Christian Baptism cannot be understood merely as a religious washing, a public profession of faith, or an isolated Christian ceremony. Its roots reach back through the whole history of Israel, through the waters of creation, the Flood, the Red Sea, the Jordan, the ritual purifications of the Jewish people, the preaching of John the Baptist, the Baptism of Christ, and finally the mystery of Calvary.
At the center of this entire history stands a striking biblical connection.
James and John asked to sit at Christ’s right and left when He entered His glory. Yet when Christ was publicly enthroned as King, the places at His right and left were occupied not by Apostles, princes, or earthly dignitaries, but by two condemned criminals.
One mocked Him.
The other repented.
Between them hung the Lord of glory upon the Cross.
This scene reveals the deepest meaning of Baptism: to be baptized into Christ is to pass with Him through death into life, through repentance into mercy, and through the Cross into the Kingdom.
I. The Waters of the First Creation
The biblical mystery of Baptism begins with the opening words of Genesis:
“And the spirit of God moved over the waters.”
— Genesis 1:2
Before the earth was formed and filled, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. From these waters, under the creative action of the Spirit, the ordered world emerged.
This provides the first great pattern of Baptism:
water, Spirit, and new creation.
Christian Baptism follows this same pattern. The baptized person enters the water as a child of fallen Adam and emerges as a new creation in Christ.
Saint Paul teaches:
“If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:17
The waters of Genesis therefore foreshadow the waters of the baptismal font. The same Spirit who moved over the waters of the first creation acts in the sacrament of the new creation.
The Catechism accordingly describes creation’s waters as a prefiguration of Baptism: Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1218.
II. The Flood: Death to the Old World
The next great biblical image is the Flood.
Humanity had become corrupted by violence and sin. The waters came as judgment upon the old world, yet those same waters carried Noah and his family into a renewed creation.
Water was simultaneously an instrument of death and salvation.
Saint Peter explicitly connects the Flood to Baptism:
“Whereunto baptism, being of the like form, now saveth you also.”
— 1 Peter 3:21
This does not mean that baptismal water is merely a symbol of cleansing. Saint Peter says that Baptism “now saveth you.” It is the sacramental means by which Christ applies His saving work to the believer.
The Flood establishes an essential baptismal pattern:
- the sinful world is judged,
- the old life dies,
- a remnant passes safely through the waters,
- and a renewed creation emerges.
This pattern will later reach its fulfillment in Christ’s Death and Resurrection.
The baptized person does not merely become religiously cleaner. The old person is sacramentally buried, and a new person rises.
III. The Red Sea: From Slavery to Freedom
The Exodus provides another decisive image.
Israel was enslaved under Pharaoh. God opened the Red Sea, and the people passed through the waters from bondage into freedom. Their oppressors were overcome in the very waters through which Israel was delivered.
Saint Paul interprets this event sacramentally:
“And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud, and in the sea.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:2
Pharaoh becomes an image of the tyranny of sin. Egypt represents bondage. The passage through the sea represents deliverance.
In Baptism, the Christian passes out of slavery to sin and into the freedom of the children of God. What the Red Sea accomplished historically for Israel, Baptism accomplishes sacramentally in Christ.
The Exodus therefore reveals that Baptism is not simply purification. It is liberation.
It is an exodus from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of the beloved Son.
IV. The Jordan and the Entrance into the Promise
After the Exodus and the wilderness journey, Israel crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land under Joshua.
The Hebrew name Joshua and the name Jesus are forms of the same name, meaning “The Lord saves.”
Joshua led the people through the Jordan into the earthly inheritance. Jesus leads His people through Baptism toward the eternal inheritance.
The Jordan therefore becomes a boundary:
- on one side lies wandering,
- on the other lies promise;
- on one side lies the old life,
- on the other lies the inheritance;
- on one side lies expectation,
- on the other lies fulfillment.
