Daily Readings and Thought for March 31st. “YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE”
What is paradise? It is not a common word in scripture. Jesus uses it in his last message, the book of Revelation, saying, “To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life , which is in the paradise of God.” [Ch. 2 v.7] Primarily it means a park, a garden – and Adam was put out of the first paradise to stop him eating of the tree of life.
There is not the slightest indication that paradise means heaven. John’s Gospel states, “no one has ascended to heaven” [3 v.13]. In today’s 23rd chapter of Luke we read that oft quoted promise of Jesus to the repentant thief beside him on the cross that you “will be with me in paradise” [v.43]. Too many fail to see the point of the request he had made, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom” [v.42].
What a tremendous testimony of the thief’s belief in the future that lay before Jesus. We presume he had been a follower but had gone astray. To the disciples, all seemed lost in what had happened, but not to the thief, suddenly he had a perception of tremendous faith. Surely this was the reason Jesus made the promise, “Truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise” [v.43] You will have noticed that we put the comma after the word “today” – which then makes sense of what Jesus said. There are no commas in the original Greek.
Those who think paradise means heaven ignore what Jesus said to Mary Magdalene when she met him on the resurrection morn, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father” [John 20 v.17] The death of Jesus was real, for 3 days he had ceased to exist! Let us have the faith of the thief on the cross – despite the times in our lives when we have failed in one way or another. Today’s chapter in Proverbs 10 encourages us to think positively, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely” [v.9] “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life” [v.11] “The wise lay up knowledge” [v.14] “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life” [v.17] Our daily reading of God’s word is an essential reminder and re-enforcement of God’s instructions so that we keep on the path to paradise.
