By Judy Villanueva

Luke 23:32-34, 39-43

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left… One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him:  “Aren’t you the Messiah?  Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “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.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Today would be his last. He knew he was guilty and deserved what was coming, but that didn’t stop his stomach from wrenching. He was a thief and today justice would be served on the same dusty hill where he’d seen countless others hanged for their crimes. Part of him was resigned to the inevitable and part of him ached for a second chance at life. The guards were coming! He could hear their footsteps approaching and almost without thought he murmured a desperate prayer. The iron gate screeched open and before he knew it, he was grabbed and thrown face down in the dirt. Far beyond anything he could imagine, this would be a day of cosmic reckoning!

Hanging with his arms tethered to horizontal beams and his legs roped to a post, he is roused by a jeering voice and suddenly realizes he is not alone on Golgotha.  The sneers and taunts emanate from a despicable thief with whom he must apparently share his last hours.  Sighing in disgust, he starts to turn away when he notices another cross…the object of his neighbor’s ridicule.  “Is it Him,” he wonders, “the One he has heard about?” As he scrutinizes the face covered in blood and shrouded beneath a thorny crown, the man’s eyes lift and a holy power rushes toward him!  In desperation and hope, he hears himself utter, “Lord, remember me.”

It all happens in an instant — an awakening, a reckoning, and a heart made whole!

The placement of Jesus’ cross between two thieves is an astounding and graphic picture!  It is no accident that on one side hangs a man full of pride, living and dying for himself, and on the other, a humble and broken thief pleading for mercy.  And, there at the center is Jesus offering life to a lost soul…even as He dies.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we live on either side of Jesus each day.

We see Him or we don’t.  We live full of pride and self-sufficiency, or ask to be remembered. We curse what cannot control or surrender in faith to a holy God.  We breathe each breath disgruntled or full of gratitude. And finally, a day arrives when we either reject the greatest gift ever offered us or follow Jesus to paradise!

“Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me.  When I slow down and let the cross touch my life, I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  I want to be like the thief who humbled himself and asked to be remembered, not just in my final hour of life but always.  Amen.”

What about you?

Have you ever ached for a second chance at life?

Do you feel your need for Jesus?

Which thief are you?  In other words, are you trusting in yourself for your life or trusting God?

Have you said “yes” to the gift Jesus gave at Calvary?  Have you received the gift of being found, forgiven and made whole?

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