Letters

Dear Editor:

Re: October editorial (Presumption — dealing with the Thieves on the Cross):

The accounts of Matt 27 and Mark 15 are in perfect harmony concerning the story of the thieves crucified with Christ. Luke 23:32 says that Christ was crucified with two “malefactors.” This is significant because thieves can be malefactors, but a malefactor is not necessarily a thief. In the strongest sense of the word, a male­factor is simply, an evil person. Paraphrasing Luke; Both evil-doers were crucified with him; one evil man on the right, the other evil man on the left. The rest of the Luke agrees with Matthew and Mark.

All three gospels state that everyone at the crucifixion was mocking Jesus. One evil man crucified with him begins to mock him as well; at this point we must pay close attention to the words exchanged between Jesus and the other evil man, and recall that Luke purposely wanted us to understand that Christ was crucified with two evil men, one on either side. Moreover, Matthew and Mark agree that both thieves mocked him. At this point, the other evil man rebukes the first evil man and says, “Don’t you know who this is? This man is a man of God. Don’t you fear God? He is hanging on this cross with us because he’s done nothing wrong.” And then he says the same thing as everyone else, mocking the “supposed” King. “Remember me in thy Kingdom”. I submit that in view of the fact that both malefactors derided Christ it is logical to assume that these remarks were intended also in a mocking fashion!

One further observation regarding Christ’s response to the second thief, namely,“Today you’ll be with me in paradise”; we know that Jesus did not go to heaven that day. He went to the heart of the earth, for three days and three nights, yet he said to the evil man on the cross, “Today.” So we must now recognize that Christ could not have been referring to Heaven by the prior statements he had made. Paradise therefore must have been a reference to a place in the heart of the earth, for the heart of the earth is where Christ was going, “Today.” Thus, the standard Christian teaching on heaven going upon death, which is taken from the Luke dialog between Jesus and the malefactor, cannot in fact be supported after careful consideration of these passages.