How does the Catholic Church reconcile the two different narratives of behavior of the thieves in Calvary as reported in Mtt 27 and Lk 23?
score:2
How does the Catholic Church reconcile the two different narratives of behavior of the thieves in Calvary as reported in Mt 27 and Lk 23?
A little background information is helpful before continuing on.
The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief or the Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus to "remember him" when Jesus arrives at his kingdom. The other, as the impenitent thief, challenges Jesus to save himself and both of them to prove that he is the Messiah.
He is officially venerated in the Catholic Church. The Roman Martyrology places his commemoration on 25 March, together with the Feast of the Annunciation, because of the ancient Christian tradition that Christ (and the penitent thief) were crucified and died exactly on the anniversary of Christ's incarnation.
He is given the name Dismas in the Gospel of Nicodemus and is traditionally known in Catholicism as Saint Dismas.
The Church is rich in traditions in this area.
For example there is an ancient tradition (not that all Church traditions are true), that the Crucifixion of Christ was on the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25), the same day St. Dismas is venerated as a saint! At least two of the Early Church Fathers believed this to be so.
See my question here: Did the Annunciation and Good Friday coincide?
Back to the question at hand, we will have to take a look into some of the apocryphal writings that were in circulation within the faithful in the Early Church.
Luke's unnamed penitent thief was later assigned the name Dismas in an early Greek recension of the Acta Pilati and the Latin Gospel of Nicodemus, portions of which may be dated to the late fourth century. The name "Dismas" may have been adapted from a Greek word meaning "sunset" or "death". The other thief's name is given as Gestas. In Syriac Infancy Gospel's Life of the Good Thief (Histoire Du Bon Larron French 1868, English 1882), Augustine of Hippo said, the thief said to Jesus, the child: "O most blessed of children, if ever a time should come when I shall crave Thy Mercy, remember me and forget not what has passed this day."
Anne Catherine Emmerich saw the Holy Family "exhausted and helpless"; according to Augustine of Hippo and Peter Damian, the Holy Family met Dismas, in these circumstances. Pope Theophilus of Alexandria (385–412) wrote a Homily on the Crucifixion and the Good Thief, which is a classic of Coptic literature. - Penitent Thief
In some of the apocryphal writings, Dismas helped out the Holy Family in the desert from other brigands while fleeing Herod’s edict to kill all children two years old or younger. Thus we can see how Dismas would have been more likely to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit at the moment of crucifixion on his cross.
In the Golden Legend, the impenitent their was one of a band of robbers who attacked Saint Joseph and the Holy Family on their flight into Egypt. Dismas tried successfully to save the Holy Family from harm, even though he himself was a brigand.
Nothing in what I have written here is dogmatic truth according to Catholicism, but it does help us understand the nuances of some of the Church’s traditions in this matter. Each member of the Church is free to accept or not this as proof. In any case, it does help us understand things not fully comprehended.
More post
- 📝 If Jesus is "God's Only Son" then how can we all be God's children?
- 📝 Is Hell eternal, or do some/all escape it?
- 📝 Byzantine Chant vs. Gregorian Chant: What are the differences in goals as far as attitude and concepts between these two chanting styles
- 📝 Is the Christian Religion based on "Faith in Faith" or does it have a foundation of "Acceptance of Facts"?
- 📝 Why should a sinner suffer forever in hell fire?
- 📝 Which Jesus' movie is shown in this image?
- 📝 Why did Jesus submit to the authority of God while Jesus was a man?
- 📝 How are people who were not approved by Jesus (Matthew 7:21-23) still able to expel demons?
- 📝 Why is Jesus at the center of everything
- 📝 Can my third class relic make other items into third class relics?
- 📝 Is there an authoritative resource that spells out the differences and similarities of most major denominations?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, did Jesus have faith or hope?
- 📝 According to Christian denominations, why are we all cursed for Adam's sin and is that fair?
- 📝 When was infant baptism rejected in the development of Pentecostalism?
- 📝 What are the requirements for each of the three levels of Glory?
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from people who had experiences with the Christian God of which they had no prior knowledge?
- 📝 Is there a special name for the day between Easter and Good Friday?
- 📝 Reading NIV bible for AR points
- 📝 Was St. John Vianney the first parish priest to become canonized?
- 📝 Can Christians be demon possessed?
- 📝 The Catholic Perspective concerning the Four Hors*m*n
- 📝 Who is permitted to write a canon or an akathist hymn to a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and how is it done?
- 📝 Did St. Paul know the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 📝 When is Isaiah 32 supposed to happen?
- 📝 1852 Das Buch Mormon text
- 📝 How to interpret C.S. Lewis's use of magic by good moral agents in the Chronicles of Narnia to be acceptable to earth Christians?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis that the second Person of the Trinity was the Only-begotten Son of the Father before His incarnation?
- 📝 In 1 Peter 4:18, what does Peter mean by the righteous having difficulty to be saved?
- 📝 Are you unguilty of sin if you never heard the gospel?
- 📝 Does the 'Sons of Jacob' refer to only Jews, or also Christians and Muslims?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church reconcile the two different narratives of behavior of the thieves in Calvary as reported in Mtt 27 and Lk 23?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church explain the juxtaposition of two tenets of faith with two different pre-conditions at Roman 10:9?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church reconcile evolution with original sin?
- 📝 How does the Catholic church prioritize different sources of information in coming to doctrinal/theological conclusions, and how do they justify that?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church reconcile its doctrine of a divine plan with the disorder and randomness of life?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church reconcile the holy Catholic Church with (the) Pope(s) asking for forgiveness?
- 📝 How does the Catholic church explain Matthew 19:9, which seems to allow divorce in case of sexual misconduct?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church understand the priesthood of all believers?
- 📝 On the topic of marriage in heaven, how does the LDS church reconcile Matthew 22:23-33?
- 📝 How does a Roman Catholic reconcile a preference for purely procreative sex with the Song of Solomon?
- 📝 How does the Catholic church view Freemasons?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church identify and collect relics?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church choose the patron saint of a parish church?
- 📝 How would the Catholic Church reconcile 1 Thess 4:13 (which suggests soul sleep) with the doctrine of Intercession of Saints?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church interpret Matthew 23:9 so as to normalize priests being called Father?
- 📝 How does the Roman Catholic Church interpret predestination?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church respond to the claim that its authority to interpret scripture is based on circular reasoning?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church view Penal Substitutionary Atonement?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church explain passages that seem to use culturally specific logic?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church explain their interpretation of Matthew 16:19 (Simon Peter as the first Pope) in light of Matthew 18:18?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church interpret Galatians 2:7?
- 📝 How does the Catholic church distinguish between the human soul and spirit?
- 📝 How does Catholic Church explain the reference to Christ at 1 Cor. 10?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church have a policy on how altars are to be destroyed?
- 📝 How does the Catholic church deal with the differences between the God described in the old and new Testaments?
- 📝 How does the Orthodox Church view the Roman Catholic Church?
- 📝 How does the Catholic Church tell us to do reparation for our sins according to Church teachings?
- 📝 How does Catholic Church differentiate between the presence of Jesus and that of the Holy Spirit on the earth?
- 📝 How does the Catholic doctrine of free will reconcile with peccability?
- 📝 How does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reconcile 3 Nephi 15:23 with Jesus visiting Joseph Smith?