One book I'm currently reading is called "No Wonder They Call Him The Savior" by Max Lucado, a popular Christian author. This book examines the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It reads between the lines of this familiar (for many) Bible story of Jesus's crucifixion and paints a picture for the reader of what many of the instances must have been like, such as witnessing Peter's denial of Jesus or Pilate's hesitancy to sentence Jesus to death.
My favorite chapter in the book so far is on the thief on the cross. In this chapter, Lucado has the reader examine what Jesus was trying to teach us by telling the thief that he would go to heaven when he surely deserved to go to hell. He begins by pointing out that our value systems are so messed up today. Clothes and other material possessions go for top dollar, but the value of humans is at an all-time low, he says. Lucado says that man's value system is based on two criteria: appearance and performance.
He then points the reader to look at God's value system where man has hope and a destiny beyond what this world has to offer. He goes on to say that the lesson Jesus sought to teach us from the thief on the cross was that "a person is worth something simply because he is a person." Throughout the Bible Jesus simply forgives people even when they don't deserve forgiveness.
Lucado's illustration of the conversation between the thief and Jesus goes like this:
Thief: Any chance you could put in a good word for me?
Jesus: Consider it done.
And that was it. Jesus was illustrating once again that his love for us doesn't depend on what we can do for him. We are valuable no matter what. And now to my favorite part of Lucado's point and the end of the chapter where he writes:
"And it also makes me smile to think that there is a grinning ex-con walking the golden streets who knows more about grace than a thousand theologians. No one else would have given him a prayer. But in the end that's all he had. And in the end that's all it took. No wonder they call him the Savior."
That powerful illustration gives me chills. And besides the obviously lesson on grace and the love of God, it's also a good illustration on the grace we bestow on one another. How many times in a day do we become impatient and short tempered with family, co-workers and customer service representatives for minor inconveniences, when Jesus has forgiven us of all our sins? What a wonderful lesson on not only the grace we've received, but also the grace we should give.
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