Jesus' promise to the "thief on the cross" that he will be with Jesus in paradise speaks to our soul. Paradise is what all of us long for. We were banished from it, and we have since been longing to return. Jesus demonstrates that the way to return to the tree of life is not by the way we came, but through the tree of death that he hangs upon. As we identify with those who hung on crosses next to Jesus, we realize that their two responses are our options: ridicule or humble desperation.