Time, Eternity and Cancer
Tomorrow, which we have always taken granted, becomes uncertain with a fatal diagnosis. Conversations suddenly matter more, a hand held beside a hospital bed matters more, and questions about God that once seemed possible to leave for another day can become immediate and deeply personal.
Recently I wrote about cancer and time, encouraging those facing serious illness to turn to God while there is still time. But that raises a tender question: what if there is very little time left? What of the person who has lived most of life without God and only begins to seek Him when death is close? And what of the family sitting beside that person, wondering what is happening within a heart they cannot see? Does God hear the prayer of someone who turns to Him at the very edge of life?
Luke's Gospel gives us a remarkable answer. Jesus is dying on the cross, and beside Him hangs a criminal who knows that he too is dying. We are not privy to all the conversation but it goes without saying that there is no time for this man to rebuild his life, undo his wrongs or spend years demonstrating the sincerity of his repentance. He has nothing left to offer except his plea: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replies, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42–43).
There may be no more comforting deathbed conversation in Scripture. Jesus does not tell the man that he should have come sooner. He does not ask him to prove himself, nor does He say that too much of his life has been wasted. The man turns to Christ with the little time he has left, and Christ receives him.
This takes us to the heart of Christian grace. The person who has followed Christ for sixty years needs mercy, and the person who turns to Him with sixty minutes remaining needs mercy. Neither earns salvation by accumulating enough goodness. Both depend upon Christ. This is not a reason to postpone turning to God, for none of us is promised tomorrow. But there is a great difference between saying, “Do not wait,” and telling someone who has waited, “It is now too late.” The thief on the cross should make us very reluctant ever to say the latter.
The Psalms reveal the same tenderness in the character of God: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them,” and, “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:17–18). Those words sound especially precious beside a hospital bed, because there may be several broken hearts in that room. There is the person whose body is failing, but also the husband or wife watching someone deeply loved grow weaker, and the son or daughter wondering how life will continue without Mum or Dad.
There may also be an unspoken fear: I don't know what they believe. We never really talked about God. What if they have left it too late? Here we need both humility and hope. We cannot see into another person's heart, particularly during the final hours of life. Illness, medication or weakness may eventually make conversation impossible, but inability to speak to us does not necessarily mean that nothing is happening within.
God does not require an eloquent prayer. The thief managed only, “Jesus, remember me.” Elsewhere, the tax collector in Jesus' parable prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” A few faltering words can be a prayer. We should never claim to know that someone turned to Christ when we do not know, but neither should we assume that because we heard no prayer, no prayer was made. There are movements of the human heart that may be known only to that person and to God.
For someone already bereaved, that distinction matters. Perhaps a person you loved died without giving you the assurance you desperately wanted. Christianity does not ask us to manufacture certainty, but neither does it require us to manufacture despair. You did not know every thought or witness every inward moment of those final hours. God did. We can entrust those we love to the One who knew them completely and whose mercy is greater than ours.
For those presently caring for someone with cancer or another terminal illness, this hope may also give us courage to speak gently about Christ. A hospital room need not become a pulpit. Sometimes love simply sits, listens and holds a hand. But we need not be afraid to tell someone that they can still speak to God. They do not need religious vocabulary or years in which to repair their past. They can simply turn to Him: Jesus, I need you. Forgive me. Have mercy on me. Remember me. These are not magic words, but the simple language of a heart turning towards Christ and in turn, turning towards righteousness.
Cancer can take an astonishing amount from a human being: strength, independence, plans and sometimes years everyone assumed were still to come. Yet it cannot, by itself, place someone beyond the reach of Christ. So yes, turn to God while there is time, and speak of Him gently to those you love while you have the opportunity. But when time has become desperately short, remember the conversation on the cross.
A dying man had no future to offer Jesus, no time to establish a better record and no years left to prove his faith. He simply turned towards Christ and said, “Jesus, remember me.”
And Christ did not say, “Too late.”
He said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Sometimes grace comes when a lifetime still lies ahead. Sometimes it meets a person in life's final hours. Our hope is not in how much time remains, but in the mercy of the Christ to whom we turn. For the dying person, and for the broken-hearted family keeping watch beside the bed, that is a hope worth holding onto.
There are are many other passages with the same heartbeat:
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Psalm 50:15 — “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
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Psalm 34:17–18 — “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears; He delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.”
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Psalm 107:10–16 — People are pictured in darkness and the shadow of death because of their rebellion. Then comes the turning point: “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.”
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Psalm 130:1–4 — “Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!” The psalmist approaches God precisely from the depths, relying upon God’s forgiveness.
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Isaiah 55:6–7 — “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” The wicked person is invited to forsake his ways and return to God, “for He will freely pardon.”
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Jonah 2:1–7 — Jonah cries to God when his situation appears hopeless: “As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple.”
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2 Chronicles 33:10–13 — Manasseh is especially remarkable. After an appallingly evil life, he is brought into severe distress, humbles himself, prays, and God hears him.
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Luke 18:13–14 — The tax collector is unwilling even to lift his eyes to heaven: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Jesus says that man went home justified.
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John 6:37 — Jesus gives one of the strongest assurances in the New Testament: “Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.”
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Romans 10:13 — “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
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Acts 2:21 — Again: “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain.