Remember Me
Remember Me by Rev. L. John Gable
March 30, 2018
“Jesus, remember me.” What a curious request this criminal makes of the One hanging beside him. Perhaps it is curious that he even bothered to make a request at all given that Jesus was in exactly the same condition he was, convicted as a common criminal, suffering the indignity of crucifixion on a Roman cross.
“Jesus, remember me.” Not “Jesus, can’t you do something?” Not, “Jesus, if you really are who they say you are call down fire from heaven and get us the heck out of this mess”, but “Jesus, remember me.”
What did he mean by that? Both men were about to die an ignominious death, so what did he hope to gain by having Jesus “remember” him? What is the benefit of one dead man “remembering” another dead man?
It is hardly orthodox, but perhaps in this veiled plea this condemned man was confessing that Jesus was in fact the Promised Messiah; that death was not the end for Jesus that he knew it was for himself; that in fact he believed that Jesus was going to another place, beyond death, a place from where He could, in fact, actually remember him?
As many times as I have read this passage this particular phrase didn’t really capture my attention or imagination until several months ago when I was doing our daily read through the Bible. We were in the midst of the Joseph story at the end of Genesis when this very phrase jumped out at me. Recall Joseph, the son of the patriarch Jacob, one of the twelve sons, the one who has a musical named after him. From the beginning Joseph lived his life with an unshakeable confidence of faith that God had His hand of blessing on him, despite some really unfortunate trials and tribulations. He was an admittedly precocious young fellow, but as a young man he was betrayed by his own brothers who sold him to a traveling band of Midianite traders, who subsequently sold him into slavery in Egypt to a man named Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guards. Despite this series of setbacks Joseph rose through the ranks and soon caught the eye of not only Captain Potiphar, but of Mrs. Potiphar as well, who wrongly accused him of being forward with her, so he quickly found himself in prison; yet despite all this still he trusted that God was with him. In due time, he gained the confidence of his jailers and was put in charge of all the other inmates. One day two members of Pharaoh’s staff found themselves imprisoned, a baker and the chief cupbearer, each who had gotten crosswise with the King and one night they each had a dream which Joseph was able to interpret, a skill he had developed in childhood, and while the interpretation was not too favorable for the baker, the cupbearer was given the good news that he was soon to resume his duties and report back to Pharaoh’s court. And it was then, as he was being released from prison that Joseph called out to him, “Remember me when it is well with you!”
Those words jumped off the page for me, “Remember me!” Why was Joseph asking this of the cupbearer? Because the cupbearer was going to a place and into a position where he could act on Joseph’s behalf; where he could do for Joseph something that Joseph could not do for himself. He could save him, advocate for him, work out his release for him, all of which are summed up in the simple plea: “Remember me!”
This is exactly what the criminal hanging on the cross asked of Jesus, “Remember me”, and he made that simple request because he believed that Jesus was also going to a place and going to be in a position to help him, to rescue him, to restore him, to advocate for him, to do for him what he knew he could not do for himself; namely to save him.
Drowning men do not look to the each other for help; rather they look to someone else who is in a position to rescue them. This is what Joseph did. It is what the criminal did. It is what you and I do as well when we turn to Jesus.
Have you ever noticed that some of the most earnest, urgent and impassioned prayers are very simple phrases? Help me! Rescue me! Listen to me! Answer me! Heal me! Forgive me! Restore me! Have mercy on me! Save me! Remember me! Friends, our prayers do not need to be long or ornate to be heartfelt… and heard.
“Remember me” asked the thief from the cross, no doubt with labored breath in that crucifixion is an excruciating means of suffocation, perhaps in his dying breath, little louder than a whisper, but that request was sufficient and it is was answered. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in paradise!” No sinner’s prayer. No confession of faith. No recitation of the Apostles’ Creed. No baptism or confirmation class. Not even a bolt of lightning. Simply a sinner’s plea to the only One he knew could save him. And save him He did.
In a sense, “remember me” is one of life’s most existential desires. Will anyone remember me when I’m gone? In an attempt to secure an answer to that question men and women in every age have carved their names in stone, funded and built magnificent buildings and empires and put their names on them. “Remember me! I don’t want to be forgotten by my family, my friends, my community, my church!” Curiously, even those, our best efforts at immortality, all one day go to rust and ruin. Yet, in response to this helpless plea, Jesus gives this promise of comfort. “Stop your ceaseless striving. I will remember you.”
In as much that we want to be remembered by others, so we also live with the longing to remember for ourselves. Remembering is part of the struggle of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease for any who suffer from it or fear that they one day will. It is one thing to fear being forgotten by others, and yet another to have to face the prospect of forgetting even ourselves. Who am I if I can’t remember who I am, if I lose my sense of identity, of being? Take away my past and I lose my sense of both the present and the future. So the cry of those who suffer dementia is both “Remember me!” and “Remember for me!”
So what happens if I forget who I am? What happens if I forget the names of my loved ones, my family, my friends, even my own name? What happens if I forget that I am a child of God?
John Newton, the author of the beloved hymn Amazing Grace, was an old man and his memory had left him. One day while visiting with his long-time friend William Joy he said, “I have forgotten many things, but I have never forgotten that Jesus Christ is my Savior.” Friends, we can rest assured and confident in our faith that even if we were to forget the name of Jesus, He has promised that He will remember us.
Perhaps this should then be our prayer, yours and mine tonight. Remember me. Not that we are hanging on a cross beside Him or lying in a hospice bed struggling for our last breath; not that we are imprisoned in such a way that we cannot act on our own behalf; not that we are demented to the extent that we don’t know who we are or who He is; but we do suffer from a more acute form of forgetfulness. In our daily routines we simply forget to remember Jesus. In as much that we want Him to remember us, we must also confess the daily regret that we readily forget to remember Him. We forget His teachings, His power, His presence. This then should be our prayer each day, each week, throughout the unfolding seasons of our years, “Jesus remember me” because I am ashamed to say that I too quickly, too easily, too readily, forget You. In that, our prayer is very similar to the simple plea of the criminal on the cross. May it be our fervent prayer that God’s faithfulness will exceed our unfaithfulness and forgetfulness.
“Jesus, remember me.” Amen.