NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR

We should not underestimate the horror of crucifixion.

It was a tool of terror and oppression, including public shame and physical torture. Crosses would line the main roads outside the cities of Roman-occupied nations as a grim warning to anyone who contemplated revolt or rebellion. This was the exclamation point that punctuated Paul’s description of Jesus’ trajectory of humility and descent.

“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8). With a storyteller’s symmetry—crucified between two criminals, “one on his right, the other on his left” (Luke 23:33)—Jesus “was numbered with the transgressors” (Luke 22:37, quoting Isaiah 53:12).

And these two hardened criminals, despite, or because of, their common suffering and shame, chose two alternative responses to Jesus’ presence with them. Bizarrely, the first joined in with those who were insulting Jesus. But his mocking suggestion that Jesus save Himself—“and us!”—from the cross brought a rebuke from the one on the other side of Jesus. “Don’t you fear God,” said the second criminal, “since you are under the same sentence?” (Luke 23:40). We do not know what previous interactions they might have had with Jesus, whether through His public ministry or just on the day of their crucifixion. Perhaps the one had simply been observing the way in which Jesus suffered, but he recognized something different in Jesus.

Somehow, in Jesus, he saw a peace and hope that transcended even the horror and hopelessness of crucifixion. Imagine how this must have encouraged Jesus as He neared the end of His ordeal and His mission. In contrast to the mocking of the first criminal, this second man made an unlikely but heartfelt confession: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). And Jesus heard and acknowledged his prayer as they suffered and died together.