It is no accident that John the Baptist later appeared at the Jordan. His ministry symbolically called Israel back to the place of crossing. The people were being summoned to repent, to pass again through the waters, and to prepare for a new act of divine deliverance.
V. Jewish Ritual Purification and the Mikveh
Within the life of Israel, water also served in the ritual purifications commanded by the Law.
Priests washed before sacred service:
“Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and feet in it.”
— Exodus 30:19
The Law prescribed washings after various forms of ritual impurity, especially in Leviticus 11–15 and Numbers 19.
By the time of Christ, Jewish ritual immersion in a mikveh was an established part of religious life. These immersions expressed purification and readiness to approach holy things.
Such washings were not identical to Christian Baptism. They did not, by their own power, forgive original sin, impart sanctifying grace, or incorporate a person into the Mystical Body of Christ.
Yet they formed part of God’s providential preparation.
They taught Israel that:
- God is holy,
- impurity separates man from sacred worship,
- cleansing is necessary before approaching God,
- and water can serve as an outward sign of inward purification.
The Letter to the Hebrews distinguishes these ancient washings from the perfect purification brought by Christ, referring to “divers baptisms, and justices of the flesh” imposed until the time of correction (Hebrews 9:10).
The ancient washings were real acts of obedience within the Old Covenant, but they pointed beyond themselves.
They prepared for a cleansing that would reach the conscience and renew the heart.
VI. The Prophets Promise a Deeper Washing
The prophets announced that a greater purification was coming.
Ezechiel declared:
“I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness.”
— Ezechiel 36:25
But the prophecy did not end with water:
“And I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you.”
— Ezechiel 36:26
And again:
“And I will put my spirit in the midst of you.”
— Ezechiel 36:27
Here water and Spirit appear together, just as they appeared in creation.
The promised purification would not merely restore ritual eligibility. It would give a new heart and the indwelling Spirit of God.
This prophecy illuminates Christ’s teaching to Nicodemus:
“Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
— John 3:5
Christ was not inventing an unrelated image. He was announcing the fulfillment of Israel’s prophetic hope.
The clean water, the new heart, and the new Spirit promised by Ezechiel find their sacramental fulfillment in Christian Baptism.
VII. John the Baptist: The Bridge Between the Covenants
John the Baptist stands at the meeting point of promise and fulfillment.
He appeared in the wilderness preaching:
“Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
— Matthew 3:2
His baptism was a baptism of repentance. It called Israel to confess sin and prepare for the coming Messiah.
Saint Mark describes John as:
“Preaching the baptism of penance unto remission of sins.”
— Mark 1:4
John’s baptism was greater than an ordinary ritual washing because it belonged to the immediate prophetic preparation for Christ. Yet it was not the sacrament of Christian Baptism.
John himself clearly distinguished his baptism from the work of the Messiah:
“I indeed baptize you in water unto penance: but he that shall come after me… shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.”
— Matthew 3:11
John could call men to repentance. Christ would grant the Spirit.
John could prepare the people. Christ would regenerate them.
John could point to the Lamb. Christ would take away the sins of the world.
The distinction becomes explicit in Acts 19:1–6, where Saint Paul encounters disciples who had received only John’s baptism. They were subsequently baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and received the Holy Ghost.
John’s baptism was therefore a doorway of preparation, not the completed sacrament.
VIII. Why the Sinless Christ Entered the Jordan
Jesus had no sins to confess. He had no impurity to remove. Nevertheless, He came to John to be baptized.
John protested:
“I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me?”
— Matthew 3:14
Jesus answered:
“Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfil all justice.”
— Matthew 3:15
Christ entered the waters not because He needed to be sanctified, but because He had come to sanctify.
He entered the place of sinners without being a sinner. He stood among the guilty as the innocent Lamb who would bear their sins.
At the Jordan, the Holy Trinity was manifested:
- the Son stood in the water,
- the Spirit descended like a dove,
- and the Father spoke from heaven.
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
— Matthew 3:17
The Baptism of Christ therefore reveals both His identity and His mission.
