And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”  The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”  There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”  One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”  But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

“If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.”  It wasn’t bad enough what Jesus was going through, he had to hear that.  I wonder if it ever crossed his mind, in the form of a temptation, as in the desert.  He probably simply took it into himself as part of his suffering.

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”  Given as pure gift, pure mercy, simply because it was asked for.  How he must grieve today because people no longer even ask for this, his most fundamental and greatest gift – the mercy held out to us through his cross.  Free for the asking, for those who believe in him.