People with a lot of money hire craftsmen to make them gods. The artisan delivers the god, and they kneel and worship it! Isaiah 46:6
Preoccupying my thoughts of late have been the two thieves flanking Christ at His crucifixion. We have three crosses: two are occupied by criminals and upon the third one hangs, The Christ. The placement of Christ in the center of these two men, one on His right and one on His left, seems particularly significant to me. He is THE CENTRAL FIGURE of our collective past, our present and most critically, of our eternal future.
Like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was placed at the very center of Eden’s garden, here we find Christ centered between a repentant sinner and a recalcitrant one. Hanging, in a sense, between good and evil. Even at that late and suffering hour, each criminal had their own choice to make. Christ of course, chose complete submission to His Father’s will; He chose the way of deepest love and compassion for His own, even for those who had not yet come to Him.
Christ occupies the very center of a life that conquers death; His obedience on the cross is the sole, righteous dividing line in so many ways: between wheat and tares, between goats and sheep, between parent and child, between brother and sister, between friend and foe.
Scripture tells us that someone might be willing to die for a “good” person, and we see this played out in the heroes who have bravely shielded the life of an innocent child or adult from their attackers. A well-known preacher asked this rhetorical question just the other day: “Would anyone be willing to die to protect a criminal?” He makes a great point—this is exactly what Jesus did that day! He saved a common thief…and He saves you and me.
In a sense, isn’t that what we all are? We steal nearly every day. We rob God of the time and attention due Him; we are prone to wander, to worship the idols of this world that man creates, rather than worshipping the God of all creation. We spend small fortunes on our personal fancies, and neglect the needy. The list goes on, which only serves to make plain the point of humanity’s deepest need—a need felt since a long ago day, in a long ago garden. We need not hide our “sin within” from God (‘tis futile anyway), He made a very public demonstration of His love for us!
His grace and mercy was also on full display in the Garden of Eden. After fruit was consumed from the forbidden tree, God came strolling through the garden, and for the first time Adam and Eve hid from Him. A covenant had been broken, they were feeling guilty and ashamed. The same voice that spoke creation into being, speaks His first words of reconciliation, “Adam, where are you?” God knew exactly where he was, the calling was merely an extending of the proverbial olive branch. God is still calling to us today…where might we be found?
Two criminals, two crosses. In the past, I have merely looked at this as a stark reminder that they represent the totality of our choices in this world—pursuing goodness or evil, with Jesus responding to each of these choices. Yet, there is so much more to understand. The repentant sinner recognizes Jesus for who He is, and responds to Him. The other thief remains darkly silent. It’s as if he is filled with a seething contempt, not just for Jesus, but likely for his brother in crime who now betrays him—he even has the audacity to try to reason with him about who Christ is! He wants no part in this, and surely in his heart looks upon them both with a penetrating hatred. Once thick as thieves, now he has become a traitor to their cause. He views him as a weak, sniveling coward, bowing and scraping, begging for mercy from this Jesus-man to save him.
This is an amazingly accurate portrayal of those who hold utter disdain for who God is. This suffering thief is in the midst of a tortuous death; he is experiencing a type of physical agony that none of us could ever totally comprehend. Yet even in those moments, he does not feel compelled to examine even the possibility of Who. Christ. Is. His silent stubbornness runs deep and cold. Jesus remains just as silent concerning him. Jesus is Savior to the one who repents and offers him lasting encouragement; He is also just judge to the one who wholly dismisses Him, who utters not a word. Jesus respects his choice and offers no words of comfort or assurance.
Three bodies hung on crosses that day. One of them died. One of them traded a sinful shell for eternal forgiveness and entered Paradise that very day with not a single trace of thievery about him. He was as spotless as if it never existed—because it no longer does! That One in the center returned home to His Father as Savior, Lord and King. He is now seated at the Father’s right hand and intercedes on our behalf until His return. He awaits, with great anticipation, The Day He is able to bring us to the home He has lovingly prepared for us.
How tragic for the one who died. Perhaps he represents the greatest missed opportunity in all the Bible: The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is right by your side—and you missed it! The greatest event in all of human history and you are part of it—you were there!
He took things that didn’t belong to him; perhaps there was physical violence or murder as a part of that, we do not know. But we do know that everything he needed to pardon his crimes and to gain eternity with the Savior, was right there beside him.
No one loves apart from God, and no one is good apart from our High and Holy Priest who takes away the sins of the world. If we, through faith, repent of our sins, He is faithful to forgive us. Jesus cancels our every sin debt in full. He paid our price, though it cost Him everything. Oh what sweetness flows from the bitter cup of God’s wrath Jesus drank on our behalf. He took the suffering we incur and the punishment we deserve, upon Himself.
Here are lyrics from a hymn I heard just this morning as I was getting ready for church. They seemed quite appropriate for this writing…
Open our eyes, Lord,
we want to see Jesus,
to reach out and touch him,
and say that we love him.
Open our ears, Lord,
and help us to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord,
we want to see Jesus. Robert Cull