The beloved Son has come to stand in solidarity with fallen humanity. His descent into the water anticipates His descent into death. His emergence from the Jordan anticipates His Resurrection.
The Jordan already points toward Calvary.
IX. The Second Baptism: Christ’s Passion
Jesus later used the word “baptism” for His coming Passion:
“I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?”
— Luke 12:50
He had already received water baptism from John. Therefore, this future baptism refers to His immersion into suffering, blood, judgment, death, and burial.
At the Jordan, Christ descended into water.
At Calvary, He descended into death.
At the Jordan, the heavens opened and the Father named Him His beloved Son.
At Calvary, the heavens darkened and the Son cried out in abandonment.
At the Jordan, the Spirit descended visibly.
At Calvary, Christ “bowing his head, gave up the ghost” (John 19:30).
The water baptism in the Jordan was thus ordered toward the bloody baptism of the Cross.
Christian Baptism receives its saving power from this Passion.
The water of the sacrament is effective because Christ has passed through the deeper waters of death.
X. James and John Ask for the Places of Glory
Against this background, the request of James and John becomes especially significant.
They said to Jesus:
“Grant to us, that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.”
— Mark 10:37
They recognized that Jesus was a King, but they had not yet understood the nature of His throne.
They imagined glory in earthly terms: rank, authority, proximity to power, and visible honor.
Jesus answered:
“You know not what you ask.”
— Mark 10:38
Then He immediately connected their request for glory to the mystery of His Passion:
“Can you drink the chalice that I drink? or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?”
— Mark 10:38
The right and left of Christ cannot be understood apart from the chalice and the baptism.
The Apostles wanted the places of honor.
Christ asked whether they could receive the chalice of suffering.
They wanted to reign.
Christ spoke of being immersed in death.
They desired the throne.
Christ pointed toward the Cross.
This is not because glory and kingship are absent from Christianity. Rather, Christ reveals what true glory and kingship are.
In His Kingdom, greatness consists in self-giving love.
“Whosoever will be greater, shall be your minister: and whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all.”
— Mark 10:43–44
Christ then explained His own mission:
“For the Son of man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many.”
— Mark 10:45
The argument over precedence is answered by the Cross.
XI. The Hidden Enthronement of Christ
The Gospels present the Crucifixion with royal imagery.
Jesus is clothed in mock royal garments, crowned with thorns, hailed as king, and presented to the people. Above His head is placed the charge:
“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
— John 19:19
The world intends mockery. Divine providence proclaims truth.
Christ is indeed King, but His crown is made of thorns. His throne is the Cross. His royal court consists of mockers, soldiers, mourners, and criminals.
Jesus had spoken of the hour of His Passion as the hour of His glorification:
“The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.”
— John 12:23
And again:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.”
— John 12:32
Saint John explains that Christ said this to signify the manner of His death.
The lifting up of Jesus is simultaneously:
- His Crucifixion,
- His royal exaltation,
- His priestly sacrifice,
- and the revelation of divine love.
Calvary is not an interruption of Christ’s glory. It is the place where His glory is unveiled in a form the fallen world does not recognize.
XII. The Right and the Left Are Occupied
When Christ finally appears in His royal glory upon the Cross, the places at His right and left are occupied.
“Then were crucified with him two thieves: one on the right hand, and one on the left.”
— Matthew 27:38
This creates a powerful narrative contrast with the request of James and John.
The Apostles had asked for those places.
Yet when the throne appeared, two criminals were there.
This does not mean the criminals received the ecclesial authority of the Apostles, nor that Christ had rejected James and John. Rather, the scene reveals what the Apostles did not yet understand when they made their request.
To be near Christ in His glory means to be near Christ in His Passion.
The right and left of the King are not places of worldly privilege. They are places beside the Crucified One.
The Cross exposes the inadequacy of earthly ambition.
James and John imagined royal seats.
Christ revealed royal crosses.
They imagined glory without suffering.
Christ revealed glory through sacrificial love.
