This story is of divine mercy that proceeded from Jesus to a condemned criminal hanging on a cross next to Jesus. It is found in the book of Luke, chapter 23, verses 32–43:
(32)Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. (33)When they came to the place called “The Skull,” they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. (34)Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing.” They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice.
(35)The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders made fun of him: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!” (36)The soldiers also made fun of him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, (37)and said, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!” (38)Above him were written these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”
(39)One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (40)The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. (41)Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” (42)And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!” (43)Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”
Jesus did not die alone. Two criminals were crucified next to him.
Jesus was sentenced to die because the Jewish leaders had demanded that Jesus be crucified by the Roman rulers of Jerusalem. They accused Jesus of claiming to be the Messiah, a king (Luke 23:2). They charged that anyone who claimed to be a king was a rebel against the Emperor (Caesar) (John 19:12). The Roman governor gave in to their demands, and ordered that a notice in three languages (Aramaic, Latin and Greek) be fastened to the cross, reading, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19–20).
As Jesus hung on the cross, he was mocked by three categories of people. The first were the Jewish leaders who made fun of Jesus, saying, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God had chosen!” (Luke 23:35). The second were the soldiers, who said to him, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!” (Luke 23:37). The third was one of the criminals hanging on a cross next to Jesus, who said to him insultingly, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39).
It is interesting to note that the criminal who hurled insults at Jesus actually said, “Save… us!” This was an example of an unbelieving ‘prayer’. It is possible for us to say things to God without meaning it and without expecting an answer to it.
The other criminal who hung on a cross rebuked the first criminal, saying, “Do you not fear God? You received the same sentence he did. Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:40–41). This other criminal brought up the fear of God. They were hung on the cross to die, and would soon appear before the face of God. He had accepted that the punishment meted out to him and the other criminal was just, but expressed faith that Jesus who was suffering with them had done no wrong and was the Messiah.
This other criminal turned to Jesus and asked, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!” (Luke 23:42). He believed that Jesus would survive the crucifixion, and believed contrary to the Jewish leaders, the soldiers and the criminal who insulted Jesus, that Jesus was indeed King and Messiah. This criminal asked only that Jesus would remember him, when Jesus came to inaugurate his kingdom. It is not clear from this request what the criminal believed he would gain from Jesus’ rememberance of him, but it reflected his esteem of and belief in Jesus.
Unexpected to the criminal (and how sweet it must have been to a condemned man), Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me” (Luke 23:43). This was mercy from the cross. As Jesus hung dying, he was dying for people such as this man, and billions of people.
Each one of us is in need of this same hope that Jesus gave to the criminal at the final hours of the criminal’s life.
The Bible says: “ For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23–26).
The death of Jesus on the cross was a sacrifice of atonement by God, to God himself. An atonement is the satisfaction of a price to be paid. The price to be paid for sin is death (Romans 6:23), and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22). (This is a universal law known to man the world over, and why there exists in so many ancient cultures the practice of animal sacrifices for sins, and capital punishment for unrestitutable sins.) The shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross makes it possible for our sins to be fully forgiven.
Why Jesus? He was not a mere religious teacher or ‘holy man’ that taught divine truths. The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son — that is, Jesus — that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). The giving of his Son to us is God’s ultimate sacrifice for our sins, made in love for us. It was made to satisfy God’s own righteous requirement that sin must be punished. The blood of Jesus was shed on the cross, and his death paid for all the sin of the world. It was an act of justification, that sin must not be unpunished: Jesus took our punishment.
Are we all alright then? Can we all be assured that our sins are forgiven and that we will be in Paradise with Jesus when this life is over? The answer is that whoever believes in Jesus will be saved. The justification, redemption and sacrifice of atonement that God has provided thru Jesus is received by faith. Like the criminal who asked Jesus to remember him, we express faith in Jesus by simply saying to him that we believe in him.
Two men hung dying on the crosses next to Jesus’. To one was given the promise of Paradise. To the other, there was no such promise made. Would that other man also have believed in Jesus, he too would have made it to Paradise. Did he? If one believes that the choice and power to believe is in one’s own will, then it would have been entirely up to the man.
How about you? Have you believed in Jesus? Although you and I are not hung on the cross next to Jesus like the two criminals were, we can identify with them. One of the authors of the New Testament, the apostle Paul, who never met Jesus in the flesh, was able to write: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 3:20). This is my confession too. If you make this confession yours and believe in He who died on the cross for you, the promise of Paradise is for Jesus to keep for you.