In a little town in northeast France, there is an altarpiece painted by the German artist Matthias Grünewald. The art is his most famous work, over five hundred years old. The painting consists of nine panels with two sets of folding wings. The center portion depicts the crucifixion, and just below is an image of Jesus being laid in the tomb. The most striking part of the painting is Jesus, bruised and bloody.
Jesus’ body is depicted as emaciated, with abscesses visible. A hospital commissioned the painting when the world suffered from the Black Death. Believers in medieval Europe understood that their suffering was the same as Christ’s, and so the depiction of the crucifixion would reflect what they were suffering.
The painting tried to give those in unfathomable torment hope that their condition had been suffered before on the hill of Calvary, and was destroyed only three days later. It reminded them of the love of the one hanging on the cross, who willingly took on their condition as his own. They saw solidarity, compassion, forgiveness, and unending love in this suffering servant. Finally, they were reminded of their suffering; they were not alone.
When you look at an image of the crucified Christ, who do you see? Not the figure who has been sanitized, cleaned up from the ugliness of suffering and death. Does the eye of your soul see the gory sight, a body beaten until flesh and skin mingle into crimson red? A body so numb with pain that it is inconceivable that consciousness can remain? Does the grace of your baptism, when you died with Christ to rise again, enable you to see something more than an image of the Savior?
Can you see an old, wrinkled person in constant bodily pain on the cross? Do you see a person terminally ill? Are there addicts hanging on the cross? Are the poor nailed to the beam? Is it possible that families broken apart by selfishness are hanging up there, too? Countless examples of suffering can be mentioned, caused mainly by sinful people.
We are all too familiar with suffering, but we probably never connected the cross of Christ with our experiences. Suffering is only half of the message; the more important half is not quite so evident. We can thank a common criminal for drawing our attention to it.
Of course, it was the criminal hanging next to Jesus on Good Friday. Some have named the good thief, but the sources are dubious, and the canonical Gospels refrain from naming him. Following the tradition, we will refer to him as only the good thief.
When Jesus died on the cross, St. Luke documents a conversation between the two criminals hanging on each side of Jesus. One of them was dying the way he lived, taking no accountability for his actions and attempting to break the rules of morality and nature. He reviled Jesus by mocking him by saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The man was so blind, even face to face with divinity, he thought Jesus was nothing more than a hoodlum like himself. To be saved from his execution, he could continue his criminal ways. His heart was so hardened that his conversion was nearly impossible.
The coldness of the hardened criminal made the other criminal rebuke him. “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” The good thief confessed his wrongdoing and was ready to accept the death sentence. He was aware that Jesus was not one of his ilk, a man suffering the death sentence without an offense.
After the good thief’s confession, conversion followed. Even before the disciples realized that Jesus would destroy death, this common criminal had the belief and insight to pray for his eternal life. He asked Jesus to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. Then one of the most soothing sayings Jesus ever uttered was, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
When you gaze on the cross on Good Friday, be reminded of this fellow. The good thief saw the pangs of death and sin due to his actions. He also saw something else. He saw the Son of Man hanging next to him and, maybe for the first time in his life, understood the true meaning of love, and Jesus did not disappoint.
For today, you will be with me in Paradise.