Relationships, Not Rules, Should Matter Most

Even though we are more than a month past Easter, I’m still reflecting on the story from Luke’s gospel that I heard on Good Friday – the one about the criminal who asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his Kingdom.

I’m curious about the man’s personal story. What was his crime? Did he believe in God? Did he believe Jesus, the man hanging next to him on a cross of his own, was really the Messiah?

Luke offers us frustratingly few details. We don’t know the crime, or crimes, the man com...