Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Last Sunday of the Church Year

Giambattista Tiepolo, The Crucifixion

And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:27–43)

The superscription is written and placed above, not below the cross, because the government is upon His shoulders. What is this government if not His eternal power and Godhead? When asked, “Who are you?” He replied, “The beginning, who also speaks to you.” Let us read this superscription. “Jesus of Nazareth,” it says, “The King of the Jews.” The superscription is fittingly above the cross because Christ's kingdom does not belong to His human body but to His divine authority. The superscription is fittingly above the cross, because although the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He shines above the cross with the majesty of a king.

Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 10.112

Let us see, then, why one who is guilty of such misdeeds is so quickly promised paradise by the Savior while others with their many tears and frequent fasting only barely obtain the remission of their sins. The reason why, brethren, is significant and many-faceted. In the first place, this thief was so quickly converted by the fervor of his faith that he despised present suffering and prayed for future pardon, and he believed that it would be more beneficial to him to make a request with respect to eternal judgment than to petition concerning temporal punishment. For, remembering his misdeeds and acting penitently, he began to be anxious for what he hoped rather than to feel what he suffered. For, once believing in Christ, he would have been quite able to petition concerning present punishment, except that he had given more thought to the future. And then it is more meritorious from the point of view of grace that he believed in Christ the Lord on the cross; and the suffering, which constitutes a stumbling block for others, served to increase his faith. For the suffering of the cross was a stumbling block to many, as the Apostle says: But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block indeed to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

Rightly, then, does he merit paradise who considered the cross of Christ to be not a stumbling block but power, for the same Apostle says: to those Jews who have been called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Rightly indeed does the Lord also give paradise to him because on the gibbet of the cross he confesses the one whom Judas Iscariot had sold in the garden. This is a remarkable thing: the thief confesses the One whom the disciple denied. This is a remarkable thing, I say: the thief honors the One who suffers, while Judas betrayed the One who kissed him. Flattering words of peace are peddled by the one and the wounds of the cross are preached by the other, for he says: Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom.

Maximus of Turin, Sermon 74: On the Thief 1–2