The Lads of Lent: Dismas and Gestas

The Gospel of Luke tells us about the two thieves who were crucified on either side of Christ.

“Above him there was an inscription that read. “This is the King of the Jews.”

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus by saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.”

The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:38-43)

Two thieves hanging on crosses on either side of Jesus. Dismas, the good thief, and Gestas, the other one. We learn more of these two thieves in the Gospel of Luke than from Matthew, Mark, or John. Their names come from an apocryphal gospel linked with Nicodemus. They are the original “lads of Lent”, who appear at the first Triduum.

Dismas is known as the patron saint of prisoners. He shows that even at the last minute of life, after a history of sin, one can turn to Jesus and be saved, and even be made a saint! (How that must annoy the pharisaical among us.)

Poor Gestas. Was he quite so thoroughly unrepentant? Or was he possibly caught up in the angry and challenging tone of the surrounding crowd? Did his outburst towards Jesus reflect his true beliefs, or just his panic at the moment of his death?

They each faced a key question: was Jesus a King, or not? Gestas seemed to respond by saying “Prove it! No proof, no truth.” But Dismas recognized Jesus as King, a king coming into his Kingdom in his way, and Dismas asked to not be forgotten or left out.

This reflection, though, is not about them, but about us. These “lads of Lent” can represent two types of response to the presence of Christ in our suffering and death, two forms of response to the injustice in this world, and two approaches to Lent.

Lent is a time for rejection of selfish cynicism, and of humble pleading for redemption. The season of Lent holds us suspended between this valley of tears and our true home. Lent encourages us to give up the aggrieved arrogance of thinking, like Gestas seems to, that one deserves redemption without repentance.

Thankfully, our personal Lent will not likely include condemnation, public humiliation, or crucifixion. We may, if we choose, confront our shortcomings, and take stock of our responses to our personal hardships, and the hardships of those near to us and across the world. We are invited to recognize ways the flood of sinful human failings has washed over the world. We might relearn the key lessons that no human can find the way to heaven on their own, and that human methods and systems cannot cure the ills of this world.

All of us are thieves, in some sense; all guilty of taking some things that don’t belong to us, such as full authority over our own lives, or personal credit for the gifts we have actually received from God. We have all sinned against justice, against others, and against God.

We all do, or will, encounter suffering and torment, and we will each approach our moment of death. We may also encounter human judgment or rejection, fair or unfair. Yet whether known or unknown, recognized or not, Christ suffers and dies alongside of each of us; and he remains always available to us, to the end.

We can look at ourselves and at the world around us and see two ways of responding to Christ in the midst of anguish. One way is that of Gestas; mocking God, taunting and challenging: expressing contempt and cynicism, holding no hope for redemption, and rejecting all faith in the suffering Godman beside us. But, remember, for those who are unrepentant, those presently in the darkness of despair, Jesus can be hard to recognize because of the ways he mirrors the stain of the sins of the world. How can we recognize him who takes away our sins if we don’t recognize our need for them to be removed?

Or we could respond like Dismas and recognize how we are guilty, how we have sinned, and how we cannot save ourselves but must turn to Christ, our true King. The ultimate outcome of our earthly suffering hangs in the balance. We can acknowledge his presence, and his innocence, and call him by name, pleading for mercy and salvation.

My simple prayer this lent is: Jesus, remember me.

Tom Medlar

Tom Medlar is married to Joan and is a psychotherapist. He has published many blog essays about the practice of psychotherapy in nursing homes at psychotherapy.net. He is a member of Catholic Literary Arts, and the Catholic Writer’s Guild.