9/24/09 Morning/Lunch

Yesterday in the morning Laura came up to me and asked me about when Jesus was hanging on the cross talking to the thief. She wanted to know if Jesus went to heaven with the thief that day. I told her to ask me about it at lunch because I wanted to get my bible and show her some verses to answer that question.

The verse she was referring to is Luke 23:43. It says, “And Jesus said unto him, ‘Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” When the bible was being translated from Greek it originally did not have punctuation in the Greek form. It is very possible that this verse was mis-punctuated.

I showed Laura the verse she was referring to and also another verse found in John 20:17. Mary had just run up to Jesus after seeing him for the first time on the Sunday of his resurrection. She tried hugging him. “Jesus saith unto her, ‘Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and you Father; and to my God, and your God.

So, if Jesus meant that he would see the thief in heaven on Friday the day of His crucifixion he would have been lying because on Sunday he had not yet risen to his father. Where was he? He was dead. He was dead because he received the penalty of our sins. And when we die it is like we are sleeping. I explained this to Laura.

If we look at John 11:11-14 we can see that Jesus talks of death as sleeping.

“These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”

I then showed Laura Ecclesiastes 9:12. It reads, “For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing.” Hannah then told me that she was worried about talking to her parents about these verses. She is afraid they will be mad.

I will pray for her and I hope that you also will pray for her and her family.