The Visa

(Luke 23: 39-43)
His face was blank as he gazed round 
the courtroom.
 Today was the Day of Judgment. 
He didn’t know why the case took so long. 
Yes, these lawyers always say the accused 
must be proven guilty “beyond any 
reasonable doubt”. 
So they went on and on, trying to prove
 what everybody knows was not true, 
trying to prove he was innocent, when 
the entire world knew he was guilty. 
He had confessed to the crime, yet his 
lawyers wanted to prove his confessional 
statement was gotten under duress. 
These lawyers sef!
He was an armed robber. He had carried 
out heists over a period of twelve years. 
He specialized in bank robbery. 
His motto was, “FOLLOW THE MONEY!” 
He had informants who told him whenever 
there was a large cash movement.
 He robbed at least one bank a year, and 
he attacked bullion vans too. 
They were softer targets. 
And a few months ago, he got caught. 
He got overconfident over the years. 
He somehow was beginning to feel invincible. 
And he let his guard down.
 And he was arrested on the charge of 
multiple armed robbery. 
They say your first robbery was always the 
most difficult. 
He had gone out with a couple of friends 
to rob a house whose owner had travelled 
abroad. 
They took about ten thousand dollars 
from a safe in the bedroom. 
When the operation was over, he could 
not sleep for over a week. 
He could not go out either. 
Over the next month, he used to run 
away whenever he saw a policeman. 
For whatever reason, he thought 
they all knew he was a thief.
With time, he grew bolder.
 And hungrier. 
His first bank robbery got him over 
6 million Naira. 
His next, about ten. 
The problem with being a robber is, 
you never do anything meaningful with 
the money. You spend it and plan for the 
next operation to make more.
But twelve tears into his armed robbery 
carrier, he got caught.
The trial took over a year. 
The entire nation had heard of him. 
His family had disowned him for bringing 
such embarrassment to the family name. 
The religious leaders had condemned him
 long before the court process was over. 
The media had already sentenced him 
and the debate was whether he would 
get the electric chair or the hangman’s 
noose. He had nobody on his side. 
Six months into the trial, he confessed 
to the crimes and told the police where 
he had buried all his victims.
Now, the judgment day had come. 
As the jury filed in, he looked around. 
All eyes were on him. He saw hatred.
 He saw condemnation. He saw anger. 
He recognized the parents of his First Love, 
sitting in the first row. 
His lawyers asked him to stand up as 
the verdict was about to be read…
Guilty. 
He was sentenced to death. 
He was to be crucified. 
He simply shrugged and sat down again. 
What else could he do? 
All the rhetoric of the lawyers were just 
to postpone the inevitable. 
He had witnessed crucifixions as a kid. 
The condemned man could hang up 
there for hours on end. 
A very painful way to exit, he thought. 
They don’t usually crucify one man. 
They wait till they have at least three. 
Well, I have a few days or weeks to go- 
they don’t sentence criminals to death 
by crucifixion often, he reasoned. 
He got to his cell to get a shocker: 
he was the third man! 
Crucifixion was the very next day! 
These folks don’t waste time…
As he hung there on the cross, he noticed
 the man in the center seemed to be the 
center of attention. 
He wore a crown of thorns on His head 
and He had a sign nailed just above it: 
“THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS”. 
There was something about Him. 
He had a regal mien about Him that 
was uncommon. 
As He hung there, He lifted up his eyes 
to heaven and said, ‘Father, forgive them 
for they know not what they do”. 
In that moment, the third man on the 
cross said, “If indeed you are the Christ, 
save yourself and us!”
The Christ? Is this The Christ? 
The murderer looked at Him closely. 
Suddenly, it dawned on him: 
this IS The Christ! He called out to 
Him and said, “Lord, remember me in 
your Kingdom!” 
The Christ turned to him and said, 
“Don’t worry, son, today you will be 
with me in paradise”
And just like that, his destiny was sealed.
As he felt life slowly departing from his 
body, the scenes of the past year 
flashed before his eyes:
The jury condemned him.
The judge condemned him.
The country condemned him.
His own family condemned him.
But The Christ acquitted him!
He died with a smile on his lips.