Which Thief Are You?

"Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, 'If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.'  But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not even fear God since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.  But this man has done nothing wrong.'  The he said, 'Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'  Jesus answered him, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'  -Luke 23:39-43

This is perhaps one of the most touching moments in all of the Bible.  Down to his last moments, a thief who is nailed on the cross next to Jesus, cries out for salvation.  In all of His pain and anguish, both seen and unseen, Jesus comforts the thief and assures him of his eternity.  What a moment.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus was crucified between two thieves.  It is important to note that crucifixion was a punishment reserved only for the worst of criminals.  These guys were no petty thieves.  More than likely, they were murderers, rapists, kidnappers or even all of the above.  Either way, according to Roman law, they were guilty and deserving of crucifixion.

When we begin reading these verses, one thief is insulting Jesus.  If you read the Gospel of Mark it says that both thieves insulted Him (Mark 15:32).  Is this a contradiction?  Hardly.  When you put the Gospels together, it is apparent that both thieves did initially mock Christ while on the cross, however, after Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," (Luke 23:34) one of the thieves has a change of heart.  The question remains:  why wouldn't the other thief repent?

One thought is that the thief wanted to fit in with the world.  Of course there were many people at the foot of the cross that hurled insults at Christ and by insulting Christ himself, maybe the thief thought the world might see him differently.  He was looking for acceptance by the world rather than acceptance by God.  On the other hand, the repentant thief was so touched by Christ's words on the cross, that he felt convicted.  Notice how the thief calls Jesus "Lord".  By saying that, the thief was admitting to Jesus that he was a sinner and there was no way he was going to be able to save himself.  So he cried out and asked Jesus to remember him.  There was no special phrase.  No magical words.  Just complete surrender.

The whole world falls into two categories:  the insulting thief or the repentant thief.  Many people in the world want nothing to do with God.  Whether people intend to or not, they insult God by not accepting the free gift of salvation through Jesus.  In essence, they are the insulting thief on the cross.  No matter how bad life gets, they refuse to cry out to God.  They would rather try to fit in with the world than submit to God.  But here is what many people don't understand:  no matter how bad you try to conform to the world, it will never truly love you.  I'm sure the thief thought that by insulting Jesus, the people would bring him down and forgive him.  But it didn't happen.  They still let him suffer and die on the that cross.  And I guarantee you, that thief is still regretting his decision to this day.

There are, however, some people who choose to be like the repentant thief.  They know that they are sinners and that they should be punished for the sins they have committed.  But still they trust that God will save them just as He has promised.  They cry out to Jesus and ask that He doesn't forget them.  They submit to Christ and deem Him Lord of their lives.  These people are called Christians.  We trust in Christ, who lived a perfect life, was crucified for our sins, and resurrected three days later.  We don't rely on our own works because we can never they can never be good enough.  No matter how many good things we do, our deeds are like filthy rags when we compare them to Christ's perfection.  So we have faith that on the day of judgement, God the Father will not see our sinful lives but rather the righteousness that is in Christ.  

So which one are you?  Are you an insulting thief?  It doesn't have to be that way.  Remember, at one point, both thieves insulted Jesus.  But ultimately, one thief realized his need for Christ.  In the same way, Christians are just thieves who used to insult God with their sins but have now recognized that we need Him.

As the repentant thief showed, as long as you are alive, it is never too late to repent and turn to Jesus.  If you haven't put your faith in Christ yet, I urge you to do so, not just to save yourself from an eternity separated from God but so that you can personally experience the love of Christ in your life.