The Penitent Thief

[John Charmley]

Dear Daniel,

No learned commentary could get it more accurately that you have here.

Leo the Great, in his sermon 53 (Holy Week 441):
'Until now one thief was the equal in all things of his companion. He was a robber on the roads and always a danger to the safety of people. Deserving the cross, he suddenly becomes a confessor of Christ ... The came the gift which faith itself received a response ... [Jesus] gives a reward to faith. There he abolishes the debt of human transgression.'

Ephrem the Syrian's Hymn on Paradise 4.5:
Adam had been naked and fair,
but his diligent wife
laboured and made for him
a garment covered with stains.
The garden, seeing him thus vile,
drove him forth.
Through Mary Adam had another robe
which adorned the thief;
and when he became resplendant at Christ's promise,
the garden, looking on,
embraced hinm in Adam's place.

The message is the one you received. If we will receive Him, He will receive us.

In Christ,

John