ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – PARADISE – PARADESA – פרדיטא 

Luke 23:41-43: “And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.  (42) And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  (43) And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Let’s look closely at this thief on the cross.  For one thing, he may not have been a thief. Scripture calls him a malefactor or a criminal Luke 23:33.  Malefactor in Greek kakourgous which is a lawbreaker or a criminal.  This really cannot be correct because criminals were not crucified in the Roman Empire.  Only slaves or traitors to the empire were crucified. Criminals usually were whipped, had limbs cut off, or suffered some other fate.  The Aramaic most likely has the correct word, he was an ‘avad.  “Avad is an Aramaic word for a servant, a labor or a slave. Slaves that tried to run away or attempted to injure or kill their masters were usually crucified. The others who were crucified were traitors to the government. Since Jesus was not a slave they could only crucify him as a traitor. That is why they put the sign over him “King of the Jews.”  To be declared a king was treasonous.  

This slave said he deserved his fate. It is very possible that these two men attempted to injure or kill their master and were now being crucified for this act. We don’t know but what we do know is that this one slave admitted he deserved to die for his actions.  He was confessing his sins before Jesus.  His act of confession was also showing repentance.  Finally, he was admitting that Jesus was the Son of God when he called upon Him to remember him.

This man did not ask Jesus to remember him when Jesus got to heaven or paradise, just to be remembered.  The word remember is dakar in Aramaic and means to remember but to remember for a purpose. If this man knew enough to know that Jesus was the Son of God, he then knew enough that man had the ability to appear before God and plead his case for forgiveness.  He was not asking for heaven or paradise, he was just asking for forgiveness.  Jesus responded by saying: “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”  Why did Jesus not say heaven, Abraham’s bosom or just with me?   Why use this word paradise? 

Actually, in the Aramaic this is in a perfect form, “This day you are with me in paradise.”  We, of course, cannot translate it that way for how could hang on a cross be paradise?  But soft, what is paradise? The word paradise in Aramaic is paradesa, which is a loan word from the Persian language.  It means a garden of pleasure.  Some say it is the Garden of Eden, but Jesus would have said that it was Eden.  He meant something else. 

You see, we Christians seem to just focus on heaven. Our race is to make it to heaven. But what did Jesus tell this repenting man on a cross? He said;  “Diodmna gama.”  “This day you will be with me” It could be rendered, however, in a perfect form as “At this moment you are with me.” 

My father used to always ask me what I thought heaven was like.  I would give the usual streets of gold, mansions and pearly gates answer.  My father would smile and say, “No heaven is to be with Jesus.”  Over the years I have learned what he meant.  As long as I have Jesus with me I am in heaven right now.  Death is merely a transition to a greater awareness of His presence.  I Corinthians 15:55: “O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?” The word sting in Greek is kentron which is a sharp point or a goad.  But in the Aramaic, the word is euqesa which means to carry a load, a burden.  This man was dying with a burden a burden of sin. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said: “oh death where is thy sting.”  He was not referring to physical pain that sometimes accompanies death but to the burden of sin that a man carries to his death.

Jesus literally told this dying man, suffering immense torment on the cross that: “Your sins are forgiven, the burden of death is lifted, you are with me now you are now in a garden of pleasure.”  This slave could close his eyes and spend his last moments in tranquil peace as if he were in the midst of a beautiful garden. Then he felt someone’s arms around him and when he opened his eyes he saw it was Jesus who simply said: “See I promised you would be with me.”

You see death was never meant to be feared, God created death, it was meant to be graduation when we finished our course.  Just like high school and college.  You spend years studying, preparing to look forward to that day of graduation.  You will not leave school until the course is finished,  you do not drop out, you finish the course and graduate.  Oh, you cry over the separation from friendships and good times during your course of study, but you are ready to move on to be with your Savior.  Death has no sting because you are already in heaven with Jesus at your side, you are already in paradesa with no burden of sin.