“Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Luke 23:42

The blood was dripping as it flowed from their hands and feet. The road of calvary had already weakened them as they carried their cross through the city and then out to the place of the skull. Now as each second passed with the weight and immensity of years they hang dying. They were criminals. Their death was proof of their guilt. In the Roman world there were many ways to execute. Crucifixion was reserved for the most vile. The cross was proof of Rome’s power, any who challenged the King’s rule would lose. Crime was not going to be tolerated. Murder, insurrection, even stealing would not withstand the Emperor’s might.
In between the two hang a man unlike most. Above his head the inscription reads his crime, “King of the Jews”. The cross was not meant merely to kill, but to humiliate and shame them to death. The public display gave the audience an opportunity to rail and insult the condemned. Jesus heard them as they mocked and jeered at him, “He saved others”. The criminals also ridicule him. Naked and dying he prays for them. Perhaps it was his prayer, or maybe the fact that death removes the illusions we hide behind. Something changed in the thief. In a crowd of lies and hate, he defends Jesus and looks to him with hope. The thief believes the truth about Jesus.
Fast forward two thousand years we see the truth trampled under the feet of humanity on a daily basis. We live in a world of denial and self deception, but the truth cannot be suppressed forever. The time is coming when “Every knee shall bow…and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10, 11). In the end, the truth will be revealed. He is alive!
>