Which Side of the Cross Are You?

On the day that Jesus was led out to be crucified, He was not alone. Despite His own disciples being too tired to stand with Him in prayer as He prepared for this moment (Luke 22:45-46), when it finally came, two men who hadn’t followed Him, went with Him. But not by choice. We don’t know their names, but they are both described as ‘criminals’. And their crime must have been pretty serious as they too were facing the death penalty in the most excruciatingly painful manner perhaps ever devised: crucifixion.

With one on His left and one on His right, Jesus was raised up on a Roman cross with people sneering at Him and even His clothes being divided up (Luke 23:34). One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” This man must have been very desperate. Yet, as He watched Jesus speak out forgiveness for the very ones who had brought His unjust suffering upon Him, all he could see was his own suffering. He failed to recognise who Jesus truly was.

And yet, on the other side of Jesus, the other criminal witnessed the same things and rebuked this first man. “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” (Luke 23:40-41). How insightful he was in perceiving this truth! But it is what he said next that transformed everything. Verse 42 continues: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

What an amazing request! As this man watched Jesus dying before his very eyes, he was able to see something that seemingly no one else did at that moment. As Jesus hung dying on the cross right next to him, an injustice of the gravest magnitude was unfolding. At the exact same moment, this was Jesus entering into His eternal destiny as the Saviour of humanity. As He pushed Himself up to gain the air in His lungs to keep breathing, His cross became the entry point to His coronation. Wow! There was even a crown upon His Head! But this one was a cruel one comprised of thorns (John 19:2).

So, this criminal, who had no means of saving himself, called on Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom! What a profound faith this man had! How extraordinary it was that he believed, as Jesus hung dying right next to him, certain of death, that somehow this was the beginning of a whole new kingdom!

What Jesus said next are some of the most profound and wonderful words anyone could hear spoken: “I tell you the truth.” Jesus answered him, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Had this man deserved such a promise? No. He himself acknowledged his guilt and unworthiness. Instead, Jesus made this amazing offer to a dying man on the simple basis that he had put his faith and trust in Jesus, even as he watched Him dying before his very eyes. Indeed, the bible makes it absolutely clear, that it was by His death in our place that we are rescued from our guilt and freed to enter into God’s paradise (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:15).

In the reactions of these two criminals, we can see the embodiment of the choice facing all humanity. One man despised Jesus and turned away from Him. The other saw the same events and turned towards Jesus in faith. The former rejected the offer of paradise that was freely available, the other received it through his faith in Christ.

On this day of all days, I wonder which side of the cross do you stand?

Maybe if you would like to accept for the first time Jesus death in your place you might like to say the following prayer: “Dear LORD, I thank You that Jesus would willingly go to the cross for me, that He would suffer in my place, the innocent for the guilty. And thank You that Jesus offers me restoration to paradise, that reconnection with my heavenly Father achieved for me through the sacrifice of Jesus in my place. Thank You for saving me. Amen.”

And if we do know that Jesus died on our behalf, this changes everything about who we are and how we live. What a wonderful moment to say ‘thank You`, especially today, for His loving sacrifice: