Which Thief Are You?

Which Thief Are You?

There were three crosses on that hill that day. Two of the men hanging there were guilty. They deserved to be there. Jesus did not. Jesus was innocent, sinless, and perfect. He is the spotless Lamb of God, the new Adam, the one who obeyed God completely without fail. He came to seek His bride and purchase her with His own blood. Yet on that cross, there were really three stories unfolding: the story of Jesus and the stories of these two criminals.

Luke 23:39–43 gives us the responses of the two thieves crucified with Christ, and their responses force a question upon every one of us: Which response have you given?

The first thief responded with disbelief. Luke tells us, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us’” (Luke 23:39). He mocked Jesus. He saw Jesus in the same physical condition as himself, nailed to a cross, suffering and suffocating under one of the most torturous forms of death ever devised. This thief knew what Jesus claimed. He knew the stories. He even said the truth when he asked, “Are you not the Christ?” Yet he did not believe it.

What he wanted was salvation without the cross. He wanted Jesus to come down, deliver Himself, and rescue them both. Jesus could have done that. He is the omnipotent Son of God in human flesh. Yet it was not the Father’s plan for Jesus to come down before the work was finished. If Jesus had come down from that cross, that thief would have gone to hell, and so would all of us. The whole world would be lost.

That first thief wanted salvation another way. He wanted rescue apart from atonement, apart from wrath being satisfied, apart from sin being paid for. Many people still want that kind of salvation. They know about Jesus. They may attend church services, hear the gospel, and even speak true things about Christ. Yet they do not actually trust Him as the only way of salvation. They want heaven, but not through the bloody cross of Christ.

The second thief responded very differently. What makes this so striking is that the other Gospel accounts show that he too had mocked Jesus earlier. Both thieves had done so. Yet something changed. Hanging on that cross, the Spirit of God opened his eyes to see what was really happening.

He rebuked the first thief and said, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?” (Luke 23:40). He understood that they were there justly. They were criminals. They deserved judgment. He also understood something else: eternity was near. In only a short time, he would stand before God.

Then he said, “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41). That is where true faith begins. He confessed his own guilt and Christ’s innocence. He knew he deserved death. He knew Jesus did not.

Then came his cry of faith: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). This man understood more than we might think. He believed Jesus really was King. He believed Jesus would have a kingdom. He believed death would not be the end for Christ. In that moment, he entrusted himself entirely to Jesus.

Christ’s answer is one of the sweetest promises in all of Scripture: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

What had this man done to earn that promise? Nothing. He had no good works to offer. He had no chance to be baptized. He had no time to make amends. He simply believed. He placed his faith in Jesus Christ alone, and Jesus received him.

That is the only way of salvation. One thief died in his sins. The other died in faith. Both were guilty, but one was saved because he looked to Christ.

We should see ourselves in this story. In one sense, we are both of those thieves. We are guilty sinners, and the wages of sin is death. The question is not whether we deserve judgment. We do. The question is this: what are we doing with Jesus?

Are you like the first thief, who knows the truth about Jesus but wants salvation another way? Or are you like the second thief, who confesses, “I deserve judgment, but Christ is my only hope”?

This is why Good Friday is good. It is good because on that cross a full and final payment for sin was made. Jesus did not come down. He stayed. He suffered. He finished the work. He gave His life so that guilty sinners might be saved.

So the question remains: Which thief are you?