Crucifixion was not uncommon in the Roman Empire. This was the Romans' way of really torturing criminals and putting them to death for crimes they had committed. So here we have our Lord Jesus Christ, hanging on a cursed cross, along with two criminals who were thieves. But Jesus had done no wrong, He didn't deserve to be crucified on a cross. But as He hung there suffering excruciating pain, his first mind was on forgiveness. He prayed for his enemies, "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34.
Now we have two criminals, one hanging on either side of Jesus; and I am sure they had heard about all the miracles and the good that Jesus had done among the people. They probably had, at some point, been in the crowds that gathered around Jesus as He taught and healed the people. One thief lashes out at Jesus in desperation, saying, if You really are Who You say You are, "save Yourself and us." (Luke 23:39). And the other one rebukes that thief and asks Jesus to remember him when He comes into His kingdom. Notice one says, "If" and other one says, "When". There is no doubt in this thief's mind that Jesus is Who He says He is. He had the fear of God in his heart and the Holy Spirit revealed to him Who Jesus is; just as the Holy Ghost did for Peter. (Matthew 16:16). That thief had faith in Jesus, and Jesus had taught over and over again that it was faith that moved the hand of God. "According to your faith be it unto you." Matthew 9:29. So, Jesus' reply to the thief was an eternal life-giving word, "Verily, I say unto thee, to day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:43. It was a word of forgiveness.
Jesus did not go back to the Father empty handed. This thief was His first convert, washed in His Blood. He didn't have time to be baptized; he didn't have time to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues, but he made it in: he was escorted by the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, and presented to the Father by Him. Jesus said the first shall be last and the last shall be first. So many people have been in the "way" for years, working their fingers to the bone, thinking they are doing what Jesus wants them to do and they will hear, "Depart from Me, I never knew you." Could it be a heart problem? What is the motive behind all of the work? This thief had no hidden agenda. He came just as he was, nothing fixed up trying to impress Jesus. God wants from us a broken and contrite heart; He wants repentance with true humility; just like that thief, hanging there on the cross. He requires our complete trust in Him.
It is not the will of God that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus died for the whole world, He came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17). This thief was a part of the world that Jesus came to save. We cannot pick and choose who we will witness to or who we will tell about the good news of the Gospel. Our duty is to bring souls to Jesus no matter what it takes to get it done: the unlovely, the unkind, the unforgivable, the down and outers, the smelly drunkard, the dirty drug addict, and yes, the lying thief. Jesus' forgiveness reaches out to all of them; red, yellow, brown, black, and white: Jew and gentile; the whole world.
If we expect God to wipe our slate clean, we will have to free others with the same forgiveness that Jesus extended on the cross to that dying thief. Jesus forgave and interceded for His accusers. True forgiveness does not remember the bad or the way the wrong was done. True forgiveness is not judgmental. Remember, we will be judged by the same measuring stick that we used to judge. When we do not release others y forgiving them, we hurt ourselves: we actually place ourselves in bondage; the blessings of God are unable to truly flow in our lives because there is a blockage. Jesus did not think abut all the wrong that the thief had done; He looked at his repentant heart and covered him in His Blood, - and released him from his sins. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will you Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:14-15.
