Should we follow the example of a violent criminal? What if your eternity depends on it?
“Now two others, who were criminals, were also being led away to be put to death with Him."
Luke 23:32 (NASB)
In Raphael, Dean McLeod used the story of the “Thief on the Cross” as a way to share the Gospel with a recently demon-possessed Sarah Tompkins. In Defectors, Tracker the wolf describes a miraculous meeting with the thief, a huge extinct dog and a dangerous pack of wolf folk.
Once known generally as the thieves on the cross, the two criminals are also described, depending on the translation, as “the criminals/ robbers/ rebels/ revolutionaries/ bandits/ brigands on the cross.” Those interpretations seem to make more sense.
There is a tendency to think of the thief-on-the-cross as some sort of Jean Valjean, the lead character in Les Misérables who served 19 years of hard labor because he stole a loaf of bread to save his starving nephew.
Some look at the thieves as hapless but good hearted-flannel-graph characters we may remember from childhood. Those characterizations are not valid. The severe punishment of crucifixion is a hint at the type of people these thieves were (but punishment level alone it is not necessarily confirming.) Thieves, especially thieves who were slaves, even in the absence of violence, could be subject to crucifixion. But the word used to describe these two “thieves” is the Greek word léstés. That word describes a violent kind of thief. More of a pirate or a violent marauder type of thief. Thus, the two were no Jean Valjeans. Instead, it appears they were very dangerous people.
Most likely they were the type of bad men that have always preyed on weaker people and weak societies. We see their types on TV news and YouTube all the time. These types were the kind who, if they lived today, would beat a man to death just to steal his credit card. They likely spent their lifetimes serving themselves and assuredly serving Satan. That’s what those types do.
In fact, the two criminals continued to serve Satan even after they were nailed to their crosses.
"Likewise, the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing."
Matthew 27:41-44 (NKJV)
But something happened.
Something changed with one of the robbers. Luke 23 describes what happened next.
"One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other responded, and rebuking him, said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our crimes; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
And he was saying, “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.”
Luke 23: 39-43 (NASB)
The text does not say how or why the criminal changed. But he did. Within the scope of six or so hours, the criminal went from a mocking accuser to something far better. In the midst of pain so extreme that only a new word (excruciating) could describe it, he found God and he changed because of it. Perhaps it happened the way the thief in Defectors described it to Tracker:
“…In fact, while on the cross, I had nothing but contempt for the Rabbi. At least at first. But by his grace I saw the injustice and my eyes were opened. I knew he was the redeemer of scripture. Of course, I didn’t have much of a theology and I sure never earned my way into heaven, if that were possible. Instead, I was given mercy despite my heavy load of sin. And the Father gave me one last chance. That too was an act of overwhelming grace. Many receive no such chances.”
I suspect that most of us, at some point, were, or are, just like the criminal before his redemption. In fact, except for the violence part, serving Satan is what most people unknowingly do.
Until the day that my wife and I fell to our knees and surrendered our lives to Christ, we unknowingly served Satan. Our friends and family probably didn’t think we served Satan. We weren’t violent, we looked clean and tidy, and we were generally pleasant and polite people. But looks and hearts deceive. The truth is that like it or not, we were probably as sinful as that thief. A quick read of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount confirms that our thought life can be just as condemning as our actions. Both murder and murderous thoughts, while treated differently here on earth, are both hated by God.
Like it or not, all of us are either on Team Satan or Team Jesus. It’s a small league of only two teams and the ancient war for recruits goes back to the very beginning. The odds are in favor of Satan. It has always been that way.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:13 (NASB)
With only a few horrible, painful hours left to his life, the once violent criminal on the cross found the narrow road. And he took it. He became a defector.
It has been two thousand years since the day he defected. That is 730,000 days in paradise for that blessed man. And he still has an eternity of paradise before him. Even while on the cross, the decision to surrender to Christ was hard. It is a strangely hard decision for all who make it.
There are indeed some true costs associated with such a surrender. Defecting to Christ is usually a difficult thing to do. Like most other people, the other criminal refused to surrender. His reasons, whatever they were, now seem so petty.
No one will have a choice as to whether they will, or will not, live for an eternity. They will. The only choice is where that eternity will be spent.
Pick your teams wisely.