The Thief on the Cross
Luke 23:32-43 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide His garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, His Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him sour wine and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” There was also an inscription over Him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.”
Setting the scene: Jesus has been brutally scourged, beaten, crowned with thorns, and was hanging upon a cross in humiliation. He was being mocked by the guards and scoffed at by others. They justified themselves in their ridicule because in their minds, how could a divine Savior be crucified on a cross? Jesus being humble and meek prays for their forgiveness when He could have instead rejoiced in their future judgment.
Not only did those on the ground mock Him, but the dying, unbelieving thief hanging next to Him was challenging Him to prove Himself. He says to Jesus, “are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” The unbelieving thief is not rebuked by Christ, but by the other dying thief.
The faith of this believing thief is quite remarkable. He has been watching Jesus suffer on the cross, he has been listening to guards mock Jesus, he has been seeing rulers scoff at Jesus, and he has watched the helpless, dying thief make demands of Jesus. Yet this thief places his hope and faith in Christ when so many have abandoned Him and ridicule Him. This was no easy time to profess Jesus as the Christ especially when the thief could see Jesus was dying. It would have been so counter-intuitive in that moment to believe in Jesus, but he chose to do just that and he does it with profound humility.
The dying, penitent thief doesn’t ask someone on the ground to save him. He doesn’t ask one of the guards to get him down. He doesn’t plea to Pontius Pilate for mercy. He doesn’t cry out to Caesar for another chance to live a law-abiding life. No, he doesn’t even ask Jesus to save him from the punishment and humiliation. He does not challenge Jesus’ divinity as the unrepentant thief did or as Satan did in the wilderness. He doesn’t ask for Jesus to abandon His divine mission of redemption by getting down from the cross. He doesn’t ask for a sign that Jesus is the Christ, but he places his hope and his faith in Him.
The only thing the penitent thief asks of Jesus is to be remembered when He enters His kingdom. He asks the dying God-Man, the Son of God, to remember him in the future. He doesn’t ask for life on earth, he doesn’t ask for heaven, he doesn’t ask for glory, he doesn’t ask for a crown, he doesn’t ask to sit at the right hand of Christ, but only to be remembered by the King of kings and Lord of lords. What blessed humility!