It's Too Late for Me

 

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? 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 justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43 ESV).

 

Our reading today recalls for me one of the experiences I had years ago, when I was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Mt. Pleasant, I was encouraged to go and visit with an elderly man of the community. He could be found nearly every day on the corner of two of the major roads in the city. There wasn’t really a “building” on the grassy lot. He often had an awning set up in the summer months to provide some shade jutting out from the storage building he had erected to house his wares. He sold “junk” (his words, not mine). Most of the items he collected from what others had discarded and repaired or cleaned them up for sale on his lot. I had been warned that visiting with the old man would be a unique experience. It seemed many people had gone to see him only to be ridiculed and rebuffed.

 

He certainly was a skeptic, as well as colorful in his language and demeanor. I pulled on to the grassy parking area one sunny day and walked to where he was sitting on an old stump. He had a small fire going on an old camp stove with a pot of coffee brewing. As I walked toward him he glanced up at me and said, “You must be the new preacher in town.” Frankly I was a bit surprised by that evaluation and said, “What makes you think that?” He laughed a bit and said, “They always send to new ones to try and save my soul; and you look like a preacher.” I confessed I was the new preacher. He said, “Well, whatever you say ain’t gonna do no good. It’s way too late for me.” I said, “Is it too late for me to get a cup of that coffee your fixin’?” I suppose that surprised him. He invited me to get an old chair from his “inventory” and sit down while he “fetched a clean cup.”

 

We talked about everything but whether he could be saved that day. He remarked about how hot it was getting. He told me about some of his more prized items. He shared some of his past. And, after about an hour, he said, “You ain’t like no preacher I ever met.” (I get that a lot, by the way) I said, “Well, I do my best, even if I look like a preacher, not to sound too much like one.” He laughed and I said my goodbyes asking if I could drop by again for another cup of coffee. He said, “Sure… I’d like that. Most folks don’t come here to listen to me talk. They like to tell me how bad I am.” We shook hands and over the next few weeks I went back and we sat there drinking coffee and talking. More and more he told me his story. It was full of remorse and pain. Finally, one day I said, “Would you like to get rid of all that pain?” He looked at his feet and whispered, “Yep. But it’s too late for me.” I read him the story of the thief on the cross. He simply said, “Will your Jesus do that for me?” And I said, “Yep. He did it for me.” …Oh, by the way… He’ll do it for you too!