# day two: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."

An episode of [AfterMass](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1823710125), 31 Mar 2026, 5:08.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO9733809566.mp3

Day 2 of 7, breaking down the final words of Jesus on the cross as we walk through Holy Week leading up to Easter.

## Transcript

[0:00] Truly, I tell you today you will be with me in paradise.
[0:05] If you stay at the cross long enough, you begin to notice that
[0:07] Jesus isn't the only one suffering there.
[0:10] And that detail is so important because most people don't
[0:13] realize that it changes how you read what happens next.
[0:16] There are two men beside him, one on each side, and they're
[0:19] not just background characters or small additions to the scene.
[0:23] They're close enough to hear everything, close enough to
[0:25] watch how Jesus responds, and close enough to speak into the
[0:29] same moment of suffering that he's in.
[0:31] Both of them are in the same physical condition, both have
[0:33] been condemned and nailed to the cross, and both are approaching
[0:37] the end of their lives with nothing left to fall back on.
[0:40] Which means that from the outside, there's almost no
[0:43] difference between them. And yet, what unfolds between
[0:46] them couldn't have been more different.
[0:48] At some point, in the middle of everything that's happening,
[0:50] with the crowd still lingering and people moving in and out of
[0:53] the scene, one of them begins to speak.
[0:55] And what he says sounds familiar because it echoes the same tone
[0:59] that has followed Jesus throughout his entire ministry.
[1:02] If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.
[1:05] This could almost pass as desperation.
[1:07] But if you listen closely, there's something else
[1:09] underneath it, something that sounds more like a demand than
[1:12] trust, because it's still rooted in the idea that Jesus should
[1:15] prove himself on their terms. If you are who you say you are,
[1:19] then do something about the situation.
[1:21] Take yourself down, and while you're at it, take us down too.
[1:25] It's a request that's centered on escape, not surrender.
[1:28] But then the other man speaks, and everything about his
[1:31] response feels different. Not louder, but grounded in a
[1:34] kind of clarity that stands out In the middle of all that noise.
[1:38] He turns to the first man beside him and says, Do you not fear
[1:41] God since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
[1:44] And then, without softening or trying to make it easier to say,
[1:48] he admits something that most of us spend their lives avoiding.
[1:52] We are receiving the due reward of our deeds.
[1:55] There is no excuse in that statement, no attempt to explain
[1:57] himself, no shifting of the responsibility or effort to make
[2:01] his situation sound better than it is.
[2:03] Just a direct acknowledge that he is where he is because of
[2:07] what he's done. And then he turns to Jesus.
[2:10] But this man has done nothing wrong.
[2:13] A simple sentence, but in that moment it cuts through
[2:16] everything else that's being said about Jesus.
[2:18] Because while the crowd is confused and the leaders are
[2:21] accusing, the soldiers are simply carrying out their
[2:23] orders. This man recognizes something
[2:26] true. He may not understand
[2:28] everything. He may not be able to explain
[2:30] who Jesus is in full, but he sees enough to know that Jesus
[2:34] doesn't belong there. And then he says something that
[2:36] at first glance feels almost too small for the moment.
[2:40] But the more we sit with it, the more we can realize how much it
[2:42] actually holds. Jesus, Remember Me when you come
[2:46] into your Kingdom. He doesn't ask to be taken down
[2:48] from the cross. He doesn't ask for the pain to
[2:50] stop. And he doesn't try to bargain or
[2:52] negotiate, which is what makes this request so striking,
[2:56] because he's not asking for a change in his circumstances.
[2:59] He's placing himself as he is into the hands of someone else.
[3:04] He is about to die, and he has no time to fix anything, no way
[3:07] to go back or undo what he's done, no future where he can
[3:10] prove that he would have lived differently.
[3:13] And yet, in that moment, he still turns toward Jesus and
[3:16] entrusts himself to him in the only way that he can.
[3:19] And Jesus responds immediately. Today you will be with me in
[3:23] paradise. There's no delay in his response
[3:25] and no condition attached to it. There's no requirement that he
[3:29] prove anything further, because what has already happened in
[3:31] that moment is proof enough. The man has seen himself
[3:35] truthfully, he has recognized Jesus rightly, and he's turned
[3:39] toward him without trying to control the outcome.
[3:41] And that's enough, because mercy meets him exactly where he is,
[3:45] even at the very end, without hesitation.
[3:48] If you stay in the scene long enough, you begin to realize
[3:50] that both men were given the same closeness to Jesus.
[3:53] Both could hear him and could see him, and both were living
[3:56] their final moments in the same physical proximity.
[3:59] And yet that proximity didn't automatically change either of
[4:02] them. One remains fixed in his demand,
[4:05] still trying to force a certain kind of response out of Jesus,
[4:08] while the other one allows himself to see clearly and
[4:10] entrust himself, however simply, into Jesus hands.
[4:14] And that's what makes this moment feel less like a distant
[4:17] story and more like something that carries forward.
[4:20] Because it's not just about the two men on the crosses.
[4:22] It's about the reality that being near Jesus and hearing him
[4:26] and even witnessing him doesn't override the freedom of the
[4:29] human heart. One turns inward and resists,
[4:33] the other turns toward him, and Jesus responds to that turning,
[4:37] even though it's late, even though it's quiet, and even
[4:40] though it's all the man has left to offer.
[4:42] Today you will be with me in paradise.
[4:44] That changes the way you understand mercy, because it's
[4:47] not something that waits for everything to be resolved first,
[4:50] and it's not something that only applies to the people who have
[4:53] time to make things right. It meets a person where they are
[4:57] in the truth of their situation, and it responds to a heart that
[5:00] finally stops resisting and begins to trust itself, even if
[5:04] that entrustment is small and comes at the very end.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.