When you read the account of Jesus’ death on the cross at Calvary (Golgotha), are you seeing the whole picture? Many people don’t. They see one thing happen there and that one thing is Jesus’ death, but is there more? What about his death? So many people can tell you he died there but they really don’t know the significance or anything outside the fact that he died hanging on a cross. What about the other 2 men who were also there hanging to their deaths? Do they have any significance? It wasn’t an accident or just by chance that they were there, I can tell you that. God always has a plan. Nothing that is done is by accident or just by chance because God is in control of all things and everything is significant. Do we see it? Do we make this scene about us? Is it? What does it say about God? Let’s look at it together. First you need to read the scripture so you know what is being discussed. You can read the account in several places and we are only focusing on the day of the crucifixion but please read the events leading up to it and after (his burial and resurrection). I suggest reading all 4 passages.

• Matthew 27:32-56
• Mark 15:20-41
• Luke 23:32-49
• John 19:16-37

If you’ve read all 4 passages you will find these facts:

• Jesus was taken with 2 other men to Golgotha (The place of the skull) or Calvary
• The 2 men carried their crosses but Jesus did not carry his own
• Jesus was in the middle of these 2 men (criminals is the CSB version and the one I choose to refer to them as)
• Pilate had a sign made and placed over Jesus that read, Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews”
• Soldiers took and divided Jesus’ clothes
• People watching mocked him and in Matthew and Mark both criminals did as well
• Jesus prays to the Father to forgive the people
• One criminal acknowledged who Jesus was and his own wrong doings and asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus promises this criminal would be with him in paradise.
• Jesus gave up his spirit (Luke 23:46 details what Jesus said)
• It took about 3 hours for him to die

Obviously if you’re a follower of Christ you know this story and you know this was the plan of salvation, for Jesus to die. Now many people get wrong what he died for because they say he died to pay for sin, but that is not true. They say he died to take sin away, also not true. How do I know this? Sin still exists. So what did he die for? Jesus died to pay the WAGES of sin, or consequence for sin. So then people say, okay, that’s death, so he died so we can live. Well…yes, but what does that mean? It means eternal death or more specifically, eternal separation from God, a spiritual death; never to be restored to communion with God. Jesus paid that price so that through him we can be called righteous and be restored to the Father. Without Jesus, you can’t be. You must be redeemed, or born again.

You are redeemed by Jesus’ shed blood, he was the last sacrificial lamb. Many people will claim all manner of who put Jesus on the cross. The truth is, Jesus put himself there. He is God in the flesh, he didn’t have to go through everything he did, he could have easily stopped it. Why didn’t he? He was obeying the Father’s will. He did this out of love. Love of the Father and love of humanity. Nobody put Jesus there but Jesus. Think about what he went through for you. It wasn’t just physical pain he bore. He felt that separation from God. He took that suffering for you so that you can be reconciled to right relationship to God the Father. A relationship that had been severed when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the garden.

So, that’s all most people see here when they read this account. It’s a big part, a very important part, but what are they missing? How many times have you been told or heard that in order to be saved you need to ask God forgiveness of your sins, you need to do good works, you need to baptized or you need to do xyz in order to know you are saved? Well you know what? We have an example of what we need to do right here in this account. There were 2 criminals next to Jesus. Both mocked him according to Matthew and Mark. Luke’s account tells us that one of them changed his tune, right there, dying on a cross. We don’t have all the details and I don’t want to make assumptions, but this is just what we know on the pages we read.

Luke 23:40-43; ⁴⁰ But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don’t you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, because we’re getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³ And he said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

That is literally all we know. We have no idea about this man’s crimes or what kind of life he led. We can assume (but it’s better to not add anything to scripture that is not there) that he was not baptized, he did not do any “good works”, or pray a special prayer, or anything like that. What did he do? He recognized himself as deserving of punishment and that Jesus did not. He acknowledged that Jesus had a kingdom he was coming into and he wanted to be part of it. This means he believed Jesus was who he said he was and he believed Jesus had the power to save. We have no idea what this man knew or thought of Jesus before this. We don’t even know this mans name. Jesus assured him of being with him, just for those statements he made, right then, about to die.

What does this mean for us? It means we are saved by believing Jesus is the perfect, sinless, Son of God with a kingdom. Now there are many things we can learn in the Bible about living right in order to obey God, to follow Christ, but what I’m saying is we don’t have that information about this criminal. We know he must have broken laws or he wouldn’t have been there. There was no special prayer he prayed and no indication he prayed at all. We do have a model life to follow (Jesus) and we should live that way but this criminal did not have the opportunity. We do those things because we love God and wish to be in accordance to his will in faithful obedience. One day there will be rewards or crowns and these are given based on how you lived. But doing those things are not what saves you. If you don’t recognize yourself as a sinner in need of a savior than you’d never believe Jesus is the lamb of God who shed his blood on a cross to pave the way to the Father for you. You’d never see him as Savior or redeemer. You need to humble yourself to see that. That’s what it looks like this criminal did.

These 2 criminals represent human beings in the world. We have a choice to make. Choose Jesus or reject him. Works are not part of salvation, not for us, Jesus did the work. Works include asking for forgiveness, helping needy, volunteering, being kind, changing your lifestyle, etc. I’m not saying these things aren’t things we need to be doing, because we should be. Why? We show love by actions. How do we show God we love him? We obey him in our daily lives. In order to do that we need to humble ourselves because God is sovereign, he is in control and believe me, he knows best. We know God’s moral law, it is the 10 commandments. We also know we can’t keep them perfectly, (and don’t pretend you’ve never broken one) but through Jesus we are made righteous. Jesus said that love is what we need to keep. Without it, you can never keep the rest.

Matthew 22:36-40; ³⁶ “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷ He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the greatest and most important command. ³⁹ The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

So what does this account tell us about God? God is merciful. God is love. God is gracious. Paul tells us in case you had any doubt.

Ephesians 2:1-10; And you were dead in your trespasses and sins ² in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. ³ We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. ⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,⁵ made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! ⁶ He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— ⁹ not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

All scripture is quoted from the Christian Standard Bible version.

https://read.csbible.com