XIII. The Two Thieves and the Two Responses to Grace
The two criminals occupy outwardly similar positions.
Both are condemned.
Both suffer.
Both are near Jesus.
Both see the same Cross.
Both hear the same words.
Both are confronted by the same King.
Yet their inward responses are radically different.
One thief mocks:
“If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.”
— Luke 23:39
He demands salvation on his own terms. He wants escape from suffering, but not conversion. He desires Christ’s power without submitting to Christ’s kingship.
The other thief rebukes him:
“Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art under the same condemnation?”
— Luke 23:40
Then he confesses his own guilt:
“And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil.”
— Luke 23:41
His confession contains the essential movements of repentance:
- fear of God,
- acknowledgment of personal guilt,
- acceptance of justice,
- recognition of Christ’s innocence,
- faith in Christ’s kingship,
- and humble petition for mercy.
He then says:
“Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.”
— Luke 23:42
The thief sees what many others cannot see.
He looks upon a dying, tortured, publicly humiliated man and calls Him “Lord.”
He looks upon a Cross and sees a throne.
He looks upon apparent defeat and sees a coming Kingdom.
He asks not to be taken down from the cross, but to be remembered.
Christ answers:
“Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
— Luke 23:43
The repentant thief becomes the first visible fruit of Christ’s royal mercy from the throne of the Cross.
XIV. Right and Left as Judgment
The placement of the thieves also recalls Christ’s teaching concerning the final judgment.
In Matthew 25:31–46, the Son of Man comes in majesty and separates the nations, placing the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.
At Calvary, this final division is anticipated in miniature.
Two men are equally close to Christ physically, but they are divided spiritually.
One turns toward Him.
The other turns against Him.
One receives mercy.
The other persists in mockery.
The Cross therefore becomes a place of judgment, not because Christ ceases to be merciful, but because His presence reveals the heart.
The same crucified Lord is offered to both.
The difference lies in their response.
Grace is present to both, but only one receives it with faith and repentance.
This demonstrates that physical nearness to sacred things does not automatically produce salvation. One may stand near the Cross and remain hardened. One may suffer beside Christ and yet refuse to suffer with Christ.
The repentant thief does not merely share Christ’s external pain. Through faith, repentance, and love, he begins to share Christ’s interior obedience.
XV. The Good Thief and Baptism
The salvation of the repentant thief is sometimes raised as an objection to the necessity of Baptism.
Christ taught:
“Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
— John 3:5
He later commanded the Apostles to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).
How, then, could the thief enter paradise without sacramental water Baptism?
The Catholic answer begins by distinguishing between contempt for the sacrament and impossibility of receiving it.
The thief did not reject Baptism. He had no opportunity to descend from the cross and receive the sacrament. Yet he possessed the realities toward which Baptism directs the sinner:
- faith in Christ,
- repentance for sin,
- confession of guilt,
- love for the innocent Lord,
- hope in the Kingdom,
- and desire for communion with Christ.
The Church teaches that those who suffer death for the faith before Baptism receive a baptism of blood, and that those who desire Baptism but die before receiving it may obtain its fruits through desire joined to faith, charity, and repentance: Catechism of the Catholic Church, §§1258–1260.
The Good Thief is commonly understood within this theological horizon. He was saved by Christ’s grace, not by an alternative path independent of Christ and His sacraments.
God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but God Himself is not bound by the sacraments: CCC §1257.
The thief is therefore not an argument against Baptism. He is a manifestation of the sovereign mercy of the One who instituted Baptism.
Moreover, he was physically and spiritually joined to Christ at the very moment when Christ underwent the “baptism” of His Passion. He could not descend into baptismal water, but by grace he entered the mystery signified by Baptism: death with Christ and entrance into His Kingdom.
XVI. “Can You Be Baptized with My Baptism?”
When Jesus asked James and John whether they could be baptized with His baptism, they answered:
“We can.”
— Mark 10:39
Their confidence was greater than their understanding. Nevertheless, Christ accepted their answer prophetically:
“You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of: and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized.”
— Mark 10:39
Their request would be purified.
They would receive closeness to Christ, but not according to worldly ambition.
James would be martyred:
“And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.”
— Acts 12:2
John would remain a faithful witness through suffering, persecution, and exile:
“I John, your brother and your partner in tribulation… was in the island, which is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus.”
— Apocalypse 1:9
Thus, Christ did not simply refuse their desire for closeness. He transformed it.
They wished to sit beside Him.
He called them to suffer with Him.
They sought rank.
He gave them apostleship.
They sought visible glory.
He gave them a share in His chalice.
Their ambition had to die so that true discipleship could rise.
This too is baptismal.
The old James and John, seeking precedence, had to be buried. The new James and John would emerge as witnesses willing to lose everything for Christ.
XVII. Baptized into Christ’s Death
Saint Paul gives the theological key to the whole mystery:
“Know you not that all we, who are baptized in Christ Jesus, are baptized in his death?”
— Romans 6:3
He continues:
“For we are buried together with him by baptism into death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.”
— Romans 6:4
Baptism unites the Christian to the Paschal Mystery.
It is not merely imitation. It is sacramental participation.
The baptized person is united to:
- Christ’s death to sin,
- His burial,
- His Resurrection,
- His filial relationship with the Father,
- and His life in the Holy Ghost.
This is why the Cross is the deepest meaning of Baptism.
The waters of Baptism are the sacramental waters of Christ’s death and life.
The font is both tomb and womb:
- a tomb in which the old man is buried,
- a womb from which the new man is born.
The Catechism teaches that Baptism signifies and actually brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity: CCC §§1239, 1262–1266.
XVIII. Blood and Water from the Side of Christ
After Jesus died, a soldier pierced His side:
“And immediately there came out blood and water.”
— John 19:34
This detail is both historical and deeply sacramental.
The Fathers of the Church frequently saw in the blood and water signs of the Eucharist and Baptism, flowing from the side of the new Adam.
As Eve was formed from the side of the sleeping Adam, the Church is mystically brought forth from the pierced side of Christ sleeping in death.
Saint Augustine taught that the Evangelist did not say merely that the soldier struck Christ’s side, but that he “opened” it, as though opening the door of life from which the sacraments of the Church flow: Saint Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 120.2.
The water from Christ’s side leads back through the whole biblical history:
- the waters of creation,
- the waters of the Flood,
- the waters of the Red Sea,
- the waters of the Jordan,
- the ritual washings of Israel,
- John’s baptism of repentance,
- and the baptismal waters of the Church.
All these streams converge at the pierced side of Christ.
From the Crucified King flow the sacraments of the new creation.
XIX. The Cross Reveals the True Nature of Kingship
The argument among the disciples over greatness was not a minor personal weakness. It revealed a deeply human misunderstanding of power.
The fallen world understands power as the ability to dominate, secure privilege, impose one’s will, and avoid suffering.
Christ reveals power as the ability to give oneself in love.
His kingship is not less real because He reigns from the Cross. It is more real, because it reveals the eternal character of God’s love.
Christ conquers not by killing His enemies, but by dying for them.
He reigns not by preserving His life, but by giving it.
He receives a crown, but it wounds Him.
He receives a royal robe, but in mockery.
He is lifted up, but upon an instrument of execution.
He receives companions at His right and left, but they are condemned criminals.
Everything appears inverted.
Yet this inversion reveals the truth.
The Cross shows that the highest throne is sacrificial love, the greatest authority is service, and the royal road to the Kingdom is self-gift.
This is the answer to James and John.
It is also the answer to every baptized Christian tempted to seek glory without the Cross.
XX. The Two Thieves Within Every Human Heart
The two thieves represent not only two historical persons but two possible responses present before every soul.
The unrepentant thief says, in effect:
“Prove yourself by removing my suffering.”
The repentant thief says:
“I deserve judgment, but remember me in mercy.”
The first demands that Christ conform to his desires.
The second entrusts himself to Christ’s Kingdom.
The first sees only weakness.
The second recognizes hidden kingship.
The first wants rescue without repentance.
The second seeks communion with Christ even in death.
Every encounter with the Cross places the human person between these two responses.
Will suffering become an occasion for rebellion, mockery, and self-justification?
Or will it become an occasion for humility, repentance, and surrender?
Baptism gives the grace to live according to the second response. Yet the baptized must continue daily to die to sin and live for God.
Baptism is received once, because it imprints an indelible character: CCC §§1272–1274. But the baptismal life must be renewed each day through conversion, prayer, penance, charity, and faithful endurance.
XXI. The Baptismal Life Is Cruciform
To be baptized is to be marked by the form of the Cross.
The Christian begins the sacramental life under the sign of the Trinity and the Cross. The baptized person belongs to the One who was crucified and risen.
This means that Baptism is not a promise of freedom from all earthly suffering. It is incorporation into Christ, who transforms suffering from within.
The Christian does not seek suffering for its own sake. Suffering is an evil insofar as it involves deprivation, pain, and the consequences of the Fall.
Yet when suffering cannot be avoided, it can be united to Christ’s Passion and offered in love.
Saint Paul writes:
“If we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.”
— Romans 8:17
The pattern is the same as in Christ:
- baptism,
- wilderness,
- ministry,
- chalice,
- Cross,
- Resurrection,
- glory.
There is no Christianity without Easter, but there is no Easter without Good Friday.
There is no baptismal resurrection without baptismal death.
XXII. From the Jordan to Calvary, from Calvary to the Font
The whole mystery can now be seen as one continuous movement.
At creation, the Spirit moved over the waters.
In the Flood, the old world died and a renewed world emerged.
At the Red Sea, God’s people passed from slavery into freedom.
At the Jordan, Israel entered the Promised Land.
In the Jewish ritual washings, the people learned the necessity of purification.
Through the prophets, God promised clean water, a new heart, and a new Spirit.
John baptized Israel in preparation for the Messiah.
Jesus entered the Jordan, identified Himself with sinners, and revealed the Trinity.
Jesus then spoke of His Passion as a second baptism.
James and John sought His right and left, but did not yet understand that His glory would be revealed upon the Cross.
At Calvary, two thieves occupied those places.
One rejected grace.
The other confessed the King and entered paradise.
From Christ’s side flowed blood and water.
After His Resurrection, Christ sent the Apostles to baptize all nations.
Thus, the movement of salvation history is:
creation through water, purification through water, liberation through water, promise through water, repentance through water, death and Resurrection in Christ, and sacramental rebirth through water and the Holy Ghost.
XXIII. The Final Meaning
The mystery of Baptism is ultimately the mystery of belonging to the Crucified and Risen King.
The right and left of Christ reveal that proximity to Him is not a matter of prestige but of conversion.
The Good Thief entered the Kingdom not because he possessed status, influence, or visible holiness. He entered because grace moved him to repentance, faith, humility, and love.
James and John were not rejected, but purified. They eventually received what they had asked for in a deeper form: fellowship with Christ through suffering and faithful witness.
The unrepentant thief warns that suffering alone does not save. One may be close to Christ outwardly and remain far from Him inwardly.
The repentant thief reveals that no sinner is beyond mercy when he turns sincerely to the King.
And Christ, between them, reveals the heart of Baptism.
To be baptized into Christ is to renounce the kingdom of pride and enter the Kingdom of sacrificial love.
It is to die with Him so as to live with Him.
It is to descend with Him so as to rise with Him.
It is to pass through the waters, through the Cross, and into the promise.
The entire mystery may therefore be summarized in the words of Saint Paul:
“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”
— Romans 6:5
The font leads to the Cross.
The Cross opens into the empty tomb.
And the repentant soul hears the promise spoken from the throne of the Crucified King:
“This day thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
— Luke 23:43