Sermon: Finding the Courage to be Wrong (Luke 23:33-43)
Written and preached at Hope United Church on November 23, 2025
Gospel Reading: Luke 23:33-43
33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Sermon Audio
Sermon Transcript:
It’s hard to admit when we’re wrong.
How many times have you found yourself in an argument with someone… or in conflict over a certain point of view…
So sure that you are in the right, and the other person is wrong.
You may have even thought: How can the other person not see how right we really are? Why don’t they understand? Don’t they know? Isn’t it obvious that we are right, and they are wrong about this?
Or maybe you’ve experienced being in an argument where you are SO sure of your position… you are SO sure that you’ve got it right.
Until the other person starts to make some good points… and there is a part of you that thinks maybe, just maybe… the other person might have a point.
But instead of saying “Maybe you’re right, you’ve made a good point there…” you dig your heels in deeper. It’s too late now. You’ve committed to your position. You can’t go back on your word and admit that you’re wrong.
And you certainly cannot apologize, that would make you look weak as far as the world is concerned… or would it?
Why is it that the hardest words for most people to say seem to be “I’m sorry, I was wrong”? So difficult to say. So instead of saying that, we often get defensive, or try to rationalize why we might still be in the right.
I wonder if this is how the first criminal suffering a terrifying death next to Jesus felt. In our passage from the Gospel of Luke, we heard of two criminals dying the same agonizing death next to Jesus.
The first criminal hurled insults at Jesus, and demanded some kind of worldly miracle: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
I wonder if this criminal felt that he was in the right. He didn’t deserve to die like this. Whatever crime he had committed, this was not justified.
And you know, if this is truly what he thought… Who could blame him? One could definitely argue that nobody deserved to die in THAT way.
And truthfully, we don’t really know anything about the crimes that either of these criminals next to Jesus committed… maybe he had stolen bread to feed his children… maybe he killed someone over some kind of conflict… Or maybe the criminal challenged the Roman authority and spoke ill of the emperor.
Whatever the case, the criminal who hurled insults at Jesus clearly didn’t feel remorseful for what had gotten him to this point. He was clinging on to his position of rightness until the last moment.
Not the other criminal though… the one who from here on out I will refer to as the “penitent” man. No, this penitent man in his last moments of agony, seemed to take responsibility for his being there and even accepted his reality.
This penitent criminal, rebuked the other criminal. He said “We are punished justly… for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man, Jesus, has done nothing wrong.”
This penitent man admitted to being wrong. Not only did he admit to being wrong, but in these last moments, in which he had fully accepted his fate, he also recognized Jesus for who Jesus truly was, seeing Jesus’ death not as a sign of weakness or wrongness, but as the only possibility for true salvation.
He said “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom”.
Somehow, this penitent man knew that Jesus was the Messiah - The Christ. Chosen to reconcile the people with God, and offer a true path to salvation. This man seemed to, at least in part, understand that he was suffering next to the presence of God. And in that presence, this man was willing to admit not only that he was in the wrong, but to humbly make known his need for divine intervention.
And that openness, that willingness, that humility was instantly recognized by Jesus.
One moment was all it took for Jesus to welcome this man into paradise.
So what can we learn from this story? To be fair, it is not the most comforting or relatable image. Two criminals and Jesus dying a cruel death on a cross.
And God willing you and I will hopefully never be involved with a situation quite like that…
But, like the two criminals, we can all admit to making mistakes in our lives. Maybe not quite to that degree, but mistakes none the less.
The question is: what did we do in the face of those mistakes?
Did we have the courage and the humility to own up to those mistakes? Did we take responsibility for how we may have hurt another? Or did we put our walls up, get defensive, and even blame others for our predicament?
Perhaps we have thought of our mistakes as a sign of weakness… something that should be covered up, proof that we are not worthy of God’s love or saving grace.
But Jesus’ welcome of the repentant criminal in those last moments of his bodily life, shows us that it is our acceptance of our imperfections, our willingness to admit that we are human which means we’re going to get it wrong sometimes, that actually liberates us - mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Owning up to our mistakes takes real courage and vulnerability. It requires us to surrender, to loosen our grip on the story we’ve told ourselves, that to be wrong is to be weak, that it would lead to us no longer being respected by our peers or our community.
In fact, I have found that usually the opposite occurs. When we can take responsibility for our mistakes, for our missteps, when we can offer apologies where they are warranted with sincerity, it often leads to respect. But even so, respect from the outside world is secondary to the kind of inner freedom… the inner peace that emerges when we can finally drop our shields, and just be honest with ourselves.
Having said all this, there is another part we need to address also, something that can be quite dangerous, if we don’t recognize it.
The danger is in believing that you are in the wrong or are responsible for situations that are actually not your fault or responsibility.
There are circumstances in which you may choose to take a stand, to set a boundary, or to clearly delineate between what is right and what is wrong.
And so I want to be clear here, this message doesn’t always apply, especially to people who are being oppressed or marginalized, abused or harmed by another.
Nor is this a message that supports moral relativism - as if right or wrong is all a matter of point of view.
And it’s also important to acknowledge that while we might be perpetrators of harm at times, we also likely have been on the receiving end of that harm too. And we have felt the impact of people who couldn’t say they were sorry, of people who couldn’t take responsibility for harm caused. And so in these instances when we are on the receiving end, it is important for us to stand up for ourselves, and to stand up for others who are being harmed.
Sometimes, if we have been hurt in our lives it is even hard to know what is right, or what is wrong. What is my responsibility and what is not my responsibility?
We can only take responsibility for what is ours, but anything that is not we have the right to give back to the other party involved.
And yet most of us can admit to moments where we have clung so tightly to wanting to be right, that it has undermined our ability to be loving. And this tendency towards self-righteousness over love in our society has led to a very polarized political and societal environment. Narratives of “Us vs. Them.” Each side demonizing the other… with very little room for listening, understanding, nuance and bridge-building.
Which makes the message of the gospel all that much more relevant and potent.
When we allow ourselves to become reconciled with “the other”, we become reconciled with Christ, because Christ exists in the other. Whether that “other” is another group of people, or people with differing political views or economic status… Christ exists for and in them. Just as Christ exists for and in us.
And this reconciliation with “the other” requires a certain kind of vulnerability… a vulnerability which requires courage. And while the world might think vulnerability to be a weakness, God knows it to be strength.
The penitent man on the cross next to Jesus, shows us this kind of strength through vulnerability. He has absolutely nothing left to protect: no reputation, no future, no way to spin the narrative. And in this moment of complete exposure, instead of trying to hold on to whatever dignity he has left, he surrenders it…
In that moment he chooses to tell the truth about who he has been. And in this moment of pure surrender, he is able to recognize who Jesus is and to open himself up to the love of God which will save him..
And Jesus responds immediately.
No hesitation.
No testing.
No judgement.
No list of mistakes to atone for.
Just: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
What would it be like for us to have that kind of assurance every time we made a mistake and owned up to it?
What would it look like for us to instead of choosing pride or self righteousness, choose humility and courage through vulnerability?
The penitent man in our gospel is courageous because he lets that armour fall away. He does the thing that so many of us fear: he admits the truth about himself. Not in a self-pitiful way, not in a way that denies his own being made in the image of God – but in an accepting way.
He says the spiritual equivalent of what we so often avoid saying in real life:
“I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
That sentence can feel like death to our ego. But it is life to our soul.
This is true power, not through pride or perfection, but through surrender.
Through a love that says: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
When we can admit to sometimes being wrong… we can admit that we don’t need to be perfect in order to be loved by God, or by others.
That is the good news. Being loved does not require a clean moral record.
Jesus, while suffering and dying, turned to another dying man and said, “Today you will be with me in paradise”
And I wonder…
What if that promise is for us, too?
What if paradise begins the moment we surrender our ego and step into the courage of vulnerability?
What if finding the courage to be honest with ourselves and others, the courage to be wrong and own it, is a step into paradise?
May we all find that kind of courage. Amen.