Paradise
I didn't want it to end this way. I'm sorry, oh so sorry for what I've done, and I deserve the punishment I am getting. I took the life from another man, how can I keep my own?
I glance from side to side, wishing for something, anything at all, to distract me from the torture, the fire in my veins. Just a few blessed moments of relief is all I ask for.
As I look to my left, I see an interesting sight. The man, the one they call King of the Jews, is not moving. There is no crying out in agony, no screams like I have often heard. But I've always heard them from the ground. Always from the ground. For a moment I wonder if he is dead, but no. I can see his shallow breathing.
He looks even worse than I'm sure I do. His hair is matted and bloody, and his back is full of open wounds. It makes me wonder something. If this man is really who he says he is, then why would he lower himself in this way? As a king, these people should be bowing to him, not killing him!
As the nails cut deeper into my flesh, I cry out. Oh why, why can I not become unconscious and end this miserable life of mine? The man, Jesus, raises his head and looks at me.
I can't begin to describe that look he give me. It was more like looking inside me than anything else. I get the feeling that he knows everything that I have ever done. There is disappointment in his eyes, but there is something else too. Love.
All that once, it is just too much for me. "I deserve death!" I cry as tears run down my face. And I am helpless to wipe them away. All at once, I know. This man is who he says he is. No one who had ever looked him in the face could deny that.
The man on the other side of Jesus, my former partner in crime, must have heard my cry, for he says, "Aren't you the Christ?" to Jesus. "Save yourself, and us!"
The tiny part of my brain that can still think clearly is shocked. This is the man who holds my life in his hands. How DARE Jeremiah address him in that tone! Although I don't know the words to use, I feel the need to defend my Lord, and so I say, "Don't you fear God since we are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what we deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong!"
In my heart, I know it to be absolutely true. He is without fault, yet he is undergoing horrific torture. I see that my companion is taken aback, and I smile slightly, though I am inwardly screaming with pain.
There is just one thing I need to say to Jesus.
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
I muster the last of my strength to turn towards Jesus. He is gazing at me with his all-seeing eyes.
I close my own eyes, as the world is spinning faster now. The pain is too much to stand, and it is much harder to breathe suddenly.
Slowly, my mind dims and the world turns to black. As I feel myself floating away into a white void, his voice meets my ears.
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise…."
When I open my eyes, all I can see if light. I turn, and Jesus is there, standing beside me. There is a tear trickling down my cheek, and He brushes is away with gentleness unlike any I have ever known.
"There is no place in Heaven for sadness. Come, walk with me!"
He takes my suddenly small hand in his own, and we start off, though I do not know our destination. As we pass fruit trees, angels, and the River of Life, one word keeps coming back to me.
Home.