The Worst of the Worst

A ruler, a robber and a rabbi

If God ever wanted to make the reach of his mercy and the abundance of his grace lucid, the stories of atonement from three periods would be more than suitable. The Old Testament, the New Testament, and the cusp between both give us portraits of a redeemed maniacal evil king, thieving terrorist, and a murderous religious zealot.

If there ever was a time in which the miracle of conversion seemed relevant, it is now.  Terrorism and the growth of radical Islam seem to threaten civilization as we know it. God's message has been somehow weakened: we don't hear enough of radical transformations. The promiscuity and divorce statistics among mainstream churchgoers seem too close to that of secular society. A refresher as to what can happen with God might help shape what does happen in religion.

A Maniacal Ruler

Manasseh, coming from noble bloodline, inherited kingship at age of twelve and lived to be sixty-seven. During his reign he rebelled against his roots and worked to bring down everything his father, Hezekiah, had stood for by pursuing the religions of his father's enemies.

 In no time at all, he succeeded in undoing his father's unfinished revival in Israel by erecting altars to foreign gods, ignoring the Law of their fathers, and causing the people to worship the stars and even practice witchcraft. He defiled the great Temple of David and the ensuing level of detestable acts in the land exceeded that of his neighbors. He brought child sacrifice into his nation, even sacrificing his own sons in fire. He filled his own city, Jerusalem, with the blood of the innocent, earning him the title among historians as “The Nero of Palestine.” Some of the prophets lost their lives during this period, possibly even Isaiah. The height of moral infirmity was so great that the seizure and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians less than two centuries later was as a direct result of the “sins of Manasseh”. The destruction would come with such devastation that the “ears would tingle” of anyone who heard about it. The sins of Manasseh became the sins of the people leading to the greatest desolation in the Old Testament.

An interesting twist in the story takes place perhaps, in part, because even the neighboring nations were offended by Manasseh's arrogance. Assyrian army commanders captured him, put a hook in his nose and bound him with bronze shackles and led the king five hundred miles away, to Babylon. At some point, “in his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.” The Lord heard his entreaty and released him to serve Israel again as King. He was able to return and attempt to undo the evil that he had caused. The exact time of his repentance and revival into his fifty-five reign is unknown but Jewish tradition sets it at the twenty-second year.

Though Manasseh could not undo the chain of events that he had caused which led to horrors long after his life, he found favor with God. His punishment was ended demonstrating God's mercy and his was empowered again to make a difference, showing God's grace.

A Dangerous Robber

This man has no name but he is described in the Gospels by two Greek terms denoting treachery and banditry. Unlike a plain vanilla thief whose crimes are incognito, his unlawful deeds involve open robbery. Terrorists of this type from ancient Palestine usually identified with political or religious causes. Sometimes their robbery involved guerilla tactics for the purposes of vengeance. Such might even use the charade of nobility but the Romans in charge of Judea would have seen him for what he was: a violent robber. Mere plundering would not have earned this criminal the death penalty, but he and another were stationed on crosses on both sides of Jesus; and both bandits began their encounter with Jesus by imitating the taunting crowd and Matthew says they “also heaped insults on him.”

Crucifixions like the one Jesus and these thugs suffered were designed to humiliate and bring the maximum amount of pain. The crowd probably would chant ‘give glory to God' so that the sinner would confess his sin or beg for mercy. Often rage and cursing would come off the mouths of the criminal; however, those kinds of expressions never come from Jesus. It's important not to miss the drama. All the authorities, most of the crowd and a fellow bandit were against a religious man tried and found guilty for blasphemy. To go against the testimony of the excited crowd would have been bold. Well into the crucifixion ordeal one of these hardened men is beginning to have a change of heart while the other taunts Jesus with “Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

Nonetheless, the criminal openly confronted his comrade in crime, “Don't you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”  Next he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  In this brief statement he has owned his sin, identified with Christ, shared the core of the gospel with his friend, a made a stand against the crowd. While this would bring a double indictment from the onlookers – ‘the man's a thief beyond reform and now a hopeless heretic,' Jesus looked at him and said, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Instead of pursuing the favor of his spectators, this sinner made his confession of faith. He went the way of discipleship by taking a stand for his new found Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. This is more of a story of a violent man's great repentance than it is a story of a last-minute, deathbed confession.

A Raging Rabbi

The first things we hear about Saul of Tarsus is that he was his “giving approval” of a riotous mob death, his “still breathing out murderous threats”. In fury “Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” Later on in his life he admits that he was once filled with malice, hatred, blasphemy, violence, and persecuted some to their death.

It would be a flaw to overlook this man's sin as merely being misguided. When he later describes himself as “the worst of sinners,” he was correct. God chose him as a poster child of his mercy. Scripture teaches this and Saul, who becomes Paul, believes this. He was a very bad man, but not beyond redemption.

Later Saul described himself as once being the rabbi's rabbi, “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” There was no match for Saul. In his heart, he was right and the Christians were wrong. Deluded, Saul was about the business of intimidation as the archetype deprogrammer of the first Christians on the road to Damascus. He would spare no measure against them and while he was on the hunt, a “light flashed” and he fell to the ground blind.

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”, a voice pronounced. The dumbfounded Pharisee asked,^? “Who are you, Lord?” Even as he said those words it must have started to connect. Then the voice identified himself as “Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” His companions took him to a place prescribed by the voice of Jesus – to the house of Ananias, where Paul did not eat or drink. Apparently there were not many words for those few days. Famished and sightless, the rabbi had little he could do but review his life and beliefs. Saul was then healed of his blindness and Ananias said, “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”

The rest is history. This self-righteous, Christian hating, raging persecutor became the second most influential person in the world. The book of Romans that he authored may be the most read book in the entire Bible and his conversion continues to offer hope for hardened enemies to this day.

It is important to remember that these three men hurt people. They were the worst of the worst. Like many perpetrators of evil in our news today, they left a wake of victims. And yet, Manasseh, the bandit, and Saul of Tarsus are object lessons of God's mercy and grace. Mercy, because they did not pay for their deeds, and grace, because they were given the gift of usefulness and ended their lives in high repute.