The Two Criminals at the Cross According to Luke, Jesus was crucified between two criminals, one who

cursed him and one who blessed him. Even unbelievers may be struck by this poignant scene of Jesus hanging on the horizon above him Pilates sign in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS, below him the women and his mother and John the beloved disciple, on his left criminal derision, and on his right an expression of true faith, also from a criminal. Hanging beside him, the faithless criminal cursed Jesus, saying, If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us. Whatever it means exactly, the key word is cursedor blasphemed in some translations. It seems to be the scorn, derision, and coldness of heart at fault, not mere doubting as Thomas expressed and as David exemplified in his psalms. This distinction between faithless words and crying out in faith is evident when Jesus scolded his followers earlier in Luke. In their little fishing boat, threatened by the storm, the disciples said, We are about to die! Jesus asked them, Where is your faith? not because they cried out to him but perhaps because they set their eyes on the natural situation alone and despaired of life. The criminals response is also similar to modern writers like Samuel Beckett wholooking at natural experienceimagine that any God of this absurd world would be unfair, giving more pricks than kicks. Some seem to ask, If there be a loving God, why doesnt he save himself and us? To the lost generation, faith is lost in the unseen in general and in Christs heaven in particular. Even some movements under the banner of faithsuch as the prosperity gospel and word of faith, name-it-and-claim-it crowdseem to focus on this present world and almost demand a Christ that would save himself and us. Nevertheless, at the crucifixion, the first criminal to speak is at worst allying himself with Jesus killers (when even Pilate washed his hands) and at best displaying a lack of faith. As the counterpoint to the cursing of Christ, the other criminal sets his heart on things above, saying to Jesus, Remember me when you come into your kingdom. Before giving these words of faith, he reminds the other criminal that they are receiving the just punishment they deservea guilt that might be a strange thought to some modernists and post-modernists. The second criminal to speak also praises Jesus by saying that this man has done nothing wrong. He reveals a heart of benevolence and hope. His focus on God and eternity is similar to the friends of the prophet Daniel who said, God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. The hearts and faith of the three friends are not dependent on being saved from trouble but rest in God alone, just as our faith should be in Christs promise to be with us to the end of the age and that no trouble can separate us from the love of Godnot to have a trouble-free life. True faith, then, rests in God alone, not in earthly success or failure, gain or loss. As the head coach said in the film Facing the Giants, I want God to bless this team so much people will talk about what He did. But it means we gotta give Him our best in every area. And if we win, we praise Him. And if we lose, we praise Him. Either way we honor Him with our actions and our attitudes. So I'm askin' you... What are you living for? I resolve to give God everything I've got, then I'll leave the results up to Him. Similarly, Jesus did not waver during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem when everyone sang his praises,

and he did not waver when even his followers abandoned him; rather, he fixed his eyes on the true joy set before him. With this same hope, between the extremes of resigning to all of life as Gods unalterable will and of demanding prosperity in every season and on every occasion, we should cry out to God in loss and celebrate success with thanksgivingall in faith. We should ask God to establish the work of our hands but remember that apart from him we can do nothing. Like Paul, we should boast in nothing but the cross of Christ by which we are dead to the world and by which the world is dead to us. As Rich Mullins sang, If I stand let me stand on the promise that you will see me through,/ and if I fall let me fall on the grace that first brought me to you. Hanging on the horizon was Jesus between the two eternal responses to Him: one cursing in faithless despair and the other blessing in faith, hope, and love. These two responses are mutually exclusive, though in each camp there is diversity in a range of belief or unbelief. These two camps also have no clear demarcation: the tares grow with the wheat in the churches, and both blessing and cursing reside in communities, schools, and businesses. In the end, however, there are two responses. Those who are not for Jesus are against Him; those who are not against Jesus are for Him. As to those who are for him, Christ will be present with them to the end of the age, and as He promised the second thief, they will be with Him in paradise.