hath done shall he live.

Have I any pleasure at all in the death of the wicked? saith the Lord Jehovah; is it not in his turning from his way, that he may live?

Ok, so far so good… there the wicked one repented and made an effort. But wait, we are not done:

And when the righteous turneth from his righteousness and practiseth what is wrong, [and] doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked doeth, shall he live? None of his righteous acts which he hath done shall be remembered: in his unfaithfulness which he hath wrought, and in his sin which he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

What? Yep, you heard right. Do you feel like arguing? So did the Israelites…

And ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear then, house of Israel. Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and practiseth what is wrong, and dieth for it; in his wrong that he hath done shall he die.

And when the wicked turneth from his wickedness which he hath committed, and doeth judgment and justice, he shall keep his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth from all his transgressions which he hath committed, he shall certainly live, he shall not die.

But the house of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Is it not your ways that are unequal? Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Return ye, and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your snare. Cast away from you all your transgressions wherewith ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit: why then will ye die, house of Israel?

For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord Jehovah; therefore turn ye and live.

And that ending is the key: God is telling His people:

‘Stop trying to argue with Me! That is a losing proposition. Instead, spend your time examining your life and making the right choices yourself. Reject sin and reap the reward I offered you all the way back in Deuteronomy: let me give you a new heart. Then you shall live!’

Does this thought offend you?

Assume for a moment it is true, and that that criminal on the cross is one of the two the Father chose to sit next to Jesus (Mark 10:40) at the end of days…

Would that change the choices of your life?

Maybe we can now understand how those religious leaders of the Sanhedrim felt when every assumption they had made about righteousness, and about God’s way, was shattered by this itinerant preacher from Nazareth, with his royal entourage of fishermen, tax collectors, and prostitutes.

Maybe we can now understand how that crowd that cried Hosannah, waved palm branches, and joyfully welcomed their chosen king into Jerusalem, ended up thronging Pilate’s court and crying “Crucify him!”

They came to the crossroads.

(And, believe me, we all will come to the crossroads some day.)

It is at this crossroads, where all our easy assumptions about life are contradicted by the Life of that Man called Jesus. It is at the crossroads that we have to make our choice: Do we trust Him or do we turn away offended at the scandal of it all. That is the choice: it is the choice between Faith and Offense.

This is how we make sense of Jesus’ admonition about duty to His disciples in Luke 17. It seems harsh on first reading. But He gave that answer on purpose, lovingly, in response to their simple request:

 Luke 17:5 Give more faith to us.

You see, Faith is the choice that rejects being offended, that rejects the temptation to judge or second guess the Lord and instead accepts His Perfect